Changing An Assembly Part, in Alibre Atom

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

How do I modify an Assembly by replacing one Part with a modified version, please?

I have drawn, rather laboriously, what is essentially three plates stuck together along their edges; a bit like a rectangular scoop.

I now wish to investigate cutting a large hole in the floor, to fit a slide or drop-door*.

I copied the original 3 Part and Assembly files with the word “modified” after each to keep the originals intact.

If I can swap the floor in the assembly simply by changing the file reference in the Design Explorer, I cannot work out how. Or indeed if it is possible.

The Help manual but did not help me, but I was probably searching the wrong area. I thought I could remove the original “Floor” in Design Explorer, and name the “Floor modified” in its place.

Surely not build a completely new assembly – that would be very inefficient with something of many parts!

 

Or have I gone the wrong way round?

Should I re-name the reserve copies (as “XXXX v1” or similar) and modify the original files still with their original names?

……

*
This is on our club’s loco. The existing ashpan, which I have drawn as a 3-part Assembly, is easy to drop but very awkward to replace, so I am investigating improvements.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

If you open the assembly and look down the tree on the left you should see the three parts of the assembly listed towards the bottom.

Right click on the one you want to change and a list will come up, select “replace component”

You then get a new drop down come and the second box within that is where you put the file name of the new part, there is a little file icon next to it so you can click that to locate the file.

[David JuppParticipant @davidjupp51506]

Nigel,

I will warn you of an issue if you did ‘ copy the originals’ …

DO NOT copy Alibre files and rename them.  Instead you should use ‘Save As’ from inside the software.

All Alibre files have an internal GUID value that is used when relating files together in an assembly.

If you copy and rename, then modify – you have differently name file but with same GUID – when used in assemblies they may apparently randomly be confused.

See  https://help.alibre.com/articles/#!alibre-help-v28/must-read-critical-items

 

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

You can also simply delete any part in an assembly and just insert a new one (properly named and copied) which may be a simpler option for you.

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

Thankyou.

Jason –

I saw the “Replace” tag but didn’t immediately connect it with what I was trying to do.

I though of deleting and inserting the new one but feared it might lead to having to re-attach it.

 

David –

Luckily I did ‘Save As’ the files from within Alibre! I think I normally do anyway with any other software, such as ‘Word’ and ‘Excel’, so probably by habit.

 

 

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