Using reference planes from parts in assemblies.

[Anonymous]

Hello all, 

Relatively new to inventor. Any tips on how ( if possible) to use reference planes from parts( not those from the origin file..xy...yz xz etc.) in an assembly for use with constraints etc?  I swear i've managed it somewhere already, but i'm currently struggling to get them to turn up in the assembly tree.

Any tips or simple alternatives? 

Cheers

[Lewis.Young]

Hello,

In the assembly, go to the browser on the left and expand the part, then right click on the part's workplane and check the "Visible" option. You can then constrain using the plane in the assembly.

Lewis Young
Windows 7 x64 - 32GB Ram
Intel Xeon E5-1620 v2 @ 3.70GHz
nVidia Quadro M2000 - 4GB
Inventor Professional 2017.3
Vault Basic 2017

[Anonymous]

Thanks Louis. 

But this is what i am trying to do already. The plane feature in the 'part tree' when working in the 'part file' doesn't show in the tree under the part in the 'assembly tree'. 

Weirdly i can see additional work planes from sub-assembly trees in the top assembly tree, but not from the parts.

I've tried making changes to the part tree locally, but nothing i do makes the planes visible in trees globally.

Cheers

[Lewis.Young]

Have you made sure that the option shown below is checked?

If it's checked and it still doesn't work, can you share some screenshots to help me understand better?

Lewis Young
Windows 7 x64 - 32GB Ram
Intel Xeon E5-1620 v2 @ 3.70GHz
nVidia Quadro M2000 - 4GB
Inventor Professional 2017.3
Vault Basic 2017
3ds Max 2018

[Anonymous]

Thanks! 

Really appreciate the help! 

I've checked in both the part and the assembly. All boxes ticked including the user work planes.  Here are some snips of the part tree and then the part tree in the assembly. 

Part treePart tree in assembly.

Are the part features meant to be accessible from the Assembly tree? Is Inventor capable of this type of Top down design? 

Cheers

[Lewis.Young · Accepted solution]

Ah i see the problem now. By default when you create iParts the work features aren't included.

TO include them, open the ipart parent, edit the table, go to work features and double click the work plane. It'll then be included when iPart members are generated.

[Anonymous]

Nice!!!

That worked perfectly.

Thanks Mate!!!

[Lewis.Young]

No worries 🙂