Position component relative to origin

[-Nick-]

Hi,

New user, first post and apologies in advance if there is an obvious answer to my question which I haven't found.  I am trying out F360, coming from Rhino, so lots of new things to learn. 

Our products are comprised of reusable components, often arranged symmetrically, so I've started by importing several models with the intention trying to recreate one of our simpler products.  The difficulty I have yet to overcome is how to position the first component within the design, relative to the origin.  To be precise, I would like to create a snap point, (not sure about terminology yet - joint, connector, fixing point), at the mid point of one edge of my component and then use this to move the component relative to the origin.

Any help would be most welcome,

Nick

[HughesTooling]

Make sure you are creating components and following Rule #1. Then look into joints and joint origins. You might be able to use just a joint on your component and the document origin, if there's no convenient position on your component to use as an anchor, create a joint origin at the correct location.

Help on joints

http://help.autodesk.com/view/fusion360/ENU/?guid=GUID-A83EFB3E-E7C4-4B78-A842-59069004BDC0

Help on Rule #1

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/design-validate-document/fusion-360-r-u-l-e-1-and-2/td-p/6581749?nobo...

[-Nick-]

Thanks for the prompt reply.

My component is imported and I have created a Joint Origin in the correct place on that component.  The component is inserted as the first part into a new design but I fail to position the component relative to the design origin.

The guide states that, "With Joint we move the first selected component to the location of the second selected component", whereas I want to move the selected component to the location of the origin.

Thanks in advance.

[HughesTooling]

Did you create the joint origin on the component before importing? You can't add it after it's imported. There should be no problem adding a joint between a component and the document origin. If you're still unable to get it to work can you install screencast and make a video of what you're doing.

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/community/screencast

Mark

[-Nick-]

Yes, the Joint Origin is created on the linked component and the component is up to date. What I cannot find is the command to mate the Joint Origin with the document origin in which the component is inserted.  Asemble > Joint is not the one, nor is Assemble > As Built Joint ...  is it a move command I am looking for?  (I would send you a screencast but there's nothing to see - I'm just trying to find the right command).

[HughesTooling]

It should be as simple as press J for joint, select the joint origin on the linked part then select the origin from the main component (top origin in the browser). Is the origin visible in the document you're making the assembly in?

[-Nick-]

Hmm.  I clearly haven't grasped something quite fundamental... To break it down,

I just want to position my component in the design so that its Joint Origin is at the position 0,0,0 . 

I'm sure the lights will come on at some point and I will feel foolish.

[PhilProcarioJr]

@-Nick-

Highlight your component in the tree and hit the M key, then in the options select point to point move. Select the bottom corner of your box and then in the tree select the origin in your main component.

[PhilProcarioJr · Accepted solution]

@-Nick-

[-Nick-]

Thank you for putting me out of my misery.

[HughesTooling]

The reason you couldn't get the joint to work is because you don't have the origin visible, the second light bulb in the browser is off. The grid and it's XY axis are not the same as the origin in the browser.

Mark

[-Nick-]

Many thanks for putting me straight.  The light bulb moment has both literally and figuratively taken place.

Nick