A couple questions:
I want to use the AM imported CAD file of the Drive chassis to design off of i.e. create sketches on and then extrude parts. essentially design/draw parts off the existing chassis. Is there any way to do this? I could in Inventor
How do I “group” parts in an assembly so it’s treated as a single part?
thanks, Steve
There is! It is called in-context design. It is the button that looks like a part studio with a + in the top right.
I would personally suggest just taking measurements and putting them into a reference sketch and not doing in-context, but I’ve used both very well.
There is also a “group” function in onshape. Is is located here:
I have watched the december tutorial about this a a few times. It may help a bit.
We use the group function Cyberphil pointed out with imported assemblies from suppliers all the time, it works very well. Don’t get too comfortable with it, though - you don’t want to use it for your own stuff, generally speaking! if something in the group changes design, the group isn’t going to adjust to it. So, mates are better in that respect - when you move a hole, whatever you have mated to that hole moves with it! But when you know that you can’t modify a motor, then grouping the motor parts as the supplier sent them in the CAD is just fine 
In-context design can be very useful, but it can also be risky. Say I design two parts to go together, using the first part in-context to design the second. Well, OnShape “remembers” the context - if I change the design of the first part, that “remembered” context doesn’t change by itself, so the second part would then be wrong! You actually have to go in and tell OnShape to update the context in order for the changes to the first part to impact the second part.
One final note - the imported kitbot… are those the dimensions for your robot? You’ll want to double and triple check that the CAD dimensions match what you actually built, or the parts you design based on that imported CAD could be off! With some imported parts, you may find a need to make some changes, particularly when it comes to things like the length of the plates in the kitbot. If you do that, then the imported assembly is going to be wrong and need fixing - you’ll need to use mates to get things in the right spot again, instead of just grouping it as it was imported!
awesome thank you
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