Cannot Project Sketch To Surface

[Anonymous]

I have a printed circuit board sitting in an enclosure. Using Align and Move it is accurately positioned. Both the board and the enclosure are imported 3D models. I selected the face of the board and made a sketch that has the board outline and the holes. Now I want to project the holes to the surface to make corresponding mounting holes. The Sketch toolbar isn't there, so I hit S and type project and get the Project to Surface option. I select it. It lets me choose a plane but then it automatically starts a new sketch and I can't see or select the holes. Tried selecting the sketch, no joy. I must be missing something really stupid, any help would be appreciated. 

[jhackney1972]

Please attach your model.  If you do not know how to attach your Fusion 360 follow these easy steps. Open the model in Fusion 360, select the File menu, then Export and save to your hard drive. Then use the Attachments section of a forum post to attach it.

[Anonymous]

Done. Thanks for being willing to look at it.

[jhackney1972 · Accepted solution]

You made the mistake of trying to place the sketch, for the holes, in the top level assembly, that is not the component that is getting the holes.  You need to place the holes in one of your linked components (sub-assembly).  Follow the Screencast and you will not have any issues.  I will not return your model since it is a linked assembly and you probably would not know how to get it back in place.  If I break your links to make it one file, then it will also not be any good to you.  Let me know if you need further help.

[jhackney1972]

Any questions?  Really like to have your feedback.

[Anonymous]

Hey John,

You're a lifesaver! I have been away from Fusion 360 for about 2 years. When you said that my sketch was in the top level assembly I had a flashback, lost hours on this before.

An interesting wrinkle is the non-paid license for hobbyists does not allow you to edit in place. Fortunately the little box comes with a blank model of a printed circuit board of the maximum permissible size with the holes. So all I did was instead of editing in place I switched to the box, added a sketch to the inside plane as you showed it, projected the holes from the board, extruded to object to cut the holes and saved it. Worked perfectly. 

Thank you for your quick and thorough reply. I'm back in action again, will order spacers tonight after I confirm fit. For an old EE this is somewhat of a revolution, being able to mechanically assemble my projects before buying parts!

Have a good weekend,

Bill