Assembly constraints gone wild

[Anonymous]

Hi everybody, I've been using inventor since series 9 and early on developed what I thouhght were good part creation habits. I always center the part on the origin point because this makes assembly models easier to assemble. Some of my models are pretty big, so i create sub-assemblies of the major elements, sides, floors, tail gates, bulkheads, suspensions and chassis'. (we manufacture trailer and truck bodies and chassis). So my problem is that sometimes when I open an assembly file to make a change or add a new part or sub-assembly, Inventor seems to have lost track of parts or assembly constraints and the model looks like it exploded, and I get the infamous red cross or error messages out the wazoo. At this point the model is pretty useless. Even when I open some of the sub-assemblies, they have "exploded" as well.

      I have a pretty simple file structure. I have a master "project" folder named Project. under that, are all my indivudual customer folders. Common parts are in a part library that is included in the project search path. I am the lone user of inventor, only one workstation, and not using vault. All my project files are stored on a server partition that only I use. (same drive, unique path)

                 Can anyone tell me how to prevent this from happening, or what causes it to happen. Or is this just on of those Inventor gremlins that everyone has to deal with some time. Any and all help appreciated. Thanks in advance.

                                       Frank

[k.hendrickx]

The way I explain the base function of Inventor to interested clients is that assemblies are basically nothing more then a text file containing links to other assemblies and parts.

These links always start from a starting point specified in you project file.

When these get moved, replaced or edited the assemblies get "edited" as well... ALWAYS take in to account when editing a part/assembly where these are already being used, because ALL these assemblies will change as well...

From the bit of information you told, it seems to me like you or someone else has been editing sub files of your project which causes (sometimes) irreparable damage to your projects.

Always protect files that are being shared across projects with your life by placing them on "read-only" partitions on your storage device AND including them as library files in your project and NOT workspace or searchpath files.

It's just the way Inventor works and also why you don't have to create/copy/... that same bolt over and over again.

[edi]

Thank you, as long as I have been using inventor I did not know that.

I have reviewed this design looking for copies of assembly's or parts
from other projects, I found none ???other than Imported Components
mostly from vendors (STEP files)

However I did find a Hole in one of the assemblies that is greyed out
,it has a sketch and I can not do anything with it. Right click gives no
actions.

I think this might be my issue.

I'm confused at what the browser tree looks like. I think I messed up
somewhere.
see two images.