Inventor Tips & Tricks from the INCAT CAD GEEKS

Face Fillets: You need to see it to believe it.

One of the features that you may have read about when Inventor 2008 was released was a new "Face Fillet" option in Inventor's usual Fillet command. The face fillet option will allow a fillet to be created between two faces that don't even share a common edge! If you haven't seen the new tool in action, take a look at the following video for a quick example: http://screencast.com/t/LTFD6eYZIy

Until next time, Ben with the Incat CAD Geeks

Creating a Sheet Metal Cone with Inventor

I have been asked many times while onsite how to make a sheet metal cone. I will show you one method to produce a flat pattern for a sheet metal cone. The first step is to draw my basic sketch in this case I will use the idea that my opening will be 3” at the top and 5” on the bottom. Once completed, I will revolve my sketch around my origin Y axis making sure I am not at a full 360 degrees. The small opening that will be created by not fully revolving the section will allow Inventor to be able to flatten the cone. Remember, a quick short cut to the revolve command will be to select "R" from the keyboard. Once created you will convert your standard .ipt file into a sheet metal file and make sure to change your metal thickness in the sheet metal styles to match your sketch. To create the flat pattern you will need to select the inner or outer face of the cone, and then select the flat pattern command. This is one way to create a sheet metal cone, but there are many others. Have fun with it and find the best way to suit your needs. Check out my video of how to do this. http://screencast.com/t/FgUjPLdpHN

Enjoy, Dave Another one of the INCAT CAD Geeks

iFeature Help with Inventor

Have you utilized the power of iFeatures at your company? If you have, you probably have created many shapes that you use over and over in your daily designs. Problem is, how do other designers in your company know how to place the objects? Worse yet, what if you forget how! No worries. Check out this short video on how to attach a word document that you can access when placing an iFeature. You can use it as a way of outlining the steps for easy placement.

Check out my video here: http://screencast.com/t/WggErJOhkoC

Happy modeling... John with the INCAT Cadgeeks

Set the cruise control “Part 1”.

Autolimits, a tool I wish I would of had available to me when I was designing the last fourteen years. This allows the designer to concentrate strictly to designing. I would have used all three types of the autolimits. On the dimensional side I would of added autolimits to all my cylinder files to set-up for stroke distances and would have always made sure I always had stroke to go for an example. Area-Perimeter I would have used for when I was designing inside a swing radius for a machine. The last one physical property I would have used on at least 85% of the jobs I have done over the years. I seemed to be always working on a design that had some type of weight restriction and having autolimits would have definitely saved time in the design phase and probably took the word rework off of the shop floor because of weight issues. AutoLimits are categorized as monitoring three different types of input 1. Dimensional 2. Area-Perimeter 3. Physical Property AutoLimits are designed to be used sparingly, monitoring only critical design information of interest to you. In an assembly, only AutoLimits in the edited document are enabled and displayed. AutoLimits existing at other levels (subassembly or components) are neither visible nor accessible until that level or component is edited. AutoLimit boundaries use both color (green, amber, red) and shape (circle, triangle, square) to provide feedback related to boundary conditions. The colors equate to conditions: • Green: within boundary limit • Amber: near boundary limit • Red: exceeds boundary limit

The following short video shows working with setting the Physical Property Limit dealing with mass. Watch how my display changes when I have exceeded my limit.

Check out my video of how to do this.

http://screencast.com/t/wuuXk254

Submitted by Dave of the INCAT CAD Geeks

Inventor tip "Feature Supression based on parameter values"

Starting in Inventor R11 we were able to do feature suppression based on parameters values. Below is a simple example of using this trick as a quick way to capture a simplified version of a part without creating iparts or derived parts when trying to cut back on complexity.

Step 1 - Create user Parameter called "complex" and assign it "0" as the value

Step 2 - Right Click on any feature where you want this setup and choose "Properties" and then configuration as shown below, using the "complex" parameter created earlier, repeat as needed.

Step 3 - Change the user parameter "complex" to a value of "1", and there you go.

Link to Video Enjoy Kevin with the INCAT CAD Geeks

Hide your dialogs......In Inventor

Back in Autodesk Inventor R6 we were given the ability to set dialog boxes to "roll-up" in order to more clearly see what your working on while making selections. When Inventor R2008 came out this command was hidden on a right click menu vs, the push pin icon from the past. Here is a snapshot of the right click menu for this setting....

Check out a video of it in action here....

Create a Non-ortho Full Section

I had a customer ask me how to do a section view today. The kicker was that it was not an orthographic section view. It was a view looking at the end of a round part with a series of holes in it. They needed a full section through the view center and one of the holes. They were not sure how to do this, and not use a jogged section line. Well I gave it some thought and came up with the solution and decided to post it here on the CAD Geek Blog. Check out the video of it here: http://www.screencast.com/t/MNpMwKokb Enjoy, Jim One of the INCAT CAD Geeks

Move off MDT already....Inventor is the way to go - Part 1

Year after year I still bump into a few Autodesk Mechanical Desktop Users floating around. So I wanted to create a list of features that I thought really makes the jump well worth considering if your still using MDT. Feel free to add some of your own by posting a few comments. Assembly Modeling - Part 1:

1. Drive Constraints - This command allows you to take your assembly constraints and show them in motion to better understand how your concept will function.

2. Contact Solver - This tool allows you to have your parts physically stop or move as they bump other components

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3. Flexible Status - The ability to have a sub assembly placed multiple times but function as it does in real life independently of the others.

Also down in the file sharing zone below on this blog I have uploaded a white paper on how to move some of your MDT data sets forward into inventor. Link to PDF. More to come on this topic...Kevin with the INCAT CAD Geeks

Dimension to Apparent Intersection within an Inventor IDW

I was recently asked how to dimension to Apparent Intersection within an Inventor IDW. I thought I would post since I do recall learning this for the first time and it was one of those commands that isn't very discoverable. :( Link to Video to see how Hope this helps Kevin with the INCAT CAD Geeks