About Sub Assemblies

In the Autodesk Fabrication products, multiple items can be combined together to create a fully dynamic sub assembly. A sub assembly is a set of items that have been combined together to act as a single item. You can configure and specify a single dimension that automatically sets multiple dimensions in the sub assembly. A sub assembly can be saved as a catalog item, and can also include a customized Product List of available sizes.

The steps below summarize the process of creating a sub assembly. For examples and step-by-step instructions, see the other Help topics in this section.

  1. Determine which items make sense be combined into a dynamic sub assembly.
  2. In the CADmep model insert, position and orient the items in relation to one other, as you would expect the items to be used for coordination.
  3. Once the individual items are precisely positioned, use the SAVEASSUBASSEMBLY command to combine these multiple items into one sub assembly.
  4. Save and name the sub assembly to an appropriate folder.
  5. Define the dimension(s) that will allow you to specify the appropriate dimensions of the sub assembly as a single, dynamically-sized item.
  6. Define the required insertion point of the sub assembly using a coordinate value; for example, @0,0,0.
  7. Apply the sub assembly to the appropriate service or service template.

Once a sub assembly is created, it can be edited by right-clicking on it to display the Edit Sub Assembly dialog.