Is there a tool for centering a component within a structure?

[CLmoss]

I have a 19" rack mount enclosure with a 17" cage on the back of the front panel.  In side the cage I have a circuit deck. I have been fooling around with it, trying to center it.  Is there a tool or function that will auto center this for me?  See attached.  

JM

[TrippyLighting]

There is likely something wrong with the sub assembly you inserted, which is why you saw these ghost bodies. 

If you have a single component that you are interested in re-using and is part of a subassembly, then you need to export that component into its own file into the data panel. Then you can insert it into a new design. Fusion 360's R.U.L.E #1 provides a good guideline to work with components.

Also, as I believe you've mentioned you've not yet gotten around to making a screencast. here's a great tutorial how to o that including download and installation of the tool.

Actually, simply go through the first three Sticky posts in the Tips & tricks section of the forum and watch all the screencasts you can get a hold off. The first post lists a good number of the class recordings that were made at Autodesk University last year. There is a lot of great stuff in there, including a class on direct modeling that I thought was outstanding.

[CLmoss]

Thanks for your help. I will look into this.

I believe, from what the ghosts looked like, that the issues had to do with inserting the entire construction and not just one component into the next project. The images looked like parts I had made long ago, but had turned off.   So, if you have a project file with 8 or more components, can you save a copy, then delete all but the component you want to export.  Then export that object into another project file?  You just have to be sure it is what you will want in the future. 

I think you get into trouble deleting things. That, if not done right, this can leave the component objects with broken links.  I totally get how this could happen from a data structure/pointer point of view. It is rule #1 in databases.  I guess, I can simply do what I did tonight.  That was to remove the timeline data, then export what is left of each component. That seems logical to me. I always make copies of a project using progressive file names.  So if I need to go back and get something from a earlier version, I could simply grab and  old file and process it by making a copy and removing the timeline data on the copy, as before. 

What are the rules for deleting things in a project file?

JM

PS:  I will learn to use the screencast program easily enough.  I just want to get past these issues first. 

[CLmoss]

When you import a component into another project file, is it best to keep it linked to the original project file or should you break the link? 

I have  been breaking the link.  I felt that it was safer than keeping the link, then at some point in the future making changes to the original part and creating changes in all the projects I used it in unintentionally.

You said in your Rule#1 page, "create a component and make sure it's activated" 

What does that mean?  When you create a component in a project, isn't it always active? If the light is on that is.  I am not sure where to activate a component. 

JM

[TrippyLighting]

This Autodesk University handout has a section with guidelines as to the not us XREF's (linked components) and when not.

[TrippyLighting]

The little radio button to the right side of a component indicates whether it is activated to not.

[CLmoss]

I used that before, but I thought it was just for a viewing preference.

So what does activating do in total for a component?  

I generally just activate the top browser flyout.

It has always looked like you could only have one of those flyouts in the browser active at anytime.

If that is the case, then activation is limited to one item at a time.  

I should mention that have never used the Assembly tab.  I stay mostly in the Model tab. 

[TrippyLighting]

You need to read Fusion 360's R.U.L.E #1 again.

Newly created components are automatically activated, so new  sketches, bodies, construction planes, etc. will be added to that new component.

If you want to work on an existing component, then activate it so new stuff is added to it, not the other component or the top level.

[CLmoss]

I posted to the wrong thread.  So I will post again here. 

So you know, I am designing one thing only and that is a 19" 3-Unit (5.25" tall) Rack Mount Enclosure. That is it.  Also, I am only designing in Fusion what the CNC and Sheet Metal shops need to produce a few of these. I am not designing in Fusion a complete set of assembly drawings.  The Front Panel will need to be milled in a CNC machine includes two 0.25" plates.  What I call the Cage which is the back of the enclosure, has more parts to it. These will need to be stamped and bent.  The Cage parts will have PEM nuts in them. That is it for my use of Fusion right now.  This enclosure will contain the electronics I designed already.  

So, that is my story and I am sticking to it. 🙂

JM

[CLmoss]

1) I had some success using the Rule#1 idea. Since I had a project file with a 7 components in it, I exported each one to the Data Panel one at a time. When I was done I opened a new project file and imported them back into that.  It seemed to work a lot better. Then I ran "Compute All" which produced a few warnings which I tracked down and fixed by using "Suppress Features".  That eliminated all the issues.  I watched the Rule#1 video and did the work as shown. 

However, after I moved one particular component to where I wanted it positioned, which took 3 moves, each time after that when I ran  "Compute All" again, this component would jump back to the previous place I had put it.  Not the same place where it was imported, but the second place where I put it. Move 2 you might say.  This continues today, but I just don't run "Compute All" anymore.  Not sure about what is happening there.  Some kind of glitch. 

2) One other thing that I am noticing, which may be just how things work in Fusion, is that when I am in Sketch and drawing rectangle to be eventually used as a CUT extrusion, I am limited to a single plane to draw it.  It is the same plane that the grid is on.  My way around this is to just draw the rectangle there in that plane, give it a small push/pull thickness making it a body, then reposition it to where I want it, then -Extrude it for the cut.  That works, but shouldn't I be able to Sketch in any plane?  

JM

[TrippyLighting]

Based on your comments I am wondering if you've watched the introductory tutorials in the Learn section yet.

Granted, R.U.L.E #1 is not part of these, however, other things are.

You don't really need to move components, but should use the joints in the Assembly menu. If you do use the move command to move a component, you need to men a snapshot to store the new location. Then you can run Compute all without loosing the new component location.

If you want to sketch on another plane as the origin plane, first activate the component you want to edit, then select the object face you want to sketch on. If you object is curved and there is no flat face to sketch on, then create a construction plane to sketch on. Moving bodies away from their sketch location is not recommended.

[CLmoss]

"Based on your comments I am wondering if you've watched the introductory tutorials in the Learn section yet."

I have watched many videos and lessons from the help section not to mention YouTube videos. I am not using most of what the Learn section talks about.  I am working with sheet metal. That is a very limited application of Fusion. I found the chapters that talked about what I am doing and explored those. I have not watched everything, and I have not used the Assembly menu option at all. I am still creating correctly shaped components.  

Here is how it goes over here.  I define a 3-D cube or rectangle, then use negative extrusions to remove metal so to create a sheet metal form. After, I use rectangles with negative extrusion to cut the form to the shape I need. 

With the plane issue, I am drawing a body to cut a component.  I am creating rectangle to be used in cutting away areas of the "metal sheet" form.  

This program has lots of, not ready for prime time, issues in it. One is the weirdo plane limitations. You should be able to Sketch in any plane anywhere at anytime.  I am having problems with that. I do have a work-around. Fusion lets you move bodies in any plane or direction.  So I just make a body, then flip it however I want. It just seems odd to me.  Then I cut.   

So I guess I am correct about the plane issues?  Sounds like it from your answer.

What would be nice is a way to know that you have moved a component into the space of another component, violating it. Maybe just a switch option that you can select that will not let you put one through the body of another without a warning. 

Here is a problem. I have pictures.  

First you see a metal sheet that is the result of cutting away 3 square areas. 

Looks good here.

However, things are not really good because I still have ghosts of the original outline.  

I see this, below, when I highlight, in the browser, the component that was cut away. 

So, is it there? Is it not there?  

The cutaway bodies that I used were rectangles that overlapped the edges by a 1 inch, but the lines are still there.  

See, to me, a programmer, this looks like a program bug.  I might be wrong. It could be me.  You tell me. 

Here is a angled view.  You can see more here.  The first photo was from the top.  

This view is from an angle. 

I cut this material away with a neg cut extrusion that overlapped the sides of the material by 1".

There should be no remains left there. Why is there a blank area between the leftover remains and the plate body?

Something is wrong here. 

[CLmoss]

This is the plate from which the above photos started with.

The tub was created with a neg cut extrusion into a rectangle.  

This created what looks like sheet metal. The edges are actually areas where PEM nuts will go.

Screws will then fix the plate in a wrap-around body.  

[TrippyLighting]

It would definitely wrong to deduce from my answers that there is a bug with sketching on planes.

I am not sure why you feel that you are in danger of sharing too much with the word when you have issues with such simple things.

There re certainly specific areas where Fusion 360 is not ready fro prime time, but that definitely does not apply to this simple project. The solid modeling tool in Fusion 360 are rock solid 😉

I'd be happy to look at your model  if you want to invite me to the project. Send me a PM if you're interested.

[CLmoss]

"It would definitely wrong to deduce from my answers that there is a bug with sketching on planes."

Well, that is not what I see.  Anyone who has ever taken a course in rhetoric would see your answer as an agreement my suggestion.  By avoiding my direct question that I posed, in conjunction with the screen captures that I made available in my posts, you are in effect agreeing with my suggestion that there is a bug in the program.  Otherwise, you would identify several things that could have caused this.   That is what I see.  That is how I deduce from your answers that there is a bug with sketching on planes. 

JM

[daniel_lyall]

There is no bug you can pick any face you wont and sketch on it, you can also turn the origin on and use the planes for a spot to sketch on, Trippy is offering you help you should take it.

Now if you can do a screencast showing you can not pick any faces, or any plane on the origin and just the grid, and provide a model that this fails on, it can be confirmed that it is or is not a bug.

Picks and words are not enough to prove a bug.

[CLmoss]

Daniel,

did you mean to say, There is no bug. You can pick any face you want and sketch on it?

Because that is just not the case here. I made the posts for a reason. 

The process used in developing a complex program like Fusion involves creating a document.  This is done before a single line of code is written. This document states all of the functionality to be designed into the end program. Now, this document is reviewed by many people on the design team and some outside the team.  The issue the reviewers bring up are then addressed in updates to the design document.  This document has context diagrams to pseudo code as well data store structure diagrams and long explanations of each issue or design criteria. This then gets sent out for review and commentary again.  This happens for a year or more before any code is written. 

Now when one says, that this part of the program that I am having trouble with is "Rock Solid", well that means that it was the intention of the design team and all the reviewers, to include the issues that I have brought up, to be a function of the program.  What you are saying is that what I showed in my screen captures is what the design team and management intended to be the programs functionality. 

Now, I just cannot believe that. I mean, there can be stupid programmer out there, but the entire team?  I just cannot see that. This process is intended to weed out issues like that.  So I have more faith in the design team than that. 

So, if what I pointed out is not in the design spec document, then it can only be one thing, it has to be a bug.  

JM

[TrippyLighting]

You can interpret into my words whatever you want to!

I spend several hours daily often 7 days a week with Fusion 360. some on my own projects (currently 400+ components) and some on client projects. I use most many aspects of Fusion 360 including the Patch, rendering and T-Spline environment. As such I propose that I have a pretty good idea which areas have bugs in them and which don't. 

I stand by what I said that the solid modeling in Fusion 360 is rock solid. However, that still does not mean that there might not be a bug. One of the reasons for that is that noobs such as you attempt workflows that would not occur to an experienced CAD operator, because they understand underlying mechanisms.

If you want help then share your model.

If you want to insist that there is a bug without sharing your model then I am out as I have not interest in a fruitless conversation with opinions but without facts.

[CLmoss]

What I am asking you is, 1) What can cause this kind of problem. 

A well written program will not let a user break it under any circumstance .  That is called workflow control.  

Workflow control is a basic part of any program.  

There is nothing wrong with finding a bug.  It happens all the time in software development. 

The sin is to overlook it. To pretend it is not there is similar battered wife syndrome.

Without finding the bug in the first place, the programmers can never fix it. 

This is why software companies hire teams of testers. 

The tester's job is to try to break the program. 

Autodesk has been around for a very long time.  I am sure they have testers. 

If they want to hire me to do testing, that is fine with me.  
I am doing a pretty good job of finding bugs with the software. 

JM

[TrippyLighting]

I've told you now twice to share your model. I don't make assumptions. I look at data and come to conclusions.

Based on those I post bug reports or make suggestions to users to improve their workflow.

Show me the model!

[daniel_lyall]

If some one else can not get the same effect you are getting, What I can not at all, And I can show that in a screencast and a file if you wont it.

Is that a bug with fusion or the copy of fusion on your computer, or the way you are doing it.

This is the question and sinces I can not get the same effect as you then it's 2 and 3.

A pick has confirmed it's 2 or 3.

A file and a video will remove it down to 1 thing then you can state for a fact if its 2 or 3 and the dev guys can do the same thing, and one of us the user's.

Now this is up to you. Please post the file from your picks so the problem can be confirmed and show a vid that you can not pick anything but the grid plane.

And google trippy lighting you will see what he does with fusion, Its quite cool. just as a example of what can be done.

And if you wont email me the file and we can do it of the forum my email is in my bio.