Replace All Error: Tell Inventor X feat in part A is equiv to Y feat in part B?

[Anonymous]

When doing a "Replace All" command in Autodesk Inventor I'm often confronted with the error: "Relationship was placed with respect to geometry that is no longer available."

For example:

If I change Screw A to Screw B with a "Replace All" for 20 (or more) screws. Before the Replace All command I have the axis (Screw A-Axis 1) of each Screw A mated with the hole it should go in (Mate 1). I also have the bottom of the head (Screw A-Plane 1) of each Screw A to touch the face I need (Mate 2). When I "Replace All" Screw A with Screw B for all 20 instances, I get the error "Relationship was placed with respect to geometry that is no longer available." 40 instances (one instance per Mate).

I know why this is happening. Inventor doesn't know how to relate ScrewA-Axis 1 with ScrewB-Axis1 or ScrewB-Plane 1.

Is there a way I can tell Inventor "This axis on Screw B (ScrewB-Axis 1) is equivalent to this axis on Screw A (ScrewA-Axis 1)"? And "This plane on Screw B (ScrewB-Plane 1) is equivalent to this plane on Screw A (ScrewA-Plane 1)"?

This would save me so much time!

Otherwise, I'm stuck with redefining these features/mates 40 times! Which doesn't even work most of the time. And then I'm forced to delete all mates and start again!

I apologize if this has already been answered. I looked for this question/answer for a long time (and many times) and couldn't find it.

Thank you!

[Curtis_W]

Hi philips,

 If I'm not mistaken the only way to prevent this would be to save a copy of ScrewA to make ScrewB, make the mofifications as needed, and then you could replace without issue. Otherwise Inventor does not know how to match the geometry (even if they were modeled exactly). This might help you in the future, but I don't know of a way to resolve the issue with existing files that do not come from the same "family".

I hope this helps.
Best of luck to you in all of your Inventor pursuits,
Curtis
http://inventortrenches.blogspot.com

[Anonymous]

Curtis,

Thanks for the reply, but this does not solve my problem. The parts I'm doing this to are often step files and there's no way for me to modify the original part (Screw A) into the replacement part (Screw B).

Even if it was possible to do the modification, I feel that is a workaround more than a solution. Granted, I've had to do it many times, and will continue to whenever possible. But it's almost always not possible.

Thanks though,

Phil

[swalton]

Kind of, depending on how you model Screws A and B. Both files have to contain the same referance surfaces, edges, or workfeatures.

If Screw B is a copy of Screw A, it works fine.

If Screw A and B are ipart Members from the same factory, it usually works ( I've got some legacy iparts from Inventor 9 or 10 that don't work well)

If Screw A and B came from the same Content Center family, it works fine.

If Screw A and B are completely independent models, you are out of luck.  In that case, I tend to add Screw B to the assembly and then edit each constraint attached to Screw A and move them to Screw B. 

I would like Inventor to have a Constraint Replacement tool that works like Creo's Edit Reference Table under the Replace command.  That tool lets you select each constraint reference on Screw A and pick a replacement constraint reference on Screw B.  The nice part of this command is that you only have to pick a source and target reference once.  If I have 5 constraints to the XY plane on Screw A, I only have to say that Screw A XY_plane = Screw B XY_plane once.  Creo will update all constraints that use the XY plane.

[Curtis_W]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Curtis,

Thanks for the reply, but this does not solve my problem. The parts I'm doing this to are often step files and there's no way for me to modify the original part (Screw A) into the replacement part (Screw B).

Even if it was possible to do the modification, I feel that is a workaround more than a solution. Granted, I've had to do it many times, and will continue to whenever possible. But it's almost always not possible.

Thanks though,

Phil

---

Hi philips,

My applogies if I was unclear, but I in no way intended my answer as a solution, but simply information to help in avoid the situation in the future, if applicable.

Previously I wrote: "... but I don't know of a way to resolve the issue with existing files that do not come from the same "family"."

I thought that was sufficient, but to be clear there is not a solution that I am aware of, but maybe someone else knows a trick.

I hope this helps.
Best of luck to you in all of your Inventor pursuits,
Curtis
http://inventortrenches.blogspot.com

[mcgyvr]

No its not possible.. and yes it SUCKS big time..

I've been going through this all month because we are now demoting some parts into their own subs..

It works fine for the first assembly (constraints are retained which they didn't use to be so there is some progress) but then the next assembly where those same 2 parts were used I can't just demote again and need to replace the 2 parts with the new sub and all the constraints go bye-bye..

The last assembly I did had 60 constraints that I needed to edit and reselect the new geometry.. It took me a good 30 minutes to correct the assembly and get right of the red X.. And I had to do that for 4 files that all used the same sub.. 

[swalton]

I've wanted this for years, so I finally started an Idea post here:

http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/inventor-ideas/assembly-component-replacement-and-fixing-broken-constr...

Vote if you think it should be added to Inventor.

[Anonymous]

Curtis,

Thanks for the clarification.

Sorry if I seemed a bit short (underlining not). It's not you, it's this issue and Inventor programmers who haven't fixed this obvious and aggravating flaw.

And I wanted to make sure others didn't consider this issue solved and move on.

Thanks again for your input.

Phil

[jholland3XDLM]

I can manage the 36 or so redefining constraints, although a tool to redefine them all would be nice (I did vote up the idea), but the most frustrating part is the constant error message (regarding the 35 remaining broken constraints) that insists on popping up each time I maneuver or repair a part. It makes me want to just drop sanity and start singing "36 errors of mates on my part, 36 errors of mate, take one down fix it around 35 errors of mates on my part." 

[swalton]

Try setting the option shown in this screenshot.  I think it helps cut down the design doctor's interruptions as you fix a model.

[Anonymous]

Hi, I'm in exactly the same position. I have to replace 12 assemblies within a very large assembly. The new assembly is the old assembly placed inside a new assembly. When I replace them there's list of cross-part errors.

As it's a large assembly everything's going slowly and I'm on a " rush rush " deadline.

Just hoped there was a magic button I knew nothing about. 🙂

Jim

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! Unfortunately, there isn't a magic button to make everything work all of a sudden. I think I have a theory of what is happening. The issue you are seeing may be related to in-context reference. Essentially, the dependency is established within an assembly between parts. Now you try to replace the parts with other parts, which are not aware of such dependency. It can lead to errors. Without seeing an example, I cannot prove the theory. If possible, please share an example exhibiting the behavior. Please feel free to start a new thread. The issue you are encountering may not be the same as the original thread here.

Many thanks!

[Anonymous]

My issue seemed to be the same as the issue I commented on saying it was the same.

I have fixed the errors now ( about 2 hours work ) so can’t show the example of the errors.

This assembly was in the model:

Picture ( 1 )

But it was structured wrongly for our purposes this time.

We can’t change it’s structure as it’s one of our standard assemblies and used in many larger assemblies. And please don’t ask me to overwrite the BOM or parts list.

So this assembly was placed inside a new assembly and the old assembly was replaced with the new assembly ( 12 instances )

Picture ( 2 )

There were 3 constraints holding each assembly in place.

Each assembly had a projected sketch onto the roof of a tank to cut the necessary hole which also needed to be edited and repaired.

All of this is in a very large assembly so it takes 3 or 4 or 5 minutes every time I click on something. ( sometimes even 15 minutes when Inventor goes off on one ) ! ! !

Which is no fun when a project manager is breathing down your neck asking why it’s not ready. ☹

In the past I’ve just had a little swear and got on with it.

This time I thought I’d check if there was a magic button and saw that other people were experiencing the same problem and were asking for a “ magic button “ to be added if possible.

Please don’t think I’m having a go at Inventor. I first got a taste for it in 2002 on version 5.

We’re now on version 2018 and I still love using it. 😊

Thanks for your help.

Jim Davies

[Anonymous]

And while we're on the subject of speed . . . . . .  . I've been looking for years for an answer to this:

As a man using Inventor all day 5 days a week.

Is it better to turn off the Hyperthreading?

Here's a screenshot of my drawing being updated and using all 4 cores ( 8 with hyperthreading ) this went on for about 15 minutes.

Modelling only uses 1 core.

When hyperthreading is switched on does it switch on something which would not be otherwise used or does it split the output from the cores in order to perform as 2 therefore slowing the modelling process ? ? ?

Has this ever been researched ? ? ?

Thanks.

Jim