New look, same great content......
Parts, assemblies, or sub-assemblies can be used as reference in our models. This means their Bill of Materials structure is set to reference. Reference models are commonly items that we are designing around, and don't want to show up on our manufacturing BOM. These could be supplied by outside sources or modeled up ourselves. These models show up by default as reference lines in an Inventor drawing view. Did you know there are also a number of other options available to control those reference models in the drawing view. Perhaps you want to show them as solid lines, or they keep getting cut off in the drawing view, maybe you don't want to show them at all. It seems like I have been getting a lot of questions about this lately so I thought I would share a deeper look into the referenced model as used in an Inventor drawing.
Utilizing the Content Center data that comes with Autodesk Inventor is a great way to save time modeling standard components. The thing is, there is a difference between having a large library of standard parts and a large library of Useful standard parts. The Content Center comes with so much that often times Inventor users are overwhelmed and can not find the standard parts they are looking for. Content Center Favorites is a great way to build your own selection of Content Center data. This also works great with Content Center Filters which we covered last week.
The ability to blend fillets and similar feature has been increasing over the years, but Autodesk has really outdone itself with the automatic blending that occurs when using the "move face" command. Moving a feature with fillets to an area on the part that also contains fillets will cause a blended region to occur automatically. Whats more, you can even see this occur in the real time preview so you know exactly what you are going to get as a result.
What does your Content Center look like? Many Inventor Content Centers I see will look different based on how many CC Libraries are installed, or have been created custom. All those Content Center libraries can be a lot to sort through when building a set of Favorites or when searching for a certain part. Content Center Filters are a great way to filter based on standard or user created libraries and categories. Do this before creating a list of Content Center favorites and you can save your self a lot of time. The two Content Center features work great hand in hand. Today we'll look at Filters. Next week we'll visit Favorites.
In todays day and age we are all very busy, and it seems we dont have much extra time. I have put together a video that will take you through a high level look at Autodesk Inventor 2011 What's New in under 30 minutes. Of course this is not everything but should be enough to spark your interest to learn more. A few short slides and some clicks and picks, will have you wanting more information.
Let's take a look!!!
http://my.brainshark.com/Inventor-2011-30-Minutes-or-Less-450754882
Created by Dave one of the Cad Geeks
This feature was new to Inventor 2010 and with the next release on the way, I wanted to get this one in our blog. User Coordinate Systems in Inventor. I have found many interesting ways to implement this for customers over the year. In a single part you can use this to locate a new 0X,0Y,0Z, or just locate a specific connection point. Then in the assembly this works great for constraining parts together based on that known point instead of using three or more assembly constraints. This can be done easily using the Constraint Set constraint in the assembly environment. It allows you to quickly put components together based on mating UCS axis, and planes in a few clicks.
I'm not about to take credit for revealing some kind of new paradigm in modeling technique... that has already been taken care of by other fellow bloggers. But I am wondering how long it will take for the average user to realize that they can move many of the Inventor dialog boxes right off their screen. Want more screen space? I thought so... this is an Inventor release for you. I will just show a couple simple examples with the Inventor revolve, extrude, and fillet commands, and then you can check out Rob Cohee's blog for a more in depth demonstration. He also has an example of creating the same typle of part with Inventor 2010 so you can really get an idea of the differences.
Extrude Command example video HERE.
Check out Rob's more in depth comparison HERE.
Contributed by Ben of the Tata Technologies CAD Geeks
Free Move
Video link:
http://www.screencast.com/t/YjgzMjk1MD
Created by one of the Cad Geeks
One of the coolest new features in Inventor isn't really an Inventor feature at all. The new data mapping feature within Vault Workgroup and its related capabilities will really usher in the next level of simplicity when trying to manage the release of large design projects with multiple individuals involved. I will be covering this topic in detail during our April 9th data management user group (Sign Up Here) but here is the high level overview to wet your whistle.
Data Mapping is a powerful process to interrogate Vault information and create charts that can be interactively used in the Inventor environment.
You can now create fancy graphs and charts of Vault information, and these might be useful on their own, but they can also be utilized by Inventor. These can be used to interactively display information on the Inventor model itself. This could be coded by things like: parts pending change, make versus buy designation, current project or design status, compliance status, component cost range, weight range, design lifecycle, or other user "checked-out" status for collaborative designs.
Not only can this information be displayed on the Inventor model, but it can also be used in creating a selection set of Inventor model data as well. Stay tuned for our April Data management users group where I will demonstrate the various uses of this great new tool for Inventor.
Contributed by Ben of the Tata Technologies CAD Geeks
So you are running an FEA analysis in Inventor, and you need to apply a load to a cylindrical face. Do you use a regular "Force Load" or a "Bearing Load"? The answer really depends on how the force should be distributed on the face in question. A bearing load will apply the load in a parabolic distribution, while the force load will be an even distribution.
Huh?
OK, lets take a look at a couple of loading scenarios and the results that each provides. I have used the shock tube from one of the Inventor sample files as an example.
In the first analysis I used a Force Load. Notice that the stress is not centered on the cylindrical face, but rather along its edges as if the cylinder was being stretched.
If you mostly use Vault to regularly check-out and check-in CAD data this tip is for you!
Find yourself constantly picking the same option when checking files out?
Always check-in your files before closing them?
Make sure you are taking advantage of the "Prompt Configuration" area of the Vault options in your CAD system (either AutoCAD or Inventor). These can set your default prompt preferences as well as to always use that preference without even displaying the dialog box if you like. This allows you to tailor your CAD / Vault experience to your particular needs.
The Prompts can be accessed from the Vault ribbon bar as shown below:
One of my favorites is to set the "On File Close" prompt to use "Yes" and "Never Prompt". This will automatically check-in any files you have checked-out to make changes when you close the file in the CAD system.
Contributed by Ben of the Tata Technologies CAD Geeks
You create multiple solid bodies in a part file using modeling commands, or by importing one or more solids using the Derived Component command. Use the Move Bodies command to reposition solid body components.
Video link: http://www.screencast.com/t/MzJiOGE3Y Created by one of the Cad Geeks
Just because Vault doesn't include a particular capability or feature "out of the box", doesn't mean that it can't be done. There are many niche needs when it comes to data management, and applications can be written (or borrowed from) to accomplish many feats of PDM glory.
What is a sheet metal rule?
Being on the latest and greatest technology of course has many advantages but at times some disadvantages come along for the ride. One I am seeing is the time needed to take you Inventor drawing formats and save them back to an earlier version of a AutoCAD dwg.
Reasons for Export:
1. Customer requires delivery of all flat AutoCAD format DWG files
2. Vendors need Drawings in AutoCAD format for NC fabrication
3. Shop floor requires AutoCAD DWG for its own fabrication drawings
What can be done:
• Inventor .idw or .dwg exported to Flat AutoCAD file
• DWG or DXF
• AutoCAD 12 DXF
• AutoCAD 2000 to 2010 DWG
Please view the video to watch and learn about the steps needed to batch process this type of conversion.
Video link: http://www.screencast.com/t/ZGQwMWM2YWU Created by one of the Cad Geeks
One of the most common topics of Vault discussion I run into is around the options for Vault viewing. Everyone I speak with usually needs some method of viewing drawings that have been checked into Vault. Sometimes this is just for viewing access by a couple key individuals who are not involved in the CAD design process, but just need to gather or reference design documentation. This seems to be quite common at smaller companies with a tight knit group of individuals. If this is the case, there is a way of producing an uncontrolled "duplicate" publish location for viewing a copy of drawings that get checked into Vault. The key word here is "Copy" and that definitely has some significant drawbacks that could be far from ideal.
What it does:
Many times we need to use existing 2D data to create 3D folded models within Autodesk Inventor. This data may be living in a dwg or dxf file format. This blog consist of the steps and video that speaks of some of your options when importing this data and creating the 3D model itself.
Steps used for using legacy flat data:
1.Start new sheet metal part, start the insert AutoCAD tool
2.Select dxf or dwg file
3.Select import options
4.Clean-up imported geometry trim and extend tools
5.Finish Sketch
6.Select Sheet Metal rule to be used
7.Use Face tool, select geometry
8.Create new sketch where needed project bend lines
9.Use fold tool to bend selected areas
10.Continue steps 8 and 9 until your part is completely folded
Video link:
http://www.screencast.com/t/ZDZiYmU1MGUt
Created by one of the Cad Geeks
