trying to extrude against default direction without making the value negative

[malf1984]

Typically when I want to extrude a body in the opposite direction of the arrow, I just make the value negative and carry on. But for this particular application, I am trying to find some other way to do it. This is because I want to make the extruded value a defined parameter, so if all of the extrusions aren't oriented in the same direction, I'll get some going the right direction and some going the wrong direction. Is there some way to reverse the direction of that extrusion arrow so I can orient them all in the appropriate direction?

Thank you kindly.

[etfrench · Accepted solution]

Just use a formula in User Parameters.  Some can be positive and some negative and all based on one user parameter.

[o.briggs.1]

The direction of extrusion is based on the positive and negative directions that you assign. The positive direction is defined as being towards the side that you clicked on (which is almost always the side you are looking at). 
To switch the positive to being the opposite direction, try selecting your profile from the opposite side (ie the side you want it to extrude positively!

[davebYYPCU]

No.

You are mixing apples and oranges.

Parameter value (Apples) is fine, same for all articles you use it on, 

Direction (Oranges), which is individual for each feature, handle direction (oranges) is a (+) or (-) sign, when needing both, use separate Extrudes.

All Extrudes have the Dpth parameter with various dialogue statement combos.

@o.briggs.1  I can't make that happen, as it is more likely a front / back of the sketch plane not the profile.

[o.briggs.1]

I just tried it and you are absolutely right! Selecting opposite sides of the sketch doesn't change the direction as I had thought. Is that something that has been changed because I'm almost certain you used to be able to do that! 

[o.briggs.1]

Either way, as was said above. Each instance of the extrude tool is separate so you can apply the negative value to only the ones that you need. 
It is a bit like any number. For example if you are extruding 10mm, creating one extrusion to be negative 10mm will not make all the other 10mm extrusions negative as well 🙂

[davebYYPCU]

I don’t think there has been any changes to the Origin triad behaviour, 

the behaviour you mention, will be associated with any work planes not associated with the Origin.

[malf1984]

Hi etfrench, thank you for the suggestion. It's a good thought and may be the best I can do for now. It just gets a bit crazy because there are a lot of extrusions and a lot of dependencies within dependencies but I appreciate it. It's definitely better than ay alternative I've found thus far. 

[etfrench]

You can also use the Parameter I/O add-in to export the parameters to Excel.  It can be easier to work with them in Excel, then import them back to Fusion 360.

[malf1984]

O that's awesome. That will definitely be a big help. Thank you again.

[malf1984]

Thanks o.briggs.1, I appreciate the suggestion, it's definitely helping.

[inddesign_siy]

There should be the option to flip the extrude direction similar to Solidworks. From a user perspective, this should be an inherent feature. 

[etfrench]

The option is using  "-" and "+".

[fernando.lopezSZ649]

Hello sorry I'm late to the party,  I had success on changing the positive direction of the extrusion by changing the drawing plane and thus changing the positive X direction. Then I added some constrains to make sure my drawing remained where I needed.

[laughingcreek]

I think you're mistaken in what you observed.  changing the view cube doesn't in anyway effect the xyx orientation.  or the extrude direction.

maybe I'm wrong. can you show this in a screen cast?

[fernando.lopezSZ649]

Sorry I'm not sure if my comment updated but I realized what changed the extrusion direction was whether I drew it on a new plane or on a face.