Many firms use “bottom up design” to develop assemblies. This approach starts with part models which are combined into a unified assembly. One of the drawbacks of bottom up design is that the supporting data sets for each part model must be tweaked and updated as the design evolves.
A different approach is “top down design” which is supported in Autodesk Inventor. With top down design, the critical elements of the design are established before modeling begins. Components are bound to the master plan, so changes to the design propagate easily throughout the dataset.
The first stage in top down design is laying out the master part file. Following a few best practices can make this stage of the process easier:
- Establish the critical design parameters. After this is done, the sub parameters often fall into place automatically.
- Designate descriptive variable names. These form the foundation of the master file and help keep track of the data set.
- Rough in details after the main profile sketch is finished. Any changes to the critical parameters will automatically show the effect on the other parameters.
To learn more about how to utilize top down design in Autodesk Inventor, view Inventor Top Down Design Part 1 – Concepts and Master Part File. IMAGINiT expert Walter Jaquith will walk you through the key steps for creating and completing a master file.
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