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Inserting an axis

You can extend any axis in your design to make it available for revolves or rotations. The axis will extend a small amount beyond the edge of the space containing your design. It will maintain this margin extending and trimming it as you add, remove, or move objects in your design. Axes are not linked to the geometry used to create them (unless they are an extension of existing axes); they must be explicitly selected to move along with other items.

To insert an axis

1. Click AxisStraight line that an object rotates around or that objects are regularly arranged around. See Alignment axis. in the Create group on the Design2D or 3D model that contains at least one top-level component. tab.

2. Select one of the following:

    

   Select:	To insert an axis:
   Axial faceFaceSide or other surface of a solid. Some examples are the inside surface of a hole or the six sides of a rectangular solid. See Surface. of a 3D object through which an axis extends. The axis displays when you move the cursor over the axial face.	That contains the face's axis
   Two, non-parallel planar faces	At the intersection of the theoretical planes containing the two faces
   Linear edge	That contains the edge
   Cylinder and tangent plane	At the intersection of the cylinder and plane
   LineA straight line, arc, or spline drawn in Sketch mode or on a layout plane. Lines have length but no area. When you pull a sketch into 3D with the PullTool used to distort or deform geometry. Use the Pull tool to offset, extrude, revolve, sweep, draft, and blend faces; or to round, chamfer, or extrude edges. When converting a sketch to 3D, pulling a line creates a surface and pulling a surface creates a solid. tool, lines become edges.	That contains the line
   OriginZero point in coordinate system. You can insert an origin at any location in your design where you can anchor the MoveA tool used to translate or rotate geometry. tool, enabling you to dimension from the origin or quickly move the sketch grid to the origin. You can also insert an origin at a solid's center of mass or volume. axis	Along the origin's axis
   Circle or arc	That contains the center point and is normal to the line
   PointSingle location in the sketch grid. 2-D object that has no height, width, or length. The origin, an axis, and a vertex are examples of points. Use the Point tool to sketch a point on the sketch grid. Points are useful as a dimensional reference, for splitting, and for creating a point on a line or curve through which you want to draw a three-point circle. and a plane	Through the point and normal (perpendicular) to the plane
   Two points	Through both points
   Three axes	At the point where a cylinder's axis would be positioned between the three axes

    

3. (Optional) Click the Build Line tool guide to select reference objects, then select a temporary (dotted) line to create the one that you want from the possible axes. See Inserting temporary points, axes, and planes for detailed information about creating temporary lines.

    

   

To insert an axis through the mid-point between two points

1. Click in the Edit group on the Design tab.

2. Hold Alt+Shift and select two points to create two temporary axes that cross at the midpoint.

3. Click the temporary axis.

4. Click Axis in the Insert group on the Design tab.

Examples

Creating an axis by selecting the axes of three cylinders