I believe it isn´t working as your rotation value of the pasting object is reset and no longer corresponding to the choosing axis.
I made a similar object - put it in place - adjusted the rotation value- use the Y-axis and hit apply - bingo.
Cheers
Frank
Thanks Frank.
I guess that is right - I called the 'coord system tool' and did some tweaking of the pivot point in such a way there is a rotation value, and that made it work.
I didn't realise that would be necessary, I was just thinking the direction the transform gadget pointed the axes would be the direction the mesh would be projected ...
I appreciate your help.
--shift studio.