slider axis does not match origin axis fusion

[brad9126]

While I'm creating a slider joint, in the Motion tab of the Edit Joint dialogue, you can pick which axis you want Component 1 to move along. Why does this not always agree with the Axis in the design space? In other words, if I want Component 1 to move along the X axis in my design window/space, I often have to pick Y or Z in the Motion tab to get it to move in the correct manner.

Am I doing something wrong?

Is this just a quirk of Fusion?

Have I picked the "wrong" snap point for Component 1 or 2?

I always get the sliders to work but I would like to have a better understanding of this feature

Thanks in advance,

Brad

[jeff_strater · Accepted solution]

joint axes are determined by the geometry selected, and generally have nothing to do with the global or component origins.  A joint is composed of two joint origins.  You can see a preview of these when constructing a new joint:

The joint origins are always positioned so that the Z axis points away from the geometry selected.  Hint:  coordinate systems in Fusion are always displayed as:

• red: X axis
• green: Y axis
• blue: Z axis

as you can see in the image, the Z axes of each component are oriented away from the selected geometry.

When a joint such as a slider is created, the default is to use the Z axis as the slider axis.  This can be at any angle, depending on the joint origin.  As you can see in the video below, you can have a slider axis that is at any arbitrary angle with respect to the global or component origins.  Hope this makes things clearer.

[brad9126]

This helped greatly. Thank you!