Kickin' with CAD
A nasty problem came to our attention recently concerning Inventor 2011 and links betwen parameters and Excel sheets.
Everything seems fine initially until you change a value in the Excel cell. Nothing updates in Inventor unless you manually relink to the attached Excel file.
Not good.
However, there is a hotfix to be found here
Ignore the fact that the hotfix title only refers to name changes. It will fix the problem for all values.
Happy linking.
There seems to be an issue with Inventor where it seems impossible to link a balloon on a single part view to the BOM of an assembly that the part exists in. The item number on the single part will always be “1”.
The frustrating part is that when you place a balloon on a view of a single part the following dialogue box appears showing the path to the file source – this cannot be edited!
Request to Autodesk – it would be nice to have a browse button here, or even better, a vault style “where used”.
So, here is a suggested workaround.
Once your assembly is complete, convert the assembly to a weldment, even though your model contains no welded parts.
You will receive the following warning message stating that once converted you cannot return. Choose “yes” to continue.
The only thing that you really can’t do in a Weldment Assembly is create assembly features, for example, an extruded cut at the assembly level. This can easily be overcome however by utilizing the “machining” area of a weldment assembly. Also, a weldment assembly cannot be made “flexible” if added as a subassembly.
In the next dialogue box choose the correct BOM structure. Here we will choose “Normal”.
Now start a new drawing, place a base view of the assembly, a parts list, and annotate with balloons.
Choose “Base View” again, browse to the same assembly file, choose the “Model State” tab and choose the single part you wish to create a view of from the pull down menu shown below.
Place your view of the chosen single part and annotate with a balloon. Notice the Item number is automatically linked to the assembly BOM.
Ok, for all you iPhone users out there, you may have already seen Sketchbook, the handy little application from Autodesk.
Well, here’s a nifty video showing how you can incorporate those sketches you produce on a lazy Sunday at the bar into Inventor.
Enjoy.
For all you lucky lucky people out there with Showcase and Subscription, check out the Subscription Advantage Pack here:
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/item?siteID=123112&id=13912819
There’s some fantastic additions to the feature set, my particular favourite being the keyframe animation capabilities.
Takes the product to a whole new level.
Have fun.
Have you ever tried mixing your units in Inventor parameter equations?
For example, you have a pattern of features which you would like to change depending on the length of a part:
You may have tried something like pattern_qty=length/2
Because length has units of inches and pattern_qty is unitless, the equation will turn red as Inventor does not understand the concept.
The trick is to strip the equation of its units by multiplying length by 1ul/1in.
So, in the example shown the equation should read pattern_qty=(length*1ul/1in)/2.
Or, if you would like to round the resulting value down to the next whole number, then:
Pattern_qty=floor((length*1ul/1in)/2)
Have fun.
One thing I see as being underused and undervalued in the world of Inventor is Command Aliases.
Since Inventor 2008 this little improvement has sped up my own modeling process no end.
With a few simple clicks you can have Inventor customized to your liking so that you no longer have to waste time searching for those commonly used tools in the panels or ribbon. Things like, Project Geometry, for example. By entering a possible “PG” you could be there. How often do you use sketch constraints? You certainly should be. “COL” could activate Collinear, “TC” could give you Tangent Constraint, “HC” and “VC” could give you Horizontal and Vertical Constraints without the distraction of searching for their symbols in the constraints list.
It’s also a great tool for the AutoCAD user recently transitioned to Inventor. Simply set up Inventor to use the same commands you previously used in AutoCAD for similar functions.
The best part is how quick and easy it is to set up.
Go to Tools > Customize > Keyboard.
The entire list of Inventor command names appear. These can be filtered so that, for example, only sketching tools are visible.
Find the command name you want to assign an Alias to (the list is alphabetical) and click in the “Keys” area to the left of the command name. An input box will appear allowing you to type in whatever combination of letters and numbers you choose. You will be notified if the alias you have typed is currently assigned to another function.
Hit the green check mark and you’re done.
When you have finished assigning all your personal aliases, make sure you hit the “export” button and save to a safe place (your personal flash drive possibly?). This will enable you to quickly import your custom shortcuts should you find yourself at another workstation or if you ever have to reinstall.
Sometimes the simplest things make the biggest difference.
Brent
