How do I make a slider in this case?

[JetForMe]

It seems all joints want to be between facing planes. How do I make a sliding joint between the vise jaw and the vise body, as shown here: http://cl.ly/2k1Y302s2H0J

[James.Youmatz]

Hi @JetForMe,

Can you share the model with me at james.youmatz@autodesk.com. I'll take a peek and hopefully create a quick screencast documenting it!

Thanks,

[James.Youmatz · Accepted solution]

Hi @JetForMe,

To describes my steps in the screencast below:

1. Turned on Design History so that I could use As-built Joints.
2. Grounded the Vice Body so that the joints would work properly.
3. Selected As-Built Joint, selected the front of the vice (the larger piece that actuallys clamps) and the vice body. I used the z-axis for position.
4. Then I created a rigid group (Assemble menu) and selected all of the parts that were in the moving part of the vice on the left. Now they will all slide together as opposed to just the one component you created a joint for. 

To go even further. I thought of this after I created a screencast, but just in case you run into trouble and want to take this assembly one step further, try the steps below.

1. Create a rigid group of the vice part that is bolted in (the middle one). Make sure to select all the components in there so that they behave as one.
2. Create an as-built joint to any piece on that middle vice that touches the base. Make the type "Rigid". Now this piece won't move.
3. In the Assemble menu, Enable Contact Sets. Then go back into that menu and select "New Contact Set". Select the Slider Vice and the Rigid Vice. Now move those two pieces back and forth and they won't go through each other!

[JetForMe]

Ah, that's very straightfoward, thank you. A few questions:

1. What does the Enable Contact Sets do for me?
2. This vise operates both jaws simultaneously (the center is fixed to the body). Is there a way to have the two outer jaws move together, but in opposite directions, when either one is moved?
3. This question starts to veer off-topic, but is there a way for the vise jaw motion to be limited such that it stops when it hits the fixed jaw? I know I can set limits on the motion, but how do I ensure it's all the way up against the jaw? Similarly, what if I introduce a part in between the jaws, can I simulate clamping the part between them and have everything move into the right place?

Thanks again!

[James.Youmatz]

Hi @JetForMe,

Happy to help! Sorry I didn't see this earlier.

To answer your questions:

1. Contact sets limit motion of bodies/components that would would physically touch (or have contact) for instance by enabling contact sets and setting them up between your fixed jaw and the two moving jaws, would limit the motion to stop the instance the moving jaw hits the fixed jaw. Without these, you will notice that you can slide the moving jaw through the fixed jaw, which can't happen in the real world. This is also the answer to your third question as well as this would limit the motion as soon as the moving jaw makes contact with the fixed jaw. 
2. Yes, this would be possible by creating the two moving vices in the same Rigid Group. By doing this you are essentially saying they will "move together" and can just define the one moving jaw to have a Slider joint. 
3. This is a little trickier to do. To simulate the motion (and I'm sure there's other ways to do this, this is just the first that came to my mind), I would first add a Slider As-Built joint to the "piece in-between the jaws" so that its motion is limited to only moving back and forth. I tested around with this and it looks like without it the piece will actually shoot up into the air, which we don't want. Then, I would create another contact set which includes the piece, the rigid jaw, and the moving jaw it is inbetween. This should limit its motion and will actually physically move that piece until it hits the fixed jaw. The video below shows a more in-depth analysis on how to perform these steps. EDIT: I just noticed that if you quickly try to move your slider with the contact sets, it can break and the piece will ignore the contact set. When demonstrating the contact sets, move them somewhat slowly.

I went pretty quickly through the screencast so if you have any questions, just ask. As far as best practices goes, I just quickly made those joints and you will notice in my screencast that they have their own folder. As far as model management, this is probably not the best way to do this as you should be activating components, but again I was just going quickly. 

[JetForMe]

@James.Youmatz, I'm trying to use your solution again with the current version of Fusion 360, and it's not working. That is, it seemed to work at first, but I ended up unable to slide the component along the other; they simply moved as a rigid group. So I deleted the joints I had created and tried again. But now it will only allow me to create rigid joints, if I follow the steps you show in your screen cast. Selecting the single edge for Position doesn't enable the OK button. Selecting the inside plane of the vise base makes a slider in the perpendicular direction, but only rarely. Most of the time, I can't get anything to work.