Creating a component copy

[brad.bylls]

How can I create a copy of a component so it shows up as quantity of 2 in the BOM but when I put a hole in one component it does not show up in the copied component.

The risers of a mold base are identical on the outside, but the holes have different spacings between the two.

[kandennti]

Hi @brad.bylls .

Try to use the addExistingComponent method.

https://help.autodesk.com/view/fusion360/ENU/?guid=GUID-a2efccd6-ac40-465b-811d-e5d0266d1c62 

[BrianEkins · Accepted solution]

That's not possible in Fusion.  All features are added to the component that contains the body being modified.  As a result, all occurrences that reference that component will show that change. 

A possible solution to get what you want is for the BOM calculation to use something else besides the component identity as the unique identifier.  For example, it can use the part number assigned to the component.  You can assign different components the same part number.  The problem with this is you don't have any control over what Fusion uses for the unique identifier when creating a parts list in a drawing.  This can only be done with some other BOM generation tool.

Besides the BOM issue, it is possible to have two components with the same geometry up to a certain point in the timeline.  You can build the part you need and then copy the component and choose "Paste New" in the context menu to create the second part.  It's a parametric copy so any changes you make to the original part that occurs in the timeline previous to the copy will also be reflected in the copy.  Any changes made after the copy are unique to each part.  As far as the Fusion BOM, they're still seen as unique parts though.