Replacing several parts with a known subassembly in another file

[Anonymous]

I have two different assembly files for roller guides.  Some parts are different, but for the most part a lot is the same.  I have organized and created several subassemblies in one of the assembly files but I cannot figure out how to incorporate those subassemblies into the other file without removing all the individual parts and then placing and remating the subassembly.  I tried highlighting the specific parts that I know go into a subassembly but it did not give me the "replace" option.  Thank you.

Kyle

[mrattray]

I'm not sure I'm following exactly what you're trying to do, but replace only works on one component at a time; you can't select multiple components and then execute replace on them. You either have to do it one at a time or use the replace all command.

[Anonymous]

To try and clear things up, I have two separate roller guides which go on opposite ends of a machine.  They are somewhat different but utilize a lot of the same pieces.  For roller guide #1 I organized groups of pieces into subassemblies to make it easier for people to navigate when printing all the drawings for production.  The problem is that for roller guide #2, all the pieces are still individually recognized within the assembly file.  I was curious if there was an easy way to have roller guide #2 recognize the subassemblies that I created for roller guide #1.  Otherwise I will have to remove all the individual parts from the assembly and then replace them with the subassemblies I created on the first roller.

[mcgyvr]

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@Anonymous wrote:

To try and clear things up, I have two separate roller guides which go on opposite ends of a machine.  They are somewhat different but utilize a lot of the same pieces.  For roller guide #1 I organized groups of pieces into subassemblies to make it easier for people to navigate when printing all the drawings for production.  The problem is that for roller guide #2, all the pieces are still individually recognized within the assembly file.  I was curious if there was an easy way to have roller guide #2 recognize the subassemblies that I created for roller guide #1.  Otherwise I will have to remove all the individual parts from the assembly and then replace them with the subassemblies I created on the first roller.

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So you have multiple individual parts in an assembly.. Then you went and created a subassembly by itself that includes all those parts.

Now you want to magically let Inventor know that those individual parts aren't really individual but are a subassembly..

Then answer is no (but there is a workaround)..as already stated replace components can only do one part at a time.

What you "could" have done is select all those individual parts and use "demote" to create a subassembly. But since you already created the sub by itself you no longer have that option (unless you want to just delete your sub you created and use demote again to recreate it)

So if you haven't used this new subassembly in other assemblies already then I would just suggest deleting that sub and then using demote to recreate it.. That will prevent you from having to delete all the individual parts..as it will remove them as individuals and replace them with the new sub.. Basically it "pushes" all those individual parts down into this new sub..

FYI.. promote is the opposite of demote.. Promote will pull all individual parts FROM a sub and push them into the upper level as individual parts thus removing them from a sub..

http://blogs.rand.com/manufacturing/2011/05/save-hours-of-design-time-use-demote-and-promote-in-assemblies.html

[Anonymous]

I encountered a similar issue when trying to make multiple sub assemblies from an assembly file this morning.  This was my process.

1) Ensure sub assemblies and the geometry between all sub assemblies is identical.

2) Select all of the parts that are to be in the sub assembly.  Right click -> Expand 'Component' -> 'Demote' to a new sub assembly.  Name this subassembly the name you want for all subs Ex. subassembly (If you created one yourself, the software still needs this operation to keep everything in order. Delete the one you created and perform this step.)

3) Repeat this process for each assembly group in the model, renaming with indices.  ex subassembly1, subassembly2.

4) Select all of the subassemblies that were demoted in step 3,  Expand 'Component' from the 'Assemblies' tab and select Replace.  Replace all individual sub assemblies with the sub assembly created in step 2.  

5) All constraints and geometry should move to the new assemblies if all subs were created identical.