Inventor Sheet Metal

A lot of times i talk to Inventor users who wonders how to bend sheet metal. They have tried with bend part and several attempts with normal modeling features. My last encounter was a user who needed a rolled plate with features like text and hole patterns in it. I will show you one way of achieving it. And don't forget the Inventor Help, it contains almost everything you need to know. Including videos and such. The Inventor Sheet metal features are quite good and combines perfectly with skeleton modelling techniques.

• Create the sketch in the sheet metal environment, and set up your sheet metal style. 

• Continue by using the Sheet metal feature "Contour Flange" to create the sheet. I always prefer to set the width (Yellow menu below) centered. The sketch inside or outside depends on the fit of the sheet metal piece so its up to you. 

• Now it's time to use the "Unfold" Command. The greatness of those functions are that the sheet looks like it's been cut before it's rolled. Just select a reference and a bend ( or all bends) and apply.

• Now you get a flat sheet you can machine or cut as you want.

• To refold it you just use the "refold" command and you are good to go..

• Finished result...

NEED HELP ?

Just drop me a lite or ask in the comment field.

How to create an assembly from an Inventor part

I am quite surprised that so few Inventor users I talk with know’s this workflow. It’s a great way of creating complex models and make it all “stick together” quite easily.

• Let’s create a simple model. Starting with a sketch we can create our first part feature. Notice the solid in the solid bodies folder. The name of this solid will be the file name of the part we create later. Tip ; to rename browser nodes, left mouse click slowly three times on the text. 

• The next step is to create a sketch for the next section. When extruding this section you need to select the new body option from the menu. A tip is to always name your dimensions and features to make them easy to identify for the next person that will edit the model. There are now a new node in the solid bodies folder.

• Just continue and create your part features as new solids. Notice that the support plates are patterned in place in the part. The downside is that the feature pattern will be interpeted as one part in the inventor assembly. I used it as a test, but delete it after i checked my mathematics.  The best way is to pattern the plates in the assembly, but use parameters from the base model. The model are also created in such a way that we can easily change the model from the fx menu in Inventor. Plates and holes are synced through sketches and mathematical rules and formulas.

• Now we can go to the Manage menu, layout tab and select create components button. 

• Select the solid bodies to create parts from. Select assembly location ( You can select an existing assembly or create a new). Selext Next.

• In this example we use the Vault numbering and we see that vault takes care of the file naming. It’s also possible to include parameters into the assembly. Select OK.

• Now a new assembly are created. Editing the base part will update the assembly, and best of all.. there’s no constraints. Notice that I created the pattern in the assembly and linked values from the base part to get a fully automatic update based on the base part.

• With the base part open you can select the Make Components and add new features in the part in order to change the assembly.

• Now you just need to get the properties in place on your model. Naviate from Cad-Q are the best property handler for Inventor. Easy to configure and works great. It even have a ERP connection ready to go.

Any questions ? Feel free to ask .

How to be a cad administrator

What is a Cad Administrator ?
Many Cad Managers are appointed from the staff of engineers and designers without special knowledge management tool within the program, or the administration in general. The Cad Administrator role means that you are responsible for keeping Cad applications in good working order so that users can be productive. In addition there are some other things you should be aware of. In this blog I will  look at and discuss some methods to easier reach your goals,  and make your career as a Cad administrator more interesting and inspiring.

Why do we need a CAD Administrator?
First, one must realize that a Cad Administrator is required based on commercial considerations. Without a Cad Administrator we will see the following :

- CAD work tends to accumulate
- Work is largely uncoordinated
- Projects are delayed
- Cad users become frustrated
- Your company suffers financial loss

The cad administrator get the wheels to turn, and it is an essential task. One could say that the administrator pays his or her wages by making sure that things work and at getting projects done on time, and ensures that the company is on track and productive.

But it's more to it than the above to be successfull. You must always find ways of doing things so that they produce more work done in less time. You need to focus on, better, faster and cheaper ways to get goals with the projects.

Identify and prioritize issues
To find out how you can insert forces to increase efficiency you must identify what exactly are the challenges to increase efficiency and get rid of the frustration that things do not always go as expected. Illustrators and designers are generally responsible people who want to do their job, and they will not be encumbered by trivial things and further technical dignities.


To find ways to improve the efficiency of your business, ask yourself some questions:

- What types Cad mistake we make most often?
- Do we have problems coordinating with suppliers and customers?
- Can we find our Cad drawings?
- Is the network, printers and plotters optimal for our needs?
- Etc ....

Once you have identified a list of issues that you feel need to be resolved, prioritize and sort this into the following subgroups:
- The biggest savings for the company. (Biggest savings first)
- The biggest cost to the business. (Lowest cost first)
- Time-consuming. (Easiest to solve first)

Now we look for the issues that tend to emerge on top in all three lists. These will result in the least cost, most savings and be quicker to sort out.

You now have a good idea of ​​what problems to tackle first. Make a final list of what problems you will grasp and be sure to send a memo to those in business who are helping to make the final decision. Be sure to clarify your goals, timeframe and estimated costs and savings. You will now have a good chance of getting approval for your improvements, and will be taken seriously.

Solve problems
With a prioritized list before you can begin to tackle the items by increasing Cad efficiency will save money for your business. Since you have taken care of the problems you will see that both the users and the administration will help you to pull in the same direction.

Solve the easy stuff first and build a successful psychology that you can take with you further when it comes to defending major investments to tackle larger tasks.

Do you have problems identifying and prioritizing problems then just ask Cad users. They will most likely have lots of ideas ...........

Being technology's  Advocate
Your job as Cad Administrator is not only to make existing Cad applications and technology to work optimally. It is also important to keep abreast of new technologies that can help to perform design tasks easier, cheaper and faster. Unless the Cad administrator can identify and implement improvements, who else will do this job?

Even if you have the daily challenge of getting things to work you should try to keep up to date on what is happening on the horizon with respect to the development software, not to mention Hardware.

New ideas are always worth taking into consideration, and should be part of the cad planning.


Summary
A Cad Manager's job is often difficult to put into a standard work instructions because it covers many disciplines within a company. But if you have mapped the business and identified bottlenecks and improvement you have largely set the agenda.

How to embed pictures in AutoCad

When inserting pictures in autocad there is normally created a link to the picture. The picture is now treated as an External reference. This creates problems when we send the drawings to customers and vendors, because we usually forget to attach the pictures. To avoid such problems we need to embed the pictures into the file as a object.

1. Open the file in MSpaint and convert is (Save AS) to 24 bits bitmap ( BMP). 

             Tip ; just write   MSPAINT in the search field in the start menu.

2. In Autocad 2011, go to the Data tab and select  “OLE object”. A dialog will pop up and ask you to select  and set your preferences. Select as below.Make sure you don't check for LINK or DISPLAY AS ICON. The file will be embedded into the drawing and you can use normal AutoCad commands to move, rotate and scale.

Autodesk Inventor square flanges

I've seen a lot of different ways of creating bolted square flanges. This is one way I prefer to use :

Draw a square sketch and let the hole pattern fill along the sketch. Now you can easily insert one set of bolt, nut and let it follow pattern.

Create a sketch for the first hole




Create the pattern path and dimension it




Create the first hole

Turn on the sketch to access the pattern path

Select and decide holes in the pattern. Remember to select clockwise direction. Also remember that the number of holes must be dividable by number of sides. When finished turn off the visibility in the sketch.(re : pt 4)

Mark the first hole for the next person that opens the part. It’s good practice to mark the first hole in the pattern to use this information in further work.

Select the hole ,  rclick and select properties. Select a color to get a visible difference.



To prosper from the pattern when inserting components :

If we have two plates assembled like this, insert Bolts, washers and nuts in the first hole of the pattern.






 Select the inserted components and select rectangular pattern. Use “Feature pattern select” and select the pattern.  Now you will fill the pattern with the components selected..




If you now go back and change the number of holes in the pattern, the number of components inserted will update accordingly