Constraints on Place Part

[Anonymous]

I apologize in advance if this is a repost. I am on a site that has next to no internet connection and am getting frustrated with the slow search on my phone.

I have been playing around with making some really detailed Content Centre parts the last couple of days for a client i have everything working well but yesterday while testing them i thought it would be nice to have them "auto constrain" on placement the same way bolts do to holes from the content center.

I thought it may have been imates i needed to add but that didn't seem to work.

I am wondering if anyone can explain or point me in the direction of a good resource to explain how that functionality works and how to add it to my custom content centre parts?

Thanks in advance for any help.

[blandb]

Content Center items use imates. If that workflow is what you are looking for then you need to use imates.

Can you show or further explain what problems you are having?

[Anonymous]

If that's the case, then i am obviously missing something. I added some iMates to my parts and they come through into the content center parts. that much is fine. BUT;

what i was hoping to achieve is to get the parts to snap to and if possible auto-size from existing geometry in a model in the same way a bolt/nut/washer does when it is placed into an assembly and you hover over a hole. 

i have just been playing around with some other bit's and pieces and it appears that this only works with bolts, so maybe it isn't something that can be done with other items in the content center?

[Anonymous]

OK, so the penny finally dropped while doing a different part.

If i want to get the flange i have done to place the same way as a bolt, i have to Author it as a "Component". i just did a very quick test and it seems to work for the most part the way i want but fails to place the part for some reason. i will have to do some more tinkering to see if i can get it to work, but that looks to be the solution.

any advice on a "quick" way to learn the ins and outs of Authoring components? (please don't say the help menus. they are not installed locally and the internet is killing me here on site. 😞 )

[blair]

You can download and install "Local Help" rather than having to always use the internet.

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/inventor-products/downloads/caas/downloads/content/inventor-2...

I'll see if I have anything at the office tomorrow on "Authoring".

[Anonymous]

Thanks blair. I was sure i had installed it locally when i did the install, but it doesn't seem to be working like that for me and hadn't noticed until today.

it would be a great help if you could find something. i haven't had a great look due to the internet issues, but it is slightly better at the accommodation, so i will try tonight if i get a chance.

[CCarreiras]

Hi!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zUhqBwUGbw

[blair]

This should help:

[Anonymous]

Thanks to you both for the help. the YT vid will definitely have to wait till i get home. i might print the PDF and try reading it on the flight home if i can. will let you know what i come up with after i have had a chance to play with it. 🙂