-
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.
-
Don't know which way is up?
May 15, 2009, 12:50 AM Garin Gardiner
Ahhhh - it's Friday and I am trying to figure out what way is up before the weekend comes. I have been on the road a lot the last few weeks and just got back from a user group where I was asked if you could automatically show bend up/down direction for a sheet metal part in the drawing based on line color. The answer was yes - although it took a few minute for us to locate it.
It is a two step process but is fairly painless to set up. You will want to do this in your sheet metal drawing template so any drawings you create moving forward will display the bend directions with two different colors.
The first thing you want to do is create a few layers for bend up/down. In the Manage tab in a drawing, select Styles Editor and in the left area locate the "Bend Centerline (ANSI)" layer. Right click on it and rename it to something like "+ Bend Centerline (ANSI)" and in the right Layer Styles area change the layers color. Now to create a new layer, select the layer you just renamed and select "New" towards the top center of the dialog box. Rename this layer to something like "- Bend Centerline (ANSI)" and change its color as well.
For step two we need to specify the use of these layers for bend up/down lines in the sheet metal flat pattern. To do this stay in the Styles Editor and expand the Objects Defaults (ANSI) and locate "Sheet Metal Bend Centerlines +/-" and use the two layers we just created.
If you have done this in your Sheet Metal Template, now anytime you use this template it will show you a different bend color for Bend up / down flanges.
2 Comments | Add Comment In the Machine > Tips, Autodesk Inventor
Comments
-
May 18, 2009 02:18 AM Dennnis Vercauteren
thanks garin, Fantastic trick. Now we can leave the bendnotes. Its great to do some neat changes on a monday morning. grtz Dennis www.inventorwizard.be
-
May 18, 2009 03:36 AM Dennnis Vercauteren
one Problem, When you take te backside of the flatt pattern, the 2 layers keep in the same state, but the bendnotes tell the opposite, Its a pitty and to confusing to use. thanks anyway gr Dennis
You must be logged in to post a comment.