Align object without a center to the center of a cylinder

[ta4F8B3U]

I know how to do lots of basic things to design parts to 3D print.    I am stuck on something that I know must be trivial but I can't figure out how to do it.  I am trying to align a clamp that will hold a camera with the part the camera is going to take a picture of.  In words, I want the edge plane of the clamp to be parallel to the edge plane of the part.  Align does this quite easily with offset planes.  I also need to align the center axis of the clamp with the center axis of the part.  If my clamp were a complete circle, Fusion 360 would automagically allow me to select the snap point of the circle.  However, my camera clamp is not a complete circle and so Fusion 360 doesn't offer a center of circle snap point.  How can I create a snap point for an empty place in a body?  Here is a picture of the simple thing I am trying to do.  Note that while the camera clamp on the left looks like it is perfectly aligned with the axis of the cylinder on the right, it is not really.

The two planes are where the camera clamp will be and where the part (cylinder on the right) will be. 

I can't even figure out what words to search for to solve my problem.

Any help will be greatly appreciated!

[davebYYPCU]

Looks like the axis of both the cylinder and the C piece already line up, 

Bodies or Components?

Move, Align or Joint?

Hover over the face of the C piece, hold the Control Key down, the snap for the centre will be shown, and Control will hold it visible, while you go over to the centre point and select it.

Might help.....

[wmhazzard]

Sketch the center of the clamp at the origin of the first plane, create an offset plane from the first for the cylinder, sketch the cylinder at the origin of the offset plane, done. Everything will be aligned and there will be no need to move anything. 

[ta4F8B3U]

Holding the control key down didn't work.

[ta4F8B3U]

I didn't mention that I imported the camera clamp as a mesh.  I then converted it to a body.  I am trying to align the camera body's axis along the axis of the part when I haven't made a sketch of the camera body.

I tried making a sketch of the camera body by taking a projection of the converted mesh body and using that.  I successfully created the projection, but I was not successful in using this sketch because I have no way to align it.

[etfrench]

Use a 3 point circle in the projected sketch of the clamp to find the center.  You can then use the center of that circle as a joint origin.

It that doesn't work for you, then attach your file to the thread. (File/Export/Archive file *.f3d)

[hamid.sh.]

---

@ta4F8B3U wrote:

I didn't mention that I imported the camera clamp as a mesh.  I then converted it to a body.  I am trying to align the camera body's axis along the axis of the part when I haven't made a sketch of the camera body.

I tried making a sketch of the camera body by taking a projection of the converted mesh body and using that.  I successfully created the projection, but I was not successful in using this sketch because I have no way to align it.

---

Did you use a Faceted conversion? If yes that faceted body will make problem here and there, including what you posted about. Try to remodel the clamp or if you have subscription try to convert it with Prismatic option to get a clean body; from what I see it should convert prismatically without a problem. You can also attach it here so someone will convert for you.

[ta4F8B3U]

I used a faceted conversion as I only use the free version of Fusion 360.  (I'm a hobbyist designing various tools for my garage that I can 3D print.)

I created a file with the example.  In it are the mesh I imported, the body I created from the mesh, and the cylinder I am trying to align with. 

To be clear, I can align this by hand, but I have run across this problem other times and finally got sick of doing this by hand and I think there must be a way to trivially do this.  Plus, aligning by hand is time-consuming and a pain in the neck!  So I am not really trying to solve this specific problem, which I can do manually, but rather understand how to solve it in general.

[g-andresen · Accepted solution]

Hi,

Follow the recommendation of @etfrench 

Screencast

günther

[TrippyLighting · Accepted solution]

My recommendation would be to remodel this super simple object.

[ta4F8B3U]

Thanks so much!  I didn't think about aligning my part with my clamp!  Great idea.

The redesign of the clamp is excellent and solves this specific problem. 

Thanks!