create a separate duplicate of a part

[DerekLewis]

I have a an assembly that I want to use as a starting point for another model I want to build. To this end, I want to create copies of the parts with all of the configurations intact, that are separate and unique copies of the originals.

I have run into part conflict problems in Alibre v11 and earlier with creating copies via Save As, so I searched the forum looking for an alternate method though I have not found anything yet.

What is a good method for making copies of parts that keep the copy and the original separate?

 

[rpmalit]

1.do you want to insert copies of that assy you have created into one assy?
2.for the copy of parts, are you going to treat them as one or as different? meaning if you edit the original, all those copies will be updated?

 

[BernardK]

Open the original assembly and click File | Save All As. The operation will save the assembly plus all its parts and sub assemblies to a new location. An assembly is linked to its parts so that if the part is modified, the assembly will reflect the change. This means that the part must exist in the location where the assembly expects to find it. If the parts are moved, or if the folder where the parts are located is renamed, the assembly will ask where the part is located when it opens. This process can be used to relink parts to an assembly by either moving the parts or renaming the original folder folder.

I am assuming you are not using the Vault and are on V12.

 

[DerekLewis]

I want to create a duplicate of a set of parts as the start point for a new model/assembly. The duplicate parts should be separate so I modify them without affecting the originals.

 

[BernardK]

Save All As will do that.

 

[JordanCClark]

Perhaps an extra bit of information will help.

In an Assembly:

Save: Saves current assembly file and associated part files.
Save As: Saves a new assembly file, but keeps the old part files.
Save All As: Saves a new assembly file and new part files.

Save All As will do the job you're looking for.

 

[NateLiquidGravity]

Save As in assembly will also save new files for any that were modified since last save as well. Here is a chart I made in the past to explain.

 

[indesign]

Another hint is that if you do the 'Save All As' from in the 2D print you can get BOM and print saved to new name and location too.

 

[DerekLewis]

Thanks everyone for your help... I have had some problems with parts (with multiple configurations) ending up corrupted and I thought it might be due to using a duplicate part to start with.

Since this is not the case, I will look for other sources of the file corruption.