The different ways to create components

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The different ways to create components.

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In this video, we’ll create an empty component, a component with a feature, convert a body to a component,

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and we use drag and drop to restructure the browser.

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In Fusion 360, we want to open the supplied data set, gear reduction housing assembly.

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This is very similar to the design we began working with, just has a few more details.

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You'll note that in the Bodies folder we still have the back housing, the front housing and the front cover.

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However, if we take a look inside, you'll note that there are some more details,

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such as some small recesses that will be used for shafts to hold the gears in place.

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What we want to explore now is the different ways that we can make components and why components are important to us in the design process.

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The first way to make a component is to start with an empty component.

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So I'm going to begin by going to the Assemble menu and selecting New Component.

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In this case, the type will be Standard and I'm going to set the component name to be Housing.

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Note that we have a check box here from bodies,

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and we can select the parent, in this case it's going to be the top level of our design which is automatically selected.

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We're going to say OK and note that the housing is automatically active.

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And then every other thing in the design, bodies and components included will change opacity.

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So that way it helps us identify what we're actually working on.

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Whenever we create a new empty component, every new sketch or feature we create will be included inside of that component when active.

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When we go back to the top level, it will be included in the major list there as well.

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Another way that we can make components is to create them during a feature creation.

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For example, if we use extrude and we select some of the sketch profiles that are in this design,

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we'll move our way around making sure that we grab all the profiles that are of interest.

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And we'll move all the way down to the bottom section here.

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Once we have all those, if we begin dragging this out, in this case, we’ll go 5 mm.

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We can change the operation type from New Body to New Component.

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When we say OK, a new component is created with the creation of that geometry.

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Note that it's automatically Component 2 but we can select it and click on it again to rename it, in this case, we'll call this our Housing Mount.

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The housing mount created in this way is not active by default.

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We can activate it which changes the opacity of everything else and you'll notice the timeline only shows that extrude.

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The sketch that was used was created at the top level of the design.

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So it's not included inside of the housing mount when we activated.

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But the housing mount component can be expanded and it contains its own origin as well as its own Bodies folder.

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If we were to create any new features or components inside of here, they would be created and included inside of that housing.

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If we want to make any adjustments, we can activate that component and we can modify its features.

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In this case, I want to add these small sections that I omitted and then select OK.

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If I want to add things like a fillet to these sharp corners, I can select them, add the fillets.

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If we need to add additional edges, we can hold down the control or command key, we'll say OK,

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and note that the Fillet command is now inside of the timeline.

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If we activate the top level, it's still in here as an extrude and a fillet but it's underneath that component.

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Let's minimize the housing mount and let's talk about another way that we can create components.

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For this example, I'm going to hide the housing mount and focus my attention on the back, front and front cover.

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I'm going to select all three of them, right click and select the option to create components from bodies.

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When I do this, it creates a component for the back housing, the front cover and the front housing.

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One thing that's important to note is converting bodies to components,

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means that when I activate these, the only thing we're going to see inside of the timeline is that conversion.

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Any new features, sketches or anything that's added to these components at this point will begin to populate the timeline underneath this component.

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But when we convert them, we're only going to see that top level.

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There are some other things that we can do with components to simplify the assembly workflow.

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He back housing, the front cover and the front housing are all part of our housing which is currently an empty component.

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I can select these components and I can simply drag them into that housing component, which makes it a multi component.

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You'll notice the icon changes and these are all still individual components, they’re just now nested inside of a top level.

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This is helpful when we get to the drawing level or the animation level,

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because nested components or sub components can be a helpful distinction when we're talking about isolating certain elements of the design.

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Each of these has their own origin, which means they're free to move about inside of our design.

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That's something that we're going to talk about a little bit later.

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And when we create our assembly, we'll be adding joints and rigid groups.

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For now, if you move any of the components, simply revert their position back to their original location.

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And at this point, let's make sure that we save the design before moving on.