Fusion 360 Workflow

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone! I've been using Fusion 360 for a while and I've only used it for simple projects that require little organization. This time though, I have a project that involves multiple bodies and I have them organized under components which I have properly labeled. The problem is when I try to do a joint function with bodies, it only lets me do joints with components. I know that you can create components from a body and put it under a bigger component, but I feel my stuff will become disorganized. I still have more steps to do on my model, but I want to try out how the joints will interact with each other. How should I go about this problem/what would be the best workflow step to take?

I have attached a picture of my model.

Any recommendations are appreciated!

[TrippyLighting · Accepted solution]

Before continuing to create stuff it would be advisable to review the Assembly section of the documentation that explains the difference between bodies and components. Here is part of the written documentation explaining the difference.

Then the best workflow to work with components is following 

Fusion 360 R.U.L.E #1:

Before doing anything, create a component and make sure it's activated.

All objects created after activating the component such as sketches, bodies, construction geometry, joint origins, etc.  are created in that component.

This has several advantages:

1. On activation the timeline is filtered to show only those items in the timeline that pertain to that component. That will make the quickly growing timeline much easier to work with.
2. If a component is exported to the data panel with "save as" this will also export the complete parametric design history.
3. Drawings can only be created from components
4. The joints in the "Assemble menu only work with components.

When another component needs to be edited for example to add geometry, it should be activated before doing so.

[Anonymous]

So I basically messed up? Should I just start it over?

[TrippyLighting]

Hard to say. If you can share your design I can take a  look at it and we can discuss the best path forward.

[Anonymous]

I would appreciate that :). Here it is