Mirror Constraints for Parts

[MikeKovacik4928]

When you mirror a part in an assembly, all constraints are lost on the mirrored part.

Unless,of course, you choose the option to "ground mirrored parts"

Now if you want the mirrored parts to be constrained in a similar manner to the

original parts, you have to reconstrain them all over again.

There seems to be  no "mirror" constraint for parts.

(ie similar to symmetry constraint for geometry, but 

constraining a part symmetrically about a mirror plane to another part, so that if the 

original non mirrored part moves, so will the the "mirror Constrained"

Part)

Does this exist? Is there a way of doing it using standard Out of Box Inventor

What does everybody else do when it comes to mirroring parts and reconstraining them.

This is very time consuming unless you choose the "ground" option, which is not always 

what you want.

Michael Kovacik
AutoCAD 2d & 3d (29 yrs)& Inventor (7 yrs)
Manufacturing (30 yrs) Draughtsman
Autodesk Product Design Suite Ultimate 2018
Johannesburg, South Africa

Autocad 2018, Inventor Pro 2018
(and recently Autocad Customisation)

(Impossible only means you haven't
found the solution yet)

[jtylerbc]

In my opinion, it should simply (automatically) apply Symmetry constraints to the origin planes of the mirrored parts, about the mirror plane.  That would essentially be a "mirror constraint", as you described it. 

As-is, for the most part I don't even bother with the using the Mirror Components tool. Since it requires you to manually constrain the mirrored copy anyway, it doesn't really do anything all that helpful.

In some situations (if the parts themselves are symmetric), you can use Circular Pattern (2 instances, 180°) to approximate what a properly designed Mirror Components command should do. 

Various versions of fixes for this have been posted to the Ideas board.  You might want to go vote for one (or more) of them to show your support for adding this functionality.

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/inventor-ideas/improve-mirrored-parts-add-option-to-ground-mirrored-c...

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/inventor-ideas/treat-quot-mirror-quot-in-an-assembly-like-a-pattern-m...

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/inventor-ideas/mirror-assembly-improvements-append-symetric-constrain...

There are probably more - those are just the relevant ones from the first page of search results on the Idea board.

[MikeKovacik4928]

Thanks John

I have gone on to the ideas section you pointed me to, and cast my supporting vote.

It seems many users over the years have spotted this and are wanting this done.

It is a great idea and soooo logical.

Lets hope it gets implemented. Hundreds of experienced Inventor Users worldwide can't be wrong!!

Michael Kovacik
AutoCAD 2d & 3d (29 yrs)& Inventor (7 yrs)
Manufacturing (30 yrs) Draughtsman/Designer
Autodesk Product Design Suite Ultimate 2018
Johannesburg, South Africa

Autocad 2018, Inventor Pro 2018

Impossible only means you haven't found
the solution yet