Inventor Tips and Tricks: Structural Shape Authoring & Notches

Notches!?! We don't need no stinkin' notches!  About a year and a half ago I put up a white paper on Structural Shape Authoring with Inventor.  Since then I changed my blogging system and the post was lost to the nether realm of the internet, but I still have the original paper. 

Download Structural Shape Authoring

Keep in mind this is a little dated, but the content is still sound.  The only change is the fact you can do notch profiles now which I have by request on the forums updated here with a video and some screen grabs for you IT strangled.  First the video...

Structural Shape Authoring with Notches from Mark Flayler on Vimeo.

Now the screen grabs...

Start off with your shape fully designed for the use of Structural Steel Authoring following the tips in the white paper on simplicity.  Also include a notching sketch that would signify how you would want adjoining members to be notched based on how they sit in the Frame Generator.  This is the critical step in a notch profile, making sure you understand the layout of the frame before notching takes place and for most users is common knowledge based on their experience with the type of shape being used.

Start the Structural Shape Authoring tool.  This tool will prepare your shape for publishing and does not actually add it to the Content Center.  It is located on the Manage Tab --> Author Panel.

In the Authoring dialog box, choose your Category to choose mapping functions.  In my case I have already created a Read/Write Content Center library and created a Category called Imaginit Shapes.  It is imperative that you do these steps before the actual process of Authoring or Publishing or will go nowhere fast.  Select the Base Extrusion, and a default base point.  I chose the midpoint of the left edge.  The added option here is the newer feature of a notching profile.  Select this and then grab your notching profile as well as your original shape profile (otherwise it may not notch the way you want and you could get floating geometry).

Start the Publish Part command and follow the same steps in the white paper to publish to the Content Center.

Inside a Frame Generator ready assembly, start the Insert Frame command and select your standard.  Here you can see the published part that I am using with the Custom Point for the placement.  Continue to create the frame assembly as normal.

When it comes time to perform notches to your pieces, start the Notch command.  Pick your two members and then you will see an option to Apply notch profile which will use the profile selected during the Structural Shape Authoring process.

 

The resultant is a perfectly notched frame piece.  Before this had to be done by witchcraft and part level editing that would frustrate users that did not have a perfectly nominal frame design or wanted complex notching of the custom or oddly shaped frame pieces.

And, yes, I used an F because it's my last name and makes a good profile :)

Comments

[jdavis417]

Thanks again, Mark.

Could you expand on some of the additional, default parameters shown on the Parameter Mapping window of the Structural Shape Authoring command?

Are these parameters used for the Beam and Column Calculator and/or is this a way to propogate legacy structural data?

[Mark Flayler]

The only parameters that are 100% necessary for Frame Generation are marked in yellow. If you know the additional properties you can input them in and then they can be used for Frame Analysis as well as the Beam Deflection and Loading Calculator.

[Tad Hittenberger]

This is cool, but I just want to create the profile to cope beams from the existing content center.

How is the notch profile set up and implemented?

[Mark Flayler]

Tad,

This is unfortunately for new members to the Content Center only. The existing shapes in the default library do not have any Notching profiles on them and would require individual attention otherwise with iFeatures or manual cutting (all of which throws off your G_L parameter for length in BOM reporting). This makes any mods to the original CC items a nightmare to lengthen and then cut away material.

To do it just right you will have to re-add all new members with your notching style in mind. Lot of work, but depending on how you use Inventor and how much you use Frame Gen, it could be a good ROI.

[Chris]

Mark,

Re, your answer to Tad:

Do you have a method of including various notch profiles for each structural shape, so you can 'pick a notch' at time of placement, so the notch is correct per ANSI structural specs?

For example: Can you make a standard CC structural Channel shape able to have a notch that will conform to any W-beam profile, yet be offset and properly coped to accord w/the ANSI/AISC standards, with angle clip holes for angle clips, and so forth?

Thanx ... Chris

[Mark Flayler]

Chris, unfortunately you can only have one notch profile per section to in order to do this it would a very arduous task to create separate families for each type of notch you MAY want on the member. I would recommend adding a new item to the Inventor Ideastation and get some voting and community feedback on this as a possible inclusion to a later release of Inventor.