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Some Questions for you......

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Sirius2

Mechanical
Dec 15, 2002
67
GB
1) Can Inventor create a 3d 'polyline' of curves and lines by projecting two orthographic views like you can in Rhino and (I think) SolidEdge.



2) Can Inventor create a 'Family' of parts? By this I mean a linked set of separate parts (based on the initail part)which when one feature changes, the other knows and refects that change. I know you have adaptive technology, but how do you do it when the parts are not physically linked like a hole and shaft?

For example, how would you create a progressive die strip starting with a finished sheetmetal model? I would want to flat develop it as another piece, and then all the pieces inbetween for the middle stages....then if say a slot changed shape, I would want the further stages to reflect this change automatically.



3) In conjunction to the above, say a 'punch' is made to notch away the side, can you get inventor to automatically update the shapes of the punch if the blankshape changes? (not forgetting the punch/die offset clearance). This is where adaptive comes in, right?



4) If you create a sheetmetal part using imported sketch geometry, where for example its a 'W' shape contour, then when you again use projected geometry to cut an outer profile shape vertically through the part - it will give vertical edges on your sheetmetal side wall.....is there a way to then unfold the part and recut it so it would appear as it would in real life? (ie walls perpendicular to the adjoining faces upon re-bending.) SolidEdge can allegedly do this, but I dont know if Inventor can.



5) Is there an equivalent of MDT's 3d Pipe Path? And by this, I dont mean small electric wiring or hydraulic tubing situtauion in series of parallel up and across movements, but take the example of a car exhaust.
We would be given points in xyz where all the axii meet which make up the complex 3d route, and a general note of bend radii.
In Mechanical Desktop, you can just draw a series of lines typing the xyz co-ordinates in, then fillet the lines, then add it to a table in the 'pipe-path' command. This then creates a 3d path and a workplane perpendicular to the start too. Its really really easy.
How would you model/achieve this in inventor when you cant draw 3d connected lines in the same fashion? how would you create such a complex route and where/how would you dimension it?



6)I saw a website from SPI sheetmetal called "Sheetmetal Inventor" - in this it claims you can unfold 'complex freeform surfaces' as sheetmetal in inventor. Does anyone use or know anything about this software and inparticular the freeform part?

7) Can you turn a regular .ipt file into a sheetmetal part? For example if you had a regular part containing what would be a 'drawn'(stamped) shape (like a car bumper ('fender' to some of you)) can you convert it to a sheetmetal part and flatten it? Even if it means adding a few rips?


Id be really grateful for answers to any or all of the above! :)

Many Thanks

Sirius2
 
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1) yes, you can project surfaces and get the intersection, but I'm not the master. I believe you need to start a sketch, project the surface profile to the sketch, generate a straight surface toward the intersection point. And then do the same thing with the second surface. Start a 3D sketch and take the intersection. The original sketch planes will affect the outcome.

2) I don't fully understand what you are asking about family of parts. I think that you are asking: if you have 5 iparts in an assembly, and change one to a different size, can the others change automatically?... I don't think so. It may be possible if you just have a derived part linked to an embedded spreadsheet and change a parameter thus changing all the other parts.

Sorry, I don't use sheetmetal very much so I'm not much help here either.

5) IV has a nice 3D sketch tool that I much prefer over MDT, but you have to get used to using work planes, axis, and work points. The idea is to place a bunch of work points and link those points together with a 3D path and you can change the radius individually or accross the board and then sweep your profile along the path.
Sean Dotson has a nice tutorial on his site for understanding the tool.
7) Yes you can, just as long as you give IV a rip to work with. I do this pretty frequently with simple shapes like cones. Generate the part as a solid and do what you need to do (probably end up with a shell at some point). Simply hit "applications" drop down and pick sheet metal. Now you have all the sheetmetal tools. Change the style and make the material properties the same thickness as the shell, and you should be able to do most of the sheetmetal stuff....it may not be 100% happy with it though.

Generally you can get much better answers to this type of question on the Autodesk newsgroup site.


Hit "support" and then "discussion groups" and pick your version. They keep changing the site, so it is hard to keep up with it.
 
i'll try to fill in the couple of gaps that designermike wasn't sure about. i'm not a sheetmetal expert either but i have set up a strip-type die and have a strategy to suit your question...

you want to look into setting up a SKELETAL model. the inventor newsgroup that mike pointed you at is probably the best bet for finding out about it, but it certainly works for creating, as you put it, a 'family' of parts. that's not the terminology i would usually use, and you'll find most people will automatically start thinking "iParts" when you say it.

what you really want is global control over an assembly, and this is what skeletal modeling provides. it's EXTREMELY powerful when you get the hang of it.


i was going to attempt to answer your sheetmetal question but.... i can't quite understand it either!

cheers,

col.
 
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