IMAGINiT Manufacturing Solutions Blog

IMAGINiT Tech Tip | Autodesk Inventor Rule Fillet Command

In this Tech Tip, I wanted to continue discussion on the Autodesk Inventor Plastic Part Design tools.  These tools as you recall are mysteriously powerful and need more exposure.  The focus on this post is the Rule Fillet command which I use quite a bit actually even though I make more metal parts than I do plastics.  Remember this though, the first rule about Rule Fillet is you do not talk about Rule Fillet.  Well unless you are awesome, then yes talk about Rule Fillet with your colleagues and make your design for change intent that much more epic.  The second rule of Rule Fillet is to enter the basement of commands that is in your Ribbon interface.

So what is the Rule Fillet all about?  Well it basically is a more advanced way to select edges and other modeling entities for use in rounds and fillets for your design.  As an example, here is the grill from our last blog post and we have used the Feature Selection to grab all the edges of the Grill.  Notice something off?  It stopped at 100 edges and did not get all the ones we wanted because of that.  So what's a designer to do at this point?  You guessed it, put on a pot of coffee and your good reading glasses and start picking edges and loops instead to add to your set.  Oh and be careful not to grab too much or not enough or you might have to start again.  Many a new curse word have been invented from such annoying tasks.

Enter the Rule Fillet Command and viola!  Easy selection for even your toughest selection sets.  In this tool you can use rules for adjoining features, free edges, all edges, incident edges, and even all edges that only hit against the part.  This makes short work of your grill selection and anything else that has a plethora of edges to pick for filleting in your design.

Now, lets not just stop at plastics, just because the tool is in there doesn't mean that is only application we have for this tool.  Consider for a moment how many fillets you have when dealing with Castings?  How about iParts or iLogic designs where shape changes occur and the fillet selection has to change as well?  We can use Rule Fillet for smarter feature history tree manipulations and aid in maintaining design for change in our work.

Now there is a downside.  Rule three of Rule Fillet is don't be let down by failure.  You are trading off selection speed for error reporting.  The traditional fillet command will tell you which fillets will fail and allow at least some of the fillets to be created.  Rule Fillet is all or nothing going to work or not, just like the standard fillet command used to work.  In the end, if you follow these rules and as long as you are not Edward Norton you won't beat yourself up like some "other" clubs and their rules.

Watch this video for more goodness and try it out with the sample files below.

 

Download Rule_Fillet

Download Rule_Fillet_Done

Download Plastic_Part_Rule_Fillet

Download Plastic_Part_Rule_Fillet_Done

IMAGINiT Tech Tip | Autodesk Inventor Grill Command

In this tech tip, I propose a treasure hunt of sorts.  There are some very mysterious and powerful commands in Inventor and their mystery is only exceeded by their power.  Okay, well maybe that is overdoing it.  These commands have been in Inventor for some time now, but more recently they were hidden away from general view in favor of a more streamlined interface.  Viewed as niche and pigeon holed into obscurity somewhat, the Plastic Part commands now belong to a hidden Panel in Inventor.

In this blog post we are going to focus on the Grill command.  Now, this command is not to be used in dentistry efforts or up your street cred on your fly automobile.  The Grill command is a streamlined tool for creating openings in parts normally found in Plastic Part design applications.  While this is the main reason why the command was introduced, there is a another very plausible usage for this tool.

These types of features are not unique to only plastic design, if you are a Sheet Metal manufacturer you now have a great tool for creating your openings instead of using iPunchs or manual recreating it each time.  Just think of the grill that is on the back of your desktop computer as an example.  How much fun would it be to model that in Inventor without a streamlined tool like this?  Sure you could probably do it with a feature and a few patterns, but why not just lines and one command?  Simple example here, but use your imagination.

Now there are some things to watch out for when you use the Grill command.  This is where you want to overdo it.  If a curve terminates at a straight edge or if a straight edge terminates into a curve the Grill command will create undesired results.

Make sure you take your ribs and curves outside your boundary profile you create.  Check out the whole process in this video below.

 

Here are the part files for you to practice with.  They are 2015 format and I left my Grill Sketch in a way that needs repaired before you move on.  So feel free to fix it and give it a go.  My Spars and Ribs don't exactly terminate the way you would want so they need to be connected and / or extended.

Download Plastic_Part_Grill

Download Plastic_Part_Grill_Done

Limiting Joint Movement – One Approach to Creating More Powerful Autodesk Inventor Models

Autodesk Inventor CAD models are a useful design tool because they clearly communicate how parts and assemblies will operate in real-life. Joints are a common component in many models, but often designers don’t understand how to limit joint movement. Without that expertise, rotating joints may appear to rotate 360 degrees, sliding joints can look like they slide past the end of a slot, and cylindrical joints appear to have no beginning or end stopping point.

When limits are introduced to joints in Autodesk Inventor, however, it’s possible to create very robust models that accurately convey how assemblies will work when fabricated.

Here are three ways that the Autodesk Inventor Limits tab in the Joints command can be used to improve the quality and accuracy of models:

1. Rotational joint limits. Rotational joints allow parts to rotate around an axis. Angular limits can be used to confine rotation to a specific angle range. The point where the rotation starts and ends can also be defined.
2. Slider joint limits. Slider joints allow parts to slide along an axis or plane. Linear limits control the length that a part can slide on a second component.
3. Cylindrical joint limits. Both rotational and planar constraints can be used for cylindrical joints, such as hydraulics or shocks. 

Limits are useful because they allow designers to test a variety of scenarios, as well as to portray parts with realistic movements. To learn more about utilizing the Limits tab in Autodesk Inventor, download our white paper Limiting Joint Movement. IMAGINiT’s Expert Chris Griffith illustrates the process with multiple examples.