Modifying Body in Linked Component

[george]

I have a project which has several components that have been placed and remain linked to the source. I want to position a component and create holes in it so it can be mounted to another component. I create a sketch on the body face and then whenever I go to extrude/cut from the sketch curves I get an error "Error: No target body found to cut or intersect!".

Is this happening because I can't modify a linked component? When I create the component I don't know where the mounting holes will be until everything is placed so I can't create the holes in the original component. I might want to change the shape of the component so I like to keep it linked so I can change the original piece and not have 2 different versions.

Am I missing a way to do this or is it not possible to change a body of a linked component?

[Beyondforce]

Hi @george,

May I ask, why aren't you breaking the Link?

You cannot do anything to a Linked Component inside an assembly beside joining it! The Dev. team is working on it, but it will take some time until, we'll be able to edit a Linked Component.

Ben.

[george]

Well to be honest I was doing a lot of experimenting in the beginning. If I keep each part of the total assembly as as it's own component it makes the CAM operations easier to manage. Perhaps my logic and methods are flawed so I'm always open to suggestions.

[Beyondforce]

In an Assembly it makes a lot more sense to manage and edit the component in one place, instead of having 10 files.
If you are not going to change anything to that component, then by all means, keep the link. But if you do, then break the link. This way you won't have to work on multiple files at the same time.

This is what F360 is all about, Efficiency and making our work simple 🙂
If you found out that this workflow is not for you for some reason, then go back to linked component, it's not a problem. You can always save (export) a component into a separate file no problem.

[george]

It might be better to post this in the CAM section but that's the main reason why I kept separate files for the components. The assembly has parts in all different orientations but when you go to machine them they'll all come from flat stock. I guess I could create a new document and copy and paste components from the assembly instead of keeping them in separate files.

I actually hadn't thought of that until I started writing this and you're right, having 1 file with all of the components is easier than having many files so I might give this a try.

What I'm really hoping F360 come up with at some point is a nesting operation for CAM so you can take components and arrange them for CAM only operations. Something like you say you have a piece of stock that is X x Y x Z and F360 finds what pieces can be machined out of that stock and how to arrange them to get the best yield.

[Beyondforce]

Unfortunately, I'm not a CAM guy, so I can't advise you on this particular area's workflow. But I believe @PhilProcarioJr is the right person that can help you with that.

I think you should wait for his response.

Cheers / Ben
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Did you find this reply helpful ? If so please use the Accept as Solution or Kudos button below.

Check out my video channel: Fusion 360: Newbies+

[PhilProcarioJr]

@george

Whether or not you have each piece in an external file is up to you and your workflow but since you want to make changes to the parts in an assembly setup you will want to break the link like @Beyondforce suggested and then make your edits.

This functionality has not been added to Fusion yet but is is being worked on.

From a CAM aspect it doesn't really matter.

As far as nesting vote for it here:

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/ideastation-request-a-feature-or/advanced-nesting-functionality-for-c...

[george]

@PhilProcarioJr Thanks for providing that link to the nesting feature, I just added my vote.

F360 isn't something I use every day so I find myself forgetting things from time to time when I start a new project. Thanks @Beyondforce for making me rethink my design flow as I see it's probably best to just create all of the components inside the project. When I get to the CAM operations I can just copy and paste from this project into something used to nest the components and perform the CAM operations.

[Anonymous]

May i ask how you break the link to a component? Im having this same problem

[g-andresen]

Hi,

this way if your are talking about an external component

günther