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Sharing Components

11 REPLIES 11
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Message 1 of 12
jagboy2013
1205 Views, 11 Replies

Sharing Components

I am clearly missing something here....  In Solidworks, I could create parts, assemble those parts into sub-assemblies, assemble those sub-assemblies into larger assemblies.  In Fusion, this appears to be, while technically possible, nearly useless in practice.  Once you do that, you can't export the project, without first breaking all the links.

 

If I import an assembly from Solidworks, what I end up with is an assembly that, AFAICT, has all the parts/components welded together.  There are no joints that can be suppressed or modified to move anything, allow motion, etc.  It appears to me this "assembly" is simply one giant rigid, un-modifiable component.

 

It appears to me the only practical way to construct a large design is to copy all the components into that one design file, which means having multiple copies of any "shared" components.  It appears to me the only practical way to import a design from Solidworks is to import the individual parts, then re-assemble them in Fusion.

 

Am I missing something"  Is there an easier way?

 

Also, BTW....  The ENTIRE Autodesk web site no longer works properly with Chrome!  I can get any one page to come up by typing in the URL, but NONE of the links on ANY page actually work.  I have to use Edge when I need to use this forum, because Chrome simply does not work anymore on this site.

 

Regards,

Ray L.

11 REPLIES 11
Message 2 of 12
masa.minohara
in reply to: jagboy2013

Hi @jagboy2013,

 

Thank you for posting! As for joints created in SolidWorks, you will need to re-create in Fusion 360 since they cannot be imported properly. Please see this forum thread for more details. Also, could you check if the Component Drag option in the select menu is enabled?

 

component drag.png

 

Regarding exporting a design that contains inserted components, Fusion 360 doesn't have ability to do so but you can download from the web as F3Z file. That way, you don't need to break all the links.

 

I usually use Chrome but I haven't seen the issue you mentioned at my end. Does it make any difference if you clear the browser cache?

Masanobu Minohara

Product Support Specialist



Fusion 360 Webinars | Tips and Best Practices | Troubleshooting
Message 3 of 12
jagboy2013
in reply to: masa.minohara

I will try your suggestions. re: exporting etc.  Thanks.

 

Clearing my browser cache has made no difference.

 

Regards,

Ray L.

Message 4 of 12
jagboy2013
in reply to: jagboy2013

While we're somewhat on the subject....  I have a question regarding joints, and the proper way to orient components in an assembly.  Suppose I have a bearing support that attached to another component, where obviously the centerline of the shaft bores in the two components must line up, but there are also screw holes, to attach the two parts to each other, that must line up.  What I've been doing is first creating a joint (either revolute or cylindrical) between the two shaft bores.  About half the time, Fusion seems to recognize that the screw holes should also line up, and defaults to putting the two components in that position.  If it does so, fine, if not, I select two of the screw holes, and do an "Align Components" to put them in alignment.  Finally, I create an As-Built joint to lock the two components together in the correct position.

 

Is there a better/easier way to do this?

 

Regards,

Ray L.

Message 5 of 12
masa.minohara
in reply to: jagboy2013

Hi Ray,

 

Thank you for your response! Would you be able to record a screencast of what you are doing? Also, if you could share a public link to the design with me, it would be helpful for me.

 

Regarding the issue with Chrome, are you using any ad blocker add-on? Could you try disabling add-on if you have any?

Masanobu Minohara

Product Support Specialist



Fusion 360 Webinars | Tips and Best Practices | Troubleshooting
Message 6 of 12
jagboy2013
in reply to: masa.minohara

Turning off AdBlock does fix the browser problem.  Thanks!

 

The assembly issues I've come across just in playing around, trying different things, so I don't have a specific example on-hand.  I have a large assembly in Solidworks I'd like to import into Fusion, and I've been trying different methods for accomplishing that, before taking the dive.  I'll see if I can put an example together.

 

Regards,

Ray L.

Message 7 of 12
jagboy2013
in reply to: jagboy2013

Another somewhat related question:  I have many parts in Solidworks that use Configurations to create several different parts from the same Part file.  Is there a way to select WHICH configuration gets imported when importing into Fusion?  The only way I've been able to do it so far is to export the part to a more generic format (STP, IGES, etc.), then import that.

 

Does Fusion have anything comparable to Solidworks Configurations?  If not, is it planned for the future?

 

Regards,

Ray L.

Message 8 of 12
masa.minohara
in reply to: jagboy2013

Hi Ray,

 

Personally I don't have experience with Solidworks and I'm not very familiar with Configurations but  I found similar topics here and here and they may be helpful for you.

 

I hope that helps!

Masanobu Minohara

Product Support Specialist



Fusion 360 Webinars | Tips and Best Practices | Troubleshooting
Message 9 of 12
TrippyLighting
in reply to: jagboy2013


@jagboy2013 wrote:

 

Does Fusion have anything comparable to Solidworks Configurations?  If not, is it planned for the future?

 


 

No, Yes.

 

It's been asked for many times including myself. You can do some limited form of configurations but not to the degree you can in Solid Works.

Peter Doering
Message 10 of 12
TrippyLighting
in reply to: jagboy2013

Here is a screencast that explain one basics when importing geometry from other CAD systems:

 

 

 

In general for folks that come from SW I'd recommend watching a few Autodesk University classes recordings. A good number of them are collected in this sticky thread on top of the forums.

 

In this case I'd suggest to first watch:

 

Fusion 360 Modeling Tips from the Experts

Fusion 360 Assemblies Master Class 

 

Peter Doering
Message 11 of 12
jagboy2013
in reply to: TrippyLighting

Guys,

 

Thanks for those tips.  I've now got all my parts for the first sub-assembly imported and assembled.  But a couple of things:

 

1) Animate Joint - A few times I've managed to create joints which show no animation.  They don't even show which parts the joint acts on, which makes it impossible to figure out where/what that joint is doing.

 

2) Editing joints is.... weird.  Seems to me it should be possible to re-define a joint - i.e. - select different features for the joint to act on - but if you de-select both joint features, then ALL components become translucent and un-selectable.  Unless I'm missing something, this means the only way to change joint selections is to delete the joint, and create a new one.  That's certainly the only solution I've found.  Kinda makes me wonder why the option of de-selecting features in the edit joint dialog is even there...

 

3) What I've learned, the hard way, is when you create a joint, IMMEDIATELY NAME IT, as it may later be impossible to figure out what the joint does.  Never had this problem in SW.  I'm in the habit of doing the assembly, then going through and re-naming the mates after the fact.

 

4) To do a "poor mans configurations", seems it would be possible to do one component containing all the shared features, then importing that into new components, each of which adds the features unique to a single configuration.  Not nearly as clean as actually supporting configurations, but seems like it would at least work?

 

5) As noted earlier, I've found that at least when doing revolute joints, about 50% of the time the default orientation is one that aligns other features, like edges or holes  - for instance, when doing a revolute joint on the center hole of a flange, it will automatically align bolt holes near the flange perimeter, or sometimes the outer edges of the two parts.  What controls this?  If it worked a larger percentage of the time it would be really helpful.  Perhaps add a joint that searches for matching geometry, and aligns based on that?  Seems like its half-way there already.

 

6) I realize this is not easy, but it sure would be nice if, when importing Solidworks assemblies, it would tell the user which parts are not found, and give him the option of locating them.  As it is, this is a very tedious process, requiring multiple attempts to import before all the parts are correctly included.  On large assemblies, this is a major PITA.  Is there a way to simplify this?  Better still, would be if there were a way to point to existing Fusion components to replace the missing ones, as many such parts will be pulled from shared component libraries.

 

Regards,

Ray L.

Message 12 of 12
masa.minohara
in reply to: jagboy2013

Hi Ray,

 

Thank you for your response! Without seeing your model and having more details like screenshots or screencast, it is difficult for me to provide more information. Since we have a lot of topics in this thread, I recommend you create new forum posts for each topic with detailed information including the model and screenshots/screencast.

 

Also, if you have enhancement requests for Fusion 360, you may consider submitting your idea to the Fusion IdeaStation forum, which is constantly monitored by developers and product managers, and is currently the most effective way to request a product enhancement:


Autodesk Fusion 360 IdeaStation


Other forum users will have the opportunity to Vote or add Kudos to the Idea. Votes on an idea will increase the likelihood that an idea will be implemented.

Masanobu Minohara

Product Support Specialist



Fusion 360 Webinars | Tips and Best Practices | Troubleshooting

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