Create and organize assembly components

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Create and organize assembly components.

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After completing this video, you'll be able to create a component,

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organize and manage assembly components and insert faster

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in fusion.

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Let's get started with the supply data set, sample engine assembly dot F 3D.

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We're gonna begin talking about assemblies and this is a relatively big topic,

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but there are a few basics that we need to understand.

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First,

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we need to understand the differences between bodies and components in a design.

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At the very top of our design,

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we have a body's folder with a body called connecting rod

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bodies are inherently linked and fixed to the top level of our design.

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This means that they follow the specific origin at that top level.

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Anytime we have a component in a design, for example, this piston,

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the piston itself has its own coordinate system

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and its coordinate system is tracked in the design and fusion can

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keep track of where it is relative to the top level origin.

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It knows if it moves it rotates or if its position at all changes.

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When this happens, we need to tell fusion if we want to capture that position

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or if we want to revert back to its previous location.

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The capture of the coordinate systems for each component

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is how we control motion in an assembly.

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So we need to first understand how we create a component.

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Let's start by hiding the origins for the piston and

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hiding the origin for the top level of our design.

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Components in a fusion design are going to be created in a couple of different ways.

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First, we can go to our assemble menu and select new component.

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Components can be internal to the current design or saved in an external location.

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Internal components also have the option to come from bodies or to be empty.

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We can also activate them at the time they're created.

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If we create a new empty component, meaning it's not coming from an existing body.

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We can say, OK,

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we'll notice that the timeline at the bottom changes and now it's empty.

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This is because components can store their own information.

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For example, if we create a new sketch,

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I'm going to go ahead and finish this.

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The sketch is now saved inside of this

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timeline that's available when the component is active.

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If we go ahead and activate the top level of our design, again,

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the sketch we created is still here listed with all

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the other features that are used in the entire assembly.

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So creating a component is a great way to

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organize the features used inside of a specific design.

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But again, each component will have its own coordinate system.

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And that's why it's important for mechanical motion.

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We also have the ability to create a component from a body.

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This can be done from the new component option by selecting from bodies.

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But we can also right click on a

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body directly and select create components from bodies.

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By using the create components from bodies.

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It will create a new component using the name of the body.

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This new component now has the ability to move

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around because it has its own coordinate system.

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It doesn't currently contain any sketches or features because they

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were all created before the component in the timeline.

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The component creation in the timeline happened after

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the point where that feature was actually created.

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We can add new features and we can activate

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the component anytime we want to work on it.

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Now that we understand a little bit about

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bodies and components and how to create components.

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Let's talk a little bit about how to organize and manage our assemblies.

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In some instances, we may find that certain components go together.

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Things like the connecting rod and the piston are

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all going to be part of a rotating assembly.

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If we want to create a specific sub assembly,

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we can do this by starting a new component.

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And I'm gonna call this one rotating assembly.

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I'm not gonna currently activate it. I'm gonna say, OK,

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when we have a rotating assembly, if we want to add components to it,

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we can simply drag and drop them in.

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If we take a look at the crank,

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the connecting rod,

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the big and small end bearings as well as the piston.

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These are all designs that are part of a rotating assembly.

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If I activate this,

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we can now see all the components that are now sub components in this assembly.

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We can see that we've got our piston, our connecting rod,

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the big and the small end bearings, as well as the crank itself.

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Each of these is still an individual component.

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However, now they're subassemblies.

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This is an important topic and this does take a little bit of time to understand

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because now our subassembly rotating assembly has its own coordinate system

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and all the components underneath it have their own coordinate systems as well.

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This tends to get a little bit tricky to manage.

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So make sure that you understand the implications

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when you start to create your own subassemblies

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play around with different simple designs and figure

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out what works best for your own designs.

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We also have the ability to create groups in our timeline.

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For example, the creation of components.

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If we shift, select everything here, we can right click and create a new group,

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creating a group of similar features,

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especially ones that are things like creating a sub assembly

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can clean up the timeline when you have the top level of your design active.

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When we activate our rotating assembly,

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we can still see the group here and it can be expanded or contracted as needed.

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We can go back to our top level and once again,

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we've got the group here that can be expanded or contracted whenever needed.

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In addition to the creation and management of assembly components,

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there's another type of component that we can

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add from our insert menu called insert faster.

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Insert faster is a tool inherent to fusion that allows us to insert,

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predefined fasteners into our assemblies.

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When we use insert fastener,

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a fastener project will be created and all the fastener data will be stored there.

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But let's go ahead and take a look at toggling some options.

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We wanna make sure that we're using the metric system in this case.

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And we're gonna go through our folders until we find a specific type of hardware.

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We're gonna be using a socket head

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and I'm gonna start by taking a look at a specific socket head. In

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this case, I want to use this one here which is in the Din iso standard.

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When I select it, we have several options,

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we can see a graphic on the screen to help define the hardware.

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We also have a nominal size option that says auto.

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The reason this is helpful is because we can hover

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over geometry and it'll automatically identify the size needed.

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It tells me here that this is an M eight

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hole and the nominal length is gonna be 12 millimeters.

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The reason it's stopping at 12 millimeters is because the

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rest of this design is not currently in this assembly.

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So we would need to drag or increase the overall length of the hardware.

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It has the select similar option which was able

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to add hardware to similar features in the design.

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Oftentimes when we have similar sized holes or features

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that were created using things like pattern or mirror,

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it can automatically detect those

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we have the ability to create and continue,

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which once again is going to generate the hardware for us.

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And in this case, we're going to close out the dialogue.

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So now we've added fasteners which will be inside of a fastener folder

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with a chain link icon because these are saved external to our design.

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Once again, when we use fasters,

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faster project is going to be created and the

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hardware is going to be stored in that location.

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We can still use things like edit in place to make adjustments to our geometry.

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And we can work on the geometry itself by opening up those designs.

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We can right click and we can insert fastener using similar designs.

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We can edit in place,

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we can edit the fastener or we can replace

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it with another one from the fastener library.

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We also have the ability to open or show in location

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at this point. We're not going to dive any deeper into the fasteners.

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Just understand that on the insert menu,

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we have insert fastener that allows us to

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quickly create fasteners inside of our assemblies.

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At this point, we're not going to be using this assembly again.

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So feel free to save it if you wish or make any future changes or adjustments.

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Once you're done, make sure that we move on to the next step.