Aligning plane of one component to the plane of another

[ecnels]

Note the enclosed picture of a vice base assembly.  The assembly is brought into a new, pristine drawing and the desire is to do 3 alignments and one Ground.

1)  Align the vice base center with the Origin Z (blue) Axis

2)  Set the bottom of the vice base ON the XY Plane

2)  Align the center-points between any two of the vice lugs parallel to the pristine drawing's X or Y plane.

4)  Ground this so none of these alignments will change during future drawing

Thanks!

Ev

[etfrench]

A rigid joint will do what you're asking.  You may need to add a joint origin at your imaginary point.  There are quite a few training videos on how to use joint origins.

[ecnels]

Thanks for the fast response!  I'm familiar with Joints, but not familiar with how to align to another object.  You'll note the construction square in the picture.  How do I ensure one of the sides of that square is colinear with one of the sides of the document's origin plane (such as X or Y).  The concern is that the rigid joint won't necessarily align X and Y with the sides of the square.  Multiple plates have to be stacked on top of each other and all aligned to the origin plane.

[TrippyLighting · Accepted solution]

The joints in Fusion 360 are not geometric mates such as can be found in Solid Works and other CAD tools. As such sometimes it is necessary to use a different approach.

You can simply create a rigid joint between the center point of the plate and the origin and then apply an offset half the size of the rectangle to that joint. This will align one of the sides of the rectangle precisely with one of the origin planes. If you know the name of the dimension applied to the rectangle you can use  it as a parameter in the offset, so even when you change the size of the rectangle, the side of the rectangle will always align with a origin plane.

As usual, there are several ways to accomplish this. This is just one of them. You can also apply joints to sketch elements, so you can creat a joint directly toe the center point of one of the sides of the rectangle.

[etfrench · Accepted solution]

Perhaps this video will help.

As long as the sketch is located in the component you want to align, then you can add any arbitrary point in the sketch as a joint origin.  In your case the center of the square would be perfect.  You can use offset planes to locate new parts.  Just create a sketch on the plane and project the square and/or center point to the sketch.

[ecnels]

Super - this worked fine!  Thanks!

[ecnels]

This was helpful - Thank You!

[grayed]

This looks useful, and I thank you for all the help you give us, but please, I have some suggestions for these videos.

1. The menus are too small to see, and if I expand the video to where they are big enough, they're too fuzzy to read.  As I age, BTW, this is a growing problem with F360 -- there seems to be no way to make the menus larger and easier to read.  I'm getting closer and closer to the screen, though my optometrist says my glasses are fine.
2. Please slow down when you click all over the screen. YOU know what you're clicking, but I don't --please HOVER over your menu choice for a second to give me time to at least guess what it is you've done. (BTW, kudos for using that big mouse cursor--easier to see than in many videos)
3. Is there some reason to have sound turned off?  It would help if you explained what you were doing  (though I've watched far too many videos where the presenter figures he has to talk a mile a minute and finish his whole lesson in under two minutes.  Please, take your time!).

Thanks for listening.

[etfrench]

1.  That's an Autodesk thing which end users have no control over (EEs aren't Autodesk employees).  When viewing a screencast in the forum post, the bottom section shows which commands and dialogs are used.  Unfortunately, this is not shown in full screen mode.

2.  You can adjust the playback speed.

3.  No microphone 😀

[grayed]

1. Thank you -- I have always had the videos expanded to fill my screen and didn't even notice this section!  Unfortunately, if i have the whole thing (top and bottom sections) on my laptop screen, I can't read either of them, or the tool tips.  I will have to watch four or five times (as usual) to try to coordinate the two.  Time to invest in a HUGE monitor!
2. Thank you. I can slow it to half speed, which helps. Or I can double the speed (WHY???)
3. Fair enough.