Assembly is not rotating

[Anonymous]

Is there a way to temporarily rotate a fully constrained assembly. There are instances where we need to rotate an assembly around an axis to make sure it doesn't hit another part. Right now we export it to a dwg and check it in Cad as a 2d drawing. This works but is time consuming having to change programs. For instance we have to check fold down walkways to make sure it clears the tank when folded. I know the best way would to build the walkway as a separate assembly and constrain it to be able to rotate but the assemblies we deal with are not always built that way.  I cannot include the model due to company rules, so I hope this question is not to vague.

[JDMather]

I can think of about half a dozen ways to do this, but without the files....

Best I would use -

1. If the assembly has proper constraints it should be a simple matter of suppressing a constraint.

2. It is pretty easy to Demote into logical sub-assemblies if it wasn't already modeled that way.

In general - the virtual assembly should operate in the same way that the physical assembly works.

[blair · Accepted solution]

Even if the walk-way was not constructed as a separate IAM file, you should still be able to rotate the items if they are properly constrained. You really should only have a pivot and angle constraints between the body/chassis and the walk-way.

[Anonymous]

You can make a couple other parts that are "bounding boxes" and make a new assembly...or make a derived part that are bounding boxes... or keep the bounding boxes as 2d and do your 2d test in Inventor sketch mode....or drop the 2d sketches into an assembly and constrain them.  (An assembly doesn't have to be solid models)