Inventor top ten playlist

Synergis60

Inventor’s Top Ten PlaylistMy Favorite Tips/Tricks

Presented by: Mark Lancaster

2

TIPS & TRICKS: ALWAYS IN THE MIDDLE

• Synergis60 – Inventor’s Top Ten Playlist (TIPS & TRICKS)

Always in the

middle

#1Here’s a simple little trick to keep a hole feature in

the middle of a part without creating any parameters, (sketching) constraints or formulas

Step #1Create a (work) center point

based on a loop of edges

Step #2Pick one of the edges that outline the face

where the hole will go

Step #3Now create a hole using the work

point as the placement

3

TIPS & TRICKS: BROWSER DISPLAY NAME


Browser

Display Name

#2 When an Inventor file is first saved (including Save As) the display (occurrence) name in the browser window is set to

the name of the file

Use this display name feature to create a descriptive (or BOM) name in the Inventor browser window.

Makes it easier to locate and manage your parts or sub-assemblies in large assemblies.

4



Browser

Display Name

#2

Method #1Slow Double Click Method in Browser

@ Part: Where Used@ Assy: That assembly only

Method #2Change Occurrence Name in an Assembly

How to change thedisplay name

5



Browser

Display Name

#2

Method #3Rename Browser Nodes in an Assembly

Method #4The iLogic way

How to change thedisplay name

6



Browser

Display Name

#2

Method #6aUsing method #1

Highlight, delete, and hit return @ Part: Where Used

@ Assy: Returns to part browser name

How to reset thedisplay name

Method #6bUsing method #2

Clear occurrence name in dialog

Method #6cUsing method #3

Rename using Default browser node

7

Understanding Inventor’s Organization


Save & Replace

Component

#3What if you wanted to make a copy of a

component in your assembly, making changes to it (copied version), and then overwrite the original

component in your assembly with it.Here’s a simple workflow to accomplish that…

Step #1Select Save and Replace

Component

Step #2Select your component you

want to copy in your assembly

Step #3Define its name and

location

Step #4Original component is

removed and replaced with the copied component. Existing constraints are

maintained

8

TIPS & TRICKS: MOVE & ROATE BODY


Move & Rotate

body

#4Have you ever imported a part into Inventor and

its away from your origin work planes?

Use the move (or rotate) body

function to relocate (or reorient) the part to the origin planes

Step #1Expand 3D Model/Modify Step #2

Select Move Bodies

Prior to Inventor 2015, the Move Body function appears on the 3D

Model/Modify ribbon section

9



Move & Rotate

body

#4

Step #3Select body or bodies and

enter require offset

10



Move & Rotate

body

#4

Additional Information“Click to add” additional

move or rotate body steps or start a new move body step

Free move

Along an axis

Rotate about a line

Feature can be suppressed, used in an iPart table or controlled

under iLogic

11



Sketch Offset#5Have you ever started a sketch and then realize

you forgot to first create the offset workplane from the face/plane?

Don’t worry about it….

Step #1Hover over the face

or plane you are going to offset sketch

from

Step #2Left mouse click on the

face (or plane), hold, and drag (offset) your sketching plane

12



Hole center to

hole center

measurement

#6Here’s a tip to measure between hole centers (axis) without creating additional work features

Step #1Start the measurement

command, hover over first hole and right mouse click and pick Select Other…

Step #2Select Axis as the

“Select Other” object

Step #3Select the edge of the

other hole and Inventor will automatically select the

center point of the 2nd hole

13



Hole center to

hole center

measurement

#6

Step #1aRight mouse click on edge of first hole and pick Select

Other…

Step #2Select Center Point as the

“Select Other” object

Step #3Select the edge of the

other hole and Inventor will automatically select the

center point of the 2nd hole

Here’s another way to measure between hole centers (axis) without creating additional work

features

14



Attaching a note

to drawing view

#7Do you need a note (w/o leader) to always follow

a drawing view?Here’s a tip to accomplish that…

Step #1Create a standard

leader text

Step #2Right mouse click on

text or leader and select Delete Leader

Step #3Note is still attached to drawing view and

will continue to follow it

15



Phantom and

Reference BOM

#8Are you required to show customer items

in your model and not on your BOM?Do you wish you could make sub-

assemblies in your model that are not true sub-assemblies in your BOM?

If you can answer YES, then you need to use Phantom and Reference BOM structures in

your model…

What is a PHANTOM Assembly?Is a method in which to create an assembly in your

model but have its components promoted and report at the next level in the BOM Structure. Phantom

assemblies are not reported anywhere on the BOM.

Though a part could be designated as “Phantom” typically this BOM structure is only assigned to

assemblies

What is a REFERENCE Assembly?Is a method in which to create an

assembly (or part) that is shown in the model, but not reported in any BOM.

16



Phantom and

Reference BOM

#8

17



Phantom and

Reference BOM

#8

Method #1Open the assembly (or part) and select Tools/Document Settings.

Select Bill of Materials tab and change the Default BOM Structure

Alternative method: Change through the Bill of Materials editor

18



Phantom and

Reference BOM

#8

Method #2Locate the assembly or part in the browser tree, right mouse click and select BOM Structure to change its

type to Reference or back to the default value.

The BOM structure of the selected item is changed only in this

assembly and its default structure is left intact.

19



Break section

view

#9When you create a section view, by

default the section view is always aligned with the view it is projected from.

Override ModeBy holding down the <CTRL> key prior

to view placement, the automatic alignment is disabled.

20



Diagnostic

Information

#10When you save your assembly, Inventor may prompt you “Do you want to save

changes to <….>.iam and its dependent. Do you ever wonder why Inventor is

asking for this even though you might’ve not changed a dependent?

Hopefully by now

you have said “YES”

numerous times to

this question…..

Well there’s a way to check…

21



Diagnostic

Information

#10

Step #1Open or activate the dependent that you are wondering about

Step #2Select Help/About Autodesk Inventor

Step #3When the About Inventor

dialog appears, select CTRL+D to bring up the

Inventor diagnostic window

In this example, the diagnostic is simply stating the assembly needs

updating because of an update, rebuild all and a migration process

22

Undocumented Utility – Inventor 2015 Only


Have your heard?

Inventor 2015 has a secret!!

23



Body Integrity Check

Analyzes for geometry errors[bad geometry, boolean features, constraints, performance, mass]

24



Body Integrity CheckThe requirements:• CTRL + F7 to launch the utility and checking process.• Check assemblies and parts• Must have a C:\Temp directory prior to use• Must have read/write privileges to C:\Temp• Creates a file called debug.txt file in the C:\Temp folder• Common offenders

• Unsuccessfully migrated legacy parts• Feature failures in native parts• Bad geometry in imported components

The issues:• Depending on your Windows and Inventor profile, the Body Integrity Check

utility may fail to work in Inventor 2015.• Must run the Inventor Reset Utility to correct issue.

• http://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/inventor-products/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/How-to-use-Inventor-Reset-Utility-to-reset-the-local-environment-for-a-Windows-User-Account-Inventor.html

25 • Synergis60 – Inventor’s Top Ten Playlist (TIPS & TRICKS)

INVENTOR’S TOP TEN PLAYLIST – Q & A SESSION

Questions?

Technology

Inventor top ten playlist