Can't figure out how to cut hole into imported compnent

[happyday.mjohnson]

I have a 4 x 4 x26" post body.  I import this post body into another model.  I then want to cut a hole into the imported post component.  I can't find a way to modify the imported component.  How do I do this?

thank you for your help.

[TheCADWhisperer]

Can you File>Export your *.f3d file to your local drive and then Attach it here to a Reply?

[happyday.mjohnson]

I have attached the archived file.  Thank you.

[TheCADWhisperer]

Backing up a minute to the part before imported -

I suspect this is not your true design intent:

You have an overlap on two corners and a gap on the other two.

[happyday.mjohnson]

Correct.  I tried aligning the two bodies (the end piece and the post), but as you show - did not do correctly.  The main trouble here was my inability to make a good endpost.  I was challenged to make a body that came up to a point.   If I fix this, I assume I still will not be able to make a hole on the 4x4 post component?

[TheCADWhisperer]

Is something like attached similar to what you are attempting to create?

[happyday.mjohnson]

Yes! Ah, the loft.  THANK YOU.  Back to my first challenge - is it possible to cut a hole into an imported component?  I haven't found a way to do this.  Again, thank you for showing me how to make the post cap correctly.  I am very grateful to have learned this from you.

[cjenkinsLGRZX · Accepted solution]

I had similar issue.  Could not cut holes in an imported model of a case front panel.  I do not know why this should work but try unlinking the component. Then attempt the cut.

[happyday.mjohnson]

Thank you.  Great advice.  I ended up doing this.  The challenge now is when the unlinked component is updated, all the work on top of it will have to be redone since the now unlinked component has no reference to the "raw material."  This is unfortunate.

[cjenkinsLGRZX]

Interesting.  I am just starting Fusion from Solidworks and was not clear on the linkage function.  In my case I imported an assembly of a case with a top, bottom and front panel component.  The linkage was there but nothing on top so breaking the link didn't hurt anything.  There should be a way to accept the modified component as the default in that position of the linkage and move on.

[happyday.mjohnson]

Again, I thank you.  I guess I would like linkage to relink.  But most likely I do not see all the cases where relinking would break models.

[Anonymous]

@cjenkinsLGRZXthanks. That worked for me

@Anonymous- any updates on if this will work with linked components? This really blows a hole in my plan to componentize my project. I have a series of parts that all need to use a common size/shape but with some very small differences in some parts. Having to re-import and repeat the modifications any time the base shape changes is a real bummer and time killer.

Thanks!

Ian

[HughesTooling]

After importing the linked part you can use Boundary Fill to create a component from the body in the linked component. Think of the linked part as a XRef block, after creating the copy just hide the linked component and work with the copy. Any changes to the linked design will update the Boundary Fill created component. This is not a good workaround if you're importing a lot of parts though.

Mark

[Anonymous]

@HughesToolingOh, wow. I've never used Boundary Fill and it solves so many problems for me. THANK YOU! My process has been to import the common "frame" component then add extra bodies that sit inside this frame. However, the F360 "Make" command does a poor job of merging components and bodies for 3D printing. So, I've had to export the "frame" as one STL then each of the other bodies as separate STLs. Then I take all of those and import them into my slicer and try to re-align them again. Then slice. The slicer is able to properly merge all these bodies better than F360 can. However, with this new found Boundary Fill I'll be able to properly combine all the bodies into a single body then "Make" that one body which I expect will be sliced properly. In this scenario, I only ever have one imported component so this is a fantastic solution for me.

THANK YOU!

Ian