imageI needed a threaded hole for a drive shaft in the top plate of my carrier assembly, and was using it to show how well Update works in Autodesk Inventor Publisher now. I thought it would be nice to show you just how fast Autodesk Inventor Derived Components can make annoyances like having to return to edit Assembly components, simply evaporate.

imageEverything in the entire design was established using a base skeleton to get a solid foundation and then Deriving Components from that skeleton to make creating Assembly related features a breeze.

So I opened the top plate component that was derived from the base skeleton in the Assembly.  A quick check of the Derived Skeleton reveals that no reference to the drive shaft exists in the part.  No Problem.

Add the Work Feature by editing the Derived Component

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Edit the derived component, and add the missing Work Axis reference that was already established in the base skeleton at the beginning of the project. Once the part updates, the Work Axis appears.

I created a fast Work Point on the upper surface using the Axis as an intersection, and set to creating the Hole Feature at this Point.

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A save and a few seconds later the Plate updates in the Assembly. Sure enough, an Update in Inventor Publisher accomplishes the same thing.

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Work Features in Top Down Modeling

It took longer for Inventor to open, than the entire edit and update process. Using Work Features to represent component alignments and intersections is a great option. Once the Base Skeleton has been established, this method is a hell of a lot faster than any other option as well. Since Work Features are the most stable features in the Inventor arsenal, it make good sense to use these in the base skeleton, and hand them off to Parts and Assemblies where needed, and as you can see, it makes updates like this a breeze.