Capture position - Anyone else having trouble with unpredictable results?

[raneynelson]

I'm ripping my hair out recently trying to get consistent results from Capture position.

I'm doing a simple CAD of my subplate/vises setup, and can't seem to get the positions of my components accurately captured.  It also seems incredibly inconsistent to me.

I suspect it's something to do with components within components - but I'm at a total loss.

If I have a component for a sliding jaw, which in turn contains components for the main jaw, sub jaw, and a few bolts, etc.   I move the jaws, but when I capture and try to face the soft jaws, their position has not been captured and they revert several steps.  I've tried moving/capturing then re-moving/capturiing the overall components, subcomponents individually, etc. etc. and just can't get any sense of what's happening - some captures 'take' and some don't.

File is at:  http://a360.co/2jTUUaQ

I'm self-taught, so may well be violating 'best practices' or something but I've also used fusion 30+ hours per week for over a year now, and this is a new problem for me.  

Any insight would be great.  I keep wishing there were a simple 'global' command to just capture the current position of every single component in the design, but can't find anything of the sort.

TIA for ANY breadcrumbs, suggestions, etc that might be offered.

raney

EDIT TO ADD:  I'm most definitely moving components, not bodies - just to eliminate what I think is the most common issue with this.

[paul.clauss]

Hi @raneynelson

Thanks for posting! It looks like you are having some issues with the "Move" and "Capture Position" commands in Fusion 360.

One thing to consider here is that you can move component groups with the Move command in Fusion 360. Perhaps selecting a higher-order grouping would help resolve this issue. I have shown how I would approach the move commands for repositioning the vise jaws in the screencast below.

Another consideration should be applying joints to your models from the beginning. Using rigid groups and joints will ensure that components will stick together when moved. Joints could also make this model easier to work with, as you could edit the vise jaw spacing in the joint rather than with the move command, which could make changing the model for use with different parts easier, as editing the joint would allow you to numerically define the vise spacing in a more straightforward way.

Please let me know if anything is unclear or you have any questions - I'm happy to help!

[Anonymous]

Paul, 

I am glad you said "Another consideration should be applying joints to your models from the beginning. " since this is the standard for every mcad that I have ever used. 'Capture Positions' needs to disappear or have the ability to be disabled completely. It is just an annoying Fusion 360 specific problem that adds clicks, pollutes the timeline with more clutter, and teaches new mcad users bad habits. 

Perhaps capture position could be a voluntary thing where a user can choose to save a particular position. I can see this as a convenience like resetting a mechanism to some default position, but making it a mandatory thing that happens every time anything is moved for any reason is just silly.

[HughesTooling]

Have to agree with what @Anonymous  said Capture position is bad practice. I've seen quite a few problems in CAM caused by Capture Position and the use of Move that go away when a joint is used.

As capture position saves the position of all components at that point I wonder how many people complaining about poor performance and crashes have a timeline full of save positions. 

Mark

[Anonymous]

@Anonymous  you said "As capture position saves the position of all components..."

However in my version of Fusion 360 I see a 'Capture Position' check box on the Move/Copy palette which appears to be providing 'Capture Position' as an option for the specific component. Or are you saying checking this box captures the position of all components? Or are we talking about two different things?