Assembly pattern to points problem

[KevinBradberry]

I need help quickly. Why did the pattern of the screw component go halfway in? The screw is 3" long and went 1.5" into the member.

The screw that is sunk in completely was fully assembled and then I selected it for a Pattern to an array of datum points that I previously set up. Note: there are other screws not seen here that are sticking halfway out.

Thanks,

Kevin

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[ptc-1972301]

What kind of constraints have you given for the screw?

[KevinBradberry]

I used the following constraints.

When you assemble a component you will notice a square at the center of the component as seen below.

When I did the pattern to an array of points, all the points were on the surface of the wood (brown), and the square at the center of the screws matched up with the points thereby leaving the screws sticking out of the wood.

Without moving my points down inside the wood, I hope there is a way to do this pattern the way I want.

[Kevin · Accepted solution]

Try specifying an alternate origin point under the Options tab, in your case the pattern leader. Depending on how you have definded your points you may need to deselect the one at the pattern start otherwise you end up with a duplicate part at the start location.

[KevinBradberry]

Thanks, Kevin.

I did not want the original components to be copied during the patterning so that the first point would have two components overlapping one another, and, and you say, you can select the black circle to turn off any of the pattern memebers, including the first one.

I thought I would be clever and not have a datum point where the original component was assembled so that there would be no overlapping, but then I had no point to select as an alternate origin point. So, after your suggestion I created a datum point on the fly to define the alternate origin point.