INDEPENDANT SKETCHES

[Anonymous]

I have an assembly whereby I have copied and mirrored a single part to create 4 identical copies.  I first copied the part, then mirrored the pair to create the set of 4.  The first 2 parts (copied ones) behave as a pair so that when I create a sketch on one of them and then use that to make a cut, they both react and the cut appears on both parts.

The mirrored pair act in a similar manner but they do not copy the cuts made on the original pair, I have to do them separately.  This isn't a big issue, however I would have expected that what ever I did on the original part would be carried over to all copies of that part.  Since this doesn't happen I have to make the necessary cuts on the mirrored pair as a separate operation.

I now need to make a new cut on all 4 parts but I do NOT want the this next cut to be applied to the partner part, I need this cut to act independently.

How do I prevent this new cut from appearing on the partner part?  Is there a way to make the new cuts independent?

[Anonymous]

The one thing that escaped me for a long time is, that instead of using the MOVE/COPY functionality to create linked-clone components one can simply use CTRL C and "Paste new" to create "copies" which are not linked. You can do this by right-clicking the components in the browser only, though:

[HughesTooling]

If you use Paste New the copy will be totally independent so you'll need to cut packets in all parts they will not be linked at all.

The first problem you describe trying to cut pockets in all parts including the mirrored parts. What you need to do is roll the timeline back before the mirror feature and cut the new pocket, when you roll the timeline to the end again the pocket will be in the mirrored components.

Your second problem is not so easy, I think you'll need to create a new component to get this to work. The safest way to do this is activate the top node in the browser or if you're in a sub assemble the containing component then use Boundary Fill from the Create menu, set the Operation to New Component the select the body you want to copy and select it again as the cell. This will give you a new component that is independent from this point on. The reason I suggest using boundary fill and not just copy paste of the body is if the copy paste ever breaks there's no way to reselect and fix the problem but with Boundary Fill you can reselect.

When you have your new independent component you can use Remove on the original or just hide it. I know this seems a lot of work but you can't pick and choose when components will be associative.

Mark

[Anonymous]

@HughesTooling

".....and not just copy paste of the body is if the copy paste ever breaks there's no way to reselect and fix the problem..."

I need some tutoring about this. What would be a scenario where a "copy -> paste new" can "ever break"?

Maybe during the execution, but after finishing the command there are two independent components with their own timelines How can that break?

Or do I misinterpret something (sorry, English is not my native language).

thanks,

Manfred

[HughesTooling]

Copy paste new can not break as it makes a totally independent copy. Copying a body into a new component creates a new instance of the body that will be independent after the copy but still linked before so you can roll the timeline back before the copy was created and edit the parent and the child will update or edit the child independently after the copy. The problem is occasionally the copy losses track of the parent body and there's no way to fix the error so if the copy's at the start of a big project you're totally screwed! Using Boundary Fill gives you the option to reselect the parent body, you can even select a different body if you wanted to try a different version.

Mark

[HughesTooling]

@Anonymous If you read what the OP wants, it's not independent components. He asks how to edit a component and have it's mirrored copy update, he made independent sketches in the mirrored copy, the correct way is to roll the timeline back before the mirror and modify the original then the mirrored copy will update.

He also than wanted to edit one of the first copies independently, you can't have a component that linked when you make a copy then mirror so you have 4 components and edit one of the originals independently. That's why I suggested making a derived copy.

Mark

[Anonymous]

@HughesTooling

Thank you!

Shame on me, it was not even a English-German problem....You wrote "body" but my brain was reading/interpreting "component". Sorry.

Manfred

[HughesTooling · Accepted solution]

Here's an example screencast I made for someone else a while ago to demonstrate copied bodies. Note I used copy paste, this was before I'd found the problem when it breaks. The components created by mirror are child components in the same way.

Mark

[Anonymous]

@HughesTooling

Thanks for the screecast! Now I (hopefully) understand what you meant. If somebody deletes the "origin component" (ignoring the warning of Fusion), the derived component has a problem. And with "boundary fill" you have a chance to recover by selecting another body.

Manfred

[HughesTooling]

@Anonymous Yes basically that's it but you can break the copy if you make a big change to body as well. Can't quite remember what I did but it wasn't as brutal as deleting the body, there was no warning as such just the copy turned red in the timeline. Might have been a combine feature that changed the body number after an edit.

Mark

[Anonymous]

That's a good idea, I hadn't thought of that, however now
that I have the copied parts I don't want to start over but
I'll keep that in mind.



Thanks for the input.

[Anonymous]

Ok, good idea.  I hadnt seen that option yet.

Thanks for the post.

[Anonymous]

Hi Mark thanks for that great video.  I can see how you can manipulate the parts now.  A person has to think ahead a bit as to what you  might need for various features.  I'll have to see if I can salvage my assembly by following your lead.

Great Job.