Best practice suggestions for multiple component orientations

[Anonymous]

One of the great things about Fusion 360 that I like is that the whole project happily lives in one file.  What happens when I want to have multiple different component assemblies though?  Is there a way I can store multiple configurations?

An example:

Lets say I am designing some flatpack furniture.  I would like to be able to see my updated model fully assembled.  I would also like to be able to at any time be able to view it laid out in the configuration that I will use for the toolpaths.  Finally, I might also want to see it in an exploded view to call out components and maybe help with assembly.

What is the best practice for how to do this?  I could make three copies of each component and position them how I like, but then if I ever use the BOM functionality It will show 3x my components, right (I have never used BOM functionality so I may be wrong)?

What is the general best way to do this.  Maybe animations?  I have not used animations either, and those confuse me a little as well in regards to how they may or may not change component placement.

This might be a really dumb question, but I appreciate any suggestions anyone might have.

Thank you!

[TrippyLighting]

Not that I had any good solutions to offer, but that's definitely not a dumb question!

[kb9ydn]

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@Anonymous wrote:

One of the great things about Fusion 360 that I like is that the whole project happily lives in one file.  What happens when I want to have multiple different component assemblies though?  Is there a way I can store multiple configurations?

An example:

Lets say I am designing some flatpack furniture.  I would like to be able to see my updated model fully assembled.  I would also like to be able to at any time be able to view it laid out in the configuration that I will use for the toolpaths.  Finally, I might also want to see it in an exploded view to call out components and maybe help with assembly.

What is the best practice for how to do this?  I could make three copies of each component and position them how I like, but then if I ever use the BOM functionality It will show 3x my components, right (I have never used BOM functionality so I may be wrong)?

What is the general best way to do this.  Maybe animations?  I have not used animations either, and those confuse me a little as well in regards to how they may or may not change component placement.

This might be a really dumb question, but I appreciate any suggestions anyone might have.

Thank you!

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It's not even remotely a dumb question, in fact it's a great question!

This is an area that (IMHO) Fusion does not handle very well.  At some point I imagine they will add the concept of part/assembly configurations but it's going to be awhile.

For now though, I think the best way to handle this would be to make separate top level assemblies for machining and for showing the boxed up or fully assembled models.  In the separate assemblies insert all of the parts as externally linked components.  This way if you make a change to any of the original parts they will automatically update in the other assemblies.  I realize this is a bit of a hassle, but it's probably the best way to handle it at the moment.

C|

[Anonymous]

By separate top level assembly, do you mean another file/project?

This seems like a decent solution that would allow for always having the component as their latest versions.

Would be super nice if there was a folder like we have for views where you could define different configurations and set it up so you are just viewing one at a time.

If I find time later I might check to see if anyone has suggested this as a feature...

[TrippyLighting]

I don't recall having seen that in the Idea Station, so go ahead and post it, you'll have my vote.

In general you already used the term this is called in other CAD systems "Configuration". For Fusion 360 this wiill be covered within the Branching and Merging functionality (or so we've been told).

IIRC this is on the roadmap for later this year.

Personally I hope te Fusion team will find a solution for this Configuration problem that is does not involve the Datapanel as I find it rather sluggish to operate and not as intuitive as a File Folder for Configurations whithin a given design file.

[kb9ydn]

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@TrippyLighting wrote:

I don't recall having seen that in the Idea Station, so go ahead and post it, you'll have my vote.

In general you already used the term this is called in other CAD systems "Configuration". For Fusion 360 this wiill be covered within the Branching and Merging functionality (or so we've been told).

IIRC this is on the roadmap for later this year.

Personally I hope te Fusion team will find a solution for this Configuration problem that is does not involve the Datapanel as I find it rather sluggish to operate and not as intuitive as a File Folder for Configurations whithin a given design file.

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@Anonymous, Yes a separate design file is what I meant.  It has to be in the same project though because for now you can't link files across of projects.

@TrippyLighting

The idea of configurations has been posted in the ideastation before but it's been awhile.

As for making it part of branching and merging; in my understanding that's not really what branching and merging is for.  Branching and merging is for version control and to allow exploration of multiple design ideas concurrently in a way that's traceable.  Configurations can be used for that but are really more about having multiple arrangements of parts; or for making families of parts that share the same basic design and only differ by size or handed-ness (for example).  They aren't the same thing and I really hope that doesn't get lost in the implementation.

As for the data panel, I have to say I dont really like it either.  It feels too big and inefficient.  A simple file tree would be better and has been the standard for a very long time (for good reason).

And yes, file configurations could be handled very well through the design tree, a la Solidworks.

C|