Methods of Sharing Parameters Between Inventor Parts

There will be times when you have an Inventor part and would like to share or copy the parameters into another part for use in size or placement dimensions.  There are a variety of ways that Inventor can accomplish this all of which will transfer the parameters between parts but each method will treat the parameters differently.  I will describe these four methods and explain the resulting parameters.  These four methods are:

1. Derive Part
2. Link Parameters
3. Export Parameters
4. Save As

My model is a simple plate with four equal holes.  The Lgth and Width are "Model" parameters while the Hole_Dia is a "User" parameter.  The parameter table for the part is shown below.

Using the "Derive" command is probably the most used and versatile method of sharing parameters between parts.  When a new Inventor part is created, the "Derive" command is located  under the 3D Model tab in the Create panel.

I will not attempt to explain all the options available in this command but will concentrate on the deriving of parameters from one part to another.  In the Derive Part dialog box the parameters of the part being derived from are listed at the bottom of the tree.  You have the option to select which ones you wish to "derive" from the original part into the new part parameter table.  In this example I have selected the two model parameters and the one user parameter by selecting the circle beside each until it shows a "+".

By default these parameters are linked to the original file.  If these parameters are changed in the original file, the new part derived parameters will update to match.  This behavior can be suppressed or prevented by modifying the "derived" component settings in the browser.  Right click on the derived component and choose either "Suppress Link with Base Component" or "Break Link with Base Component".  It is important to remember the break link cannot be reversed once the part is saved.

All of the derived parameters are shown in the new part as User Parameters.  The gray background indicates that they are linked and the base component is listed at the top.  It is important to remember that additional parameters may be added to the derived part which are unique to the derived part and are not dependent on the base component.  These can be either model parameters, user parameters or both.

If the derived link to the base component is broken, the derived parameters are released and can be edited as needed within the new part.  Using this method you can create a similar but different parts easily.  

This article is getting a bit long so I will cover the other three methods in another article.