Keeping same feature internal ID when coping and pasting feature between two components with same internal ID

[tobia_veneri]

When working with two components that are copies of each other, all already existing features within these components are interchangeable in assemblies or drawings. However, if I later decide to add the same feature to both parts, there is currently no way to ensure these features remain consistent when replacing one part with the other.

For instance, if two components are considered "siblings" and a new hole is added to both, replacing one sibling with the other in an assembly will cause issues with the constraints associated with the new hole. The constraints do not function correctly because the new holes in both part are not "sibling", even if the hole have been copied and pasted from one part to the other.

What would be needed is to have a way to be able to add a feature to both parts and have inventor recognize the feauature as "the same" in both sibling components. This way, any subsequent replacements between these components in assemblies would preserve the constraints and ensure seamless interchangeability.

The same concept could be expanded at a higher level also to assemblies, if I want to add the same component to two "sibling" assemblies there is no way to have it recognize the new component in the two siblings assemblies as "the same".

Implementing this feature would significantly enhance the efficiency of managing "sibling" components and ensure consistency in "sibling" assemblies.

[RajSchmidt]

What you are looking is called “Derived Component”. It’s one of the most powerful tools in Inventor and has been for years. A copy, on the other hand, is just that – an independent copy.

[tobia_veneri]

I know what a derived component is and it's not what I'm looking for.

I'm referring to an indipendent copy of the same original part because they may have different dimension and also different additional feature. I need to add the same new feature (like a new hole) on both components, and i would like the new hole to be considered in the same way that it would if it was already there when I created the indipendent copy

[RajSchmidt]

AFAIK, Inventor uses internal IDs of faces, edges, axes, etc. when building assembly constraints. So, if you have an independent copy, it will retain the IDs of existing geometry. Hence the constraints work. But as soon as you add geometry, you get new IDs. How is the independent copy to know that the newly created feature is identical to the independent original?!

[tobia_veneri]

It would know because I'm coping and pasting the new feature from the other indipendent part, so if I'm pasting the new feature on a face that has the same internal ID as the face from which I'm coping the feature it should give the same ID to new feature

[RajSchmidt]

I don’t know the naming scheme for the IDs. But I image that there is some kind of counter involved. So what happens if you have changed you copy before adding the “similar” hole? As a programmer you might run into a whole bunch of problems trying to keep this consistent.

What you can try, though, is to use named iMates. They will find each other when you change parts.

[tobia_veneri]

If i changed the copy before adding the "similar" hole should happen the same thing that would happen if the hole was already there: as long as the feature is still there (no matter how big the change was) the id will still be the same and so it will be recognized.

This has implications not only with constraints, but also with everithing that has a reference to that feature. Like dimensions on drawings or every other reference to that geometry. When you work for a company there are a lot of components that are "similar" and that were created coping one from the other. If I later have to add the same feature to all of them if it kept the same id I could modifify the first drawing, and then copy it, replace the model and i would then have updated also the drawing of the second component without having to do the same modification on the drawing also for the second one. For one hole it's not a big deal, but as soon as you use it for something more complicated you could save a lot of time!