How to get assembly aligned back to workspace axes ??? - RESOLVED

[jordanyte]

I have an INFURIATING problem.

Sometimes after constraining a bunch of simple rectangular extruded parts into a box, the whole thing has gone out of alignment with the workspace axes.

See the "measure" screenshot - that whole rear panel is perfectly constrained to all the other components but all of them in unison somehow now are 0.86 degrees out of alignment with the Y axis:


This is a problem because in order to produce proper 2D cutting outputs (for a laser or CNC etc) one MUST HAVE part outlines with extrusions perpendicular to the workspace planes. (That's another whole issue which I will gripe about in a separate thread).

Now, I do know that I can constrain a part edge, for instance, to an axis or a part face to a plane. But in doing so, various other items within the assembly which previously had their constraints removed (after placement, to save processing power and reduce unwanted "overconstrained" error messages) will not move with the panel.

I don't know how the whole assembly got tilted either. I SWEAR I did NOT use the triad thingy.

Am I seriously the only unlucky one who has this issue (frequently)? I must be doing something wrong. PLEASE HELP.

1) How can I remove the axis rotation on the entire assembly?
2) How can I prevent this ever happening in the first place?

 

[HaroldL]

The key is to constrain the first part in the assembly to the default planes. You can turn on the parts planes by RMB clicking on the part and selecting to Show Reference Geometry from the pop up menu. Although some like to just Lock the part in position mating to the planes will guaranty the placement.

As for getting your current model back to its proper placement, RMB click on the base part and selecting Show Reference Geometry from the pop up menu then mate its planes to the default assembly planes.

Adopting this as a Best Practice will should/will prevent this from happening again.

 

[jordanyte]

Excellent advice thanks. After my frustrated panic and coming back after a break I did end up re-constraining one of the main parts to the y axis and it didn't take quite as long as expected to fix up the bits that got left behind. Moving forward I'll take your advice and remember to anchor the very first part in the assembly to the workspace planes.

Thanks again!