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In The Machine is the official blog of the Inventor Product Management Team. It is a way for us to share Inventor news, interesting information about successful Inventor customers and partners as well as tips and tricks. From time to time we’ll also use the blog to solicit feedback from users via surveys. This blog is hosted by Garin Gardiner our Technical Marketing Manager.
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Don't Forget the Bowtie
January 31, 2008 06:29 PMby Garin Gardiner
I am sure most of us need to create splines from time to time and as you are aware, splines can be a little tricky to work with. Have you ever tried to create the same spline twice? Have you been able to control the spline just as you wanted to? There are a few little tools in Inventor that can help out with these issues.
We will first start out with a few horizontal lines that we want to blend together with a spline.
From here I want create the spline that connect the two lines with a smooth contour. I don't really want to have to add several point and try to move them around to adjust the spline so we will use something we call Bowties. First lets create our spline that starts at one line and goes to the other. Initially it will look like a line although we will adjust that shortly.
From here we can right click near one end of the spline and turn on the Bowtie. We have a few options how we will control the spline although for now we will just turn on the Handle. From here we can select the handles and drag them around to adjust how the spline will look.
I can also add various constraints to the handle such as vertical, parallel, equal to name a few as well as adding dimensions. This is a great way to be able to recreate the exact same spline segment several times.
Here I added horizontal constraints to the handles as well as made them horizontal so both the top and bottom look the same. I could also turn on curvature and add dimensions to adjust the curvature of the spline.
This should help you learn where some of these tool are located. If you haven't played with bowties yet, play around a little with these options. There are several more tools that will allow you to edit and manage your splines so don't stop here!
Garin
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What are the Geeks Saying?
January 29, 2008 01:39 AMby Garin GardinerThe guys over at INCAT have started a new blog that has several great posts already. To take a look at some of their tips (sketches, FEA on weldments, fillets, Alias Showcase and more) head on over to their blog.
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Analyze This!
January 23, 2008 12:09 PMby Garin GardinerInventor has several analysis tools while working in a part that will allow you to determine various characteristics of a part. These tools include Cross Section, Draft, Zebra, Surface and Curvature analysis.
Let’s first take a look at the Zebra Analysis tool by selecting
from the Inventor Standard toolbar. This will allow you to analyze the surface continuity for consumer parts. You are able to specify the thickness, density and display quality for the zebra stripes.
Next and probably one of the most common analysis tool is the Draft Analysis tool
that can be found in the same area. This will allow you to ensure that all faces on a part have the necessary draft to be removed from a mold. You can specify a draft plane and tolerance for the Draft Analysis.
For those of you that create consumer products and want to be able to analyze the curvature of a part, you can activate the Curvature Analysis tool
to see the surface curvature. You are able to set the height and density of the surface curvature. 
Another great tool is the Surface Analysis feature
. This is another way to analyze areas of high and low curvature to ensure your model has the esthetic look and feel you are interested in. Similar to the draft tool, you are able to specify the curvature range. 
Last but not least, the Cross Section tool
is a powerful tool to make sure your part isnt too thick or thin. There are a few different things you can do with this analysis tool. You can set it up to analyze you part with a min and max wall thickness and have it notify you where you violate these settings. To set this up you can select one or more faces / work planes or specify a pattern of sections you want it to analyze. You can also use this tool to section your part and remove all the material on one side or another similar to the assembly cross section tool.
There are several tools I often use and hope you will find some value with these tools.
Enjoy!
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Linking Parameters and Adding Tolerance (Video Podcast Episode 20)
January 17, 2008 03:04 AMby Garin Gardiner
Tuesday, January 17, 2007 - Episode 20 Podcast Show Notes
This month we take parameters from a parts (Height & Width) and concatenate them into the description of a part. This allows you to create a parts list and show the cut length in the description area of the parts list.
Zune - coming soon
Don't forget to leave feedback by adding a comment to this post or email me. -
Packaging and Conveying Seminar in California
January 14, 2008 11:06 AMby Garin Gardiner
If any of you are in the produce or packaging conveying industry, KETIV Technologies and Can Lines Engineering (CLE) will be hosting a seminar that will showcase the exceptional engineering innovations used in the packaging and conveying industries.
WHEN: January 30, 2008, 9:00 – 10:00 a.m. PST
WHERE: Anaheim Marriott Hotel, 700 West Convention Way, Anaheim, California 92802
WHY: The seminar will showcase the exceptional engineering innovations used in the packaging and conveying industries.
WHO: Hosted by Can Lines Engineering (CLE) and KETIV Technologies. CLE is a leader in the engineering, design, system controls integration, fabrication, installation and services of quality container and material conveying systems for the food, beverage and consumer products industries worldwide. KETIV Technologies is a leading Autodesk solutions provider with 20 years’ experience delivering CAD software and services in the Southwest United States.
The event is free and breakfast is included. Registration is required. Please register at www.ketivtech.com/pdms or call 866.465.3848.
Free PDMS expo passes are also available. Call 866.465.3848 for information.
Contacts
KETIV Technologies
Erin Spinney
714.680.6744 (office)
714.697.1575 (cell)
KETIV Technologies
Deborah Gibbs
714.680.6744 (office)
949.689.8123 (cell)
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Termination Options
January 10, 2008 02:11 AMby Garin GardinerHappy New Year!
I know it is a little late - but they always say better late than never.
I wanted to post a few quick tips about a feature you all probably use daily - the extrude command. I know this is a fairly simple feature although there are a few things that you might not have used when using the extrude feature. When extruding to two different cylinders, you can use the termination "From/To" option and create a profile in the center to reduce the amount of steps required to create the following part.
You also have an option in the more tab to modify the Minimum Solution as well as the direction to get the desired results. Another area you can use this is in the revolve feature. In Inventor 2008 you can now create a profile and use From/To planes to terminate to.
You can also use the the Minimum Solution option as well as the direction to get simular results as the following image.
If you haven't used these options before, experiment a little - I think you will find useful areas to use them.
Garin
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