Forming a New Assembly from Existing Components

You can form a subassembly from components (individual parts or subassemblies) that are already in the assembly, which move the components down one level in the assembly hierarchy.

Before creating a new subassembly, you can specify the default behavior for saving it. You can save the subassembly as a separate external assembly file or as a virtual component within the parent assembly file. Click Tools > Options > System Options > Assemblies and select or clear Save new components to external files.

All the components must be at the same level within a single parent assembly.

To form a new assembly from existing components:

  1. In the graphics area or the FeatureManager design tree, Ctrl + select the components.
  2. Do one of the following:
    • Right-click one of the selected components, and select Form New Subassembly.
    • Click Insert > Component > Assembly from [Selected] Components.
      To form a subassembly from components contained in a folder in the FeatureManager design tree, right-click the folder and click Form New Subassembly.
  3. Select an option for the subassembly origin:
    Origin of parent assembly Uses the origin of the parent assembly as the origin of the subassembly.
    Origin of the first selected component Uses the origin of the first selected component as the origin of the subassembly.
    Point or vertex Opens a dialog box where you can select a point or vertex to use as the origin of the subassembly.
    Depending on your Assemblies option setting, one of the following occurs:
    • The new subassembly is saved as a virtual component within the parent assembly.
    • The Save As dialog box appears, so you can save the new subassembly in its own assembly document. Browse to a different folder if required, enter a File name, and click Save.

    A new subassembly is inserted at the level where the selected components are located, and the components move into the new subassembly.

Example

In this example, assembly A contains components P1 and P2.

Select P1 and P2 to form a new subassembly, S1.
Instead of referencing the individual component documents P1 and P2, assembly A references the subassembly document S1.

Any mates that exist between components P1 and P2 move from the Mates folder of assembly A to the Mates folder of subassembly S1.