AutoCAD Inventor :: Flexible Hinges - How To Constrain Doors To Operate Correctly
Jan 17, 2013
I am working on a hinged door assembly that consists of a frame sub-assembly, and 2 door panel sub-assemblies that each have 4 hinged sub-assemblies that I have made flexible. I am trying to figure out how to constrain these doors so that they "operate" correctly and not spin 360 degrees when I manipulate them in the overall assembly.
MY AI Will not operate correctly it will not open as it should and it will not let me update it keeps saying error u44m147 so i try to uninstal and reinstal it wonlt let me proceed!
I have a sub-assembly that is flexible, (constrained properly, not grounded) and when I try to move it in the main assembly, I get the "universal NO" symbol attached to my cursor. There are no constraints preventing the movement in the sub, since I can move it however I want when the sub is opened.
I am wanting to create an assembly that I can manipulate and `pull about'.
To describe what I have and I want to acheive try and picture this very simplistic layout :-
A length of hose 50 meters long.
Another length of 50m long hose 2 meters directly below it.
The 2 lengths of hose rigidly tied together at 2m intervals with a small diameter solid bar and clamps around the hose.
What I need to acheive is :-
An assembly showing the above items in a long straight 50m run.
(I have no problems with creating this assembly.)
From there though I then need to be able to create an `S' shape, with the hose staying at a fixed radius where it is rolled to form that shape, both hoses must stay inline with each other at all times.
If you can imagine how a hose would react as you rolled it in reality I want to try and replicate that within my assembly if it is possible?
I realise I could create one long flat assembly then create another seperate assembly showing it in it's rolled up `S' shaped state but that is not what I am wanting.
What I am trying to do is place a hinge as a subassembly. I know in Solidworks there is an option to add it as a rigid or non rigid assembly. I have seen an option for flexible when you right click on assemblies that allow parts to be moved which is what I need but the hinge file I have from the company that sells them doesn't have that option when I right click on it and I need the hinge to be able to rotate in the model to simulate the hinge opening/ closing.
I need to model up a convoluted flexible hose as a component part for use in an assembly. What is the best approach to creating this with a realistic and natural look?
I'm trying to make this assembly flexible in that the bar will flex so the "s-clip" can hold the 2 handles together. I read some of the forums about the scissors assembly in the autodesk folders and I can see it working in that assembly btu can't figure out how to make it apply to mine. It is basically one of those camping grills that makes hot sandwiches or pies.
I want to put a flexible hose into an assembly in different places.
In the real world it would be the same part, but as the hose would needs to bend at different angles for the different positions I would need different models.
I know I can group components with the same part number in the Parts List, but how do I make sure the components are seen by Vault and other users as being the same component ?
Currently using Inv 2011sp2 Pro and Vault 2011. But I don't have much experience of using Pro
I'm running Inventor 2008 SP2. Each time I open the assembly 2 subassemblies always explode. You can see the red and blue subs in the attached picture. I thought this was supposed to be fixed by now. Actually I thought this was supposed to be fixed in R11 a long time ago. When I grab and drag either component, everything snaps back to where it's supposed to be.
If this isn't fixed (along with a laundry list of stuff that's been broken since R10) you will be losing customers. This and all the other bugs have cost me countless hours in lost productivity.
The company I work for manufactures safety covers of all types. Some are pretty easy to model. The ones made from folded fabric,....not so much.
I have taken a couple of photos and uploaded them so that you could see what I'm trying to model.
As you can see from the photo, it's an accordion like cover that is "U-Shaped". You would install this over a linear rail and have one end anchored to the frame and one end anchored to the carriage. So it would collapse and expand as the carriage moves back and forth.
We call the convolutions "vees" (obviously because they look like the letter V). When you compress the cover the Vee Depth increases. And when you expand the cover it will decrease. The folded section at the ends, at the small "legs" is where I have the difficulty. It's sort of hard to explain. That's why I uploaded the photos.
I'd like to be able to make a single "Vee", and have it have adjustable constraints so that I can expand or contract the cover by adjusting one number.
I have a dyn block of a door (a 1:1 door designed to be laser cut from sheetmetal and folded, hence the strange shape), I want the number of hinge holes (3) to change to (2) when stretching below a certain length and vice versa. I have a visibility state that allows me to change the number/size of hinges/handles through the drop down, but I want to be able to eg. Stretch the door past a certain point (1000mm) and any distance after that will have a third hinge inserted automatically, and reduce back down to (2) when stretched below 1000mm.
I already have it set to stay centered, but trying to make it insert/remove over a set distance is difficult!
I'm going through some customer equipment models and setting them up in my library for referencing. For example, I'll setup a machine that belongs to a customer, then reference it through a library when I design new tooling and/or components to work with existing equipment.
One such machine is a simple positioner. It's got a linear slide for "X" movement that's got an arm on a mounting plate. The slide has some amount of travel, say 500mm or so. And the mounting plate has 5 sets of mounting holes. So the arm can have four bolts removed and be mounted in any (1) of (5) different locations. This is in addition to the slide's travel.
When I design future assemblies and components for this, I'd like to be able to insert the assembly from a library into my "new" assembly in a flexible configuration where I can set it up using any combination of mounting holes AND slide travel.
So I can setup (5) different positional reps for the mounting hole configs. That's easy. With respect to the slide, I can create a constraint that allows the arm to extend and retract, but how can I get the library assembly to "rest" in multiple locations? For example, I may work on Design A that needs the extension at 241mm and Design B at 316mm.
Would I need to setup a different Pos Rep in the library assembly for the requirements of every new design? Unfortunately, the design is proprietary to the customer, so I really can't post anything about it.
I need to make a 1/8" diameter flexible hose, but the sizes listed for the Parker Hydraulic Hose only go down to 1/4". The closest solution I could find is here:
[URL]........
Here is what I did:
In my assembly, click "Place From Content Center"
Find "Parker Hydraulic Hose"
When I right click on it, the only selection is "Add to Favorites"
Double click on "Parker Hydraulic Hose"
Go to "Table View" tab
Right click on a row, but there is no "Input" selection.
Usually what I do is download a 3D CAD part from McMaster Carr or some other place and start from scratch trying to recreate the part or, in this case, the assembly. I'm working on modeling a simple swing-arm type of machine I've made in the past and the I've been able to recreate all of the parts with their proper ranges of motion except one. It's an Inline Ball Joint Linkage that has a rubber boot around it to keep the dust out and possibly grease in. I want to know if it is possible to model the rubber boot so that it would mimic real life movement. Right now, the boot is basically a rigid cylinder and as the linkage swivels, the solid bodies clip through each other.
I've been able to make a flexible hose type of assembly as shown here: [URL]... However, creating a 3D drawing with a spline that attaches to work points on the other assemblies causes the Ball Joint to no longer work. It will only rotate as opposed to swiveling.
I want to put a cable tray going from a sliding door to a fixed piece of steelwork. When the door opens and closes, I want the cable tray to adjust to suit the sliding door. I'll upload the file that I have made. When i drag the sketch it all moves accordingly, but when I placed in the assembly and make it adaptive it does nothing, it will not constrain and it will only bring up the errors.
Inventor 2012 Windows 7 64-Bit SP1 Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU X5570 @ 2.93GHz NVIDIA Quadro FX 3800 (Avail. Graphics Memory 4067MB - Ded. 1024 MB) 12 GB RAM
I use flat piano hinges on doors for many of the machines we build. I would like to be able to calculate the total length of multiple doors on a single machine. We buy these hinges so it needs to go on a buy out parts list.
So here is my problem:
To make it a useable hinge I build an assembly from two hinge halves.
This allows me to check for interference within the machine when the door gets opened.
I set the BOM structure of the assembly to purchased so it shows up on my buy out list.
Both halves of the hinge are set to normal.
There are hinges of different lengths on the same machine.
I can link a parameter of one of the halves to the assembly to show length of the hinge but I cannot set the BOM base qty on the assembly to that parameter so Inventor can add up the lengths.
When I group the items in a buyout parts list the result is "0." The individual assemblies show the correct length because I use the "length" parameter that is linked for the QTY in the parts list. But I cant "add" the lengths and have a total whe I group them.
I need to have mixed units in this list. Some things are bought as Each and these hinges are bought in length.
I've managed to hack together some code to draw a rectangle and dimension it. Now I want to constrain it to the origin. I figure either using two dimensions from a top/side to the origin and setting the dimension as half of the other respective dimension would work. Or constraining the center point of a top/side line to be vertical/horizontal to the origin.
The problem I'm having is I do not know how to reference the origin. So until I figure out how to reference the origin point I can't use either method.
Public Sub DrawSketchLine() ' Check to make sure a sketch is open. If Not TypeOf ThisApplication.ActiveEditObject Is PlanarSketch Then MsgBox "A sketch must be active." Exit Sub End If ' Set a reference to the active sketch. Dim oSketch As PlanarSketch Set oSketch = ThisApplication.ActiveEditObject ' Set a reference to the transient geometry collection. Dim oTransGeom As TransientGeometry Set oTransGeom = ThisApplication.TransientGeometry Dim oUOM As UnitsOfMeasure Set oUOM = [Code].......
I've made 2 parts and I'm attempting to constrain them but I can't seem to get it to fit properly.The transition should fit at the opposite end of the 2 square cutouts with the square end of the transition inside the cylinder.
I am trying to CAD a model rocket I just made so I can test the aerodynamics of it. I have all of the individual parts made in inventor, but I am having trouble getting the fins on the rocket.
How can I constrain the fins (which have a flat face) to the outside of the cylindrical rocket tube? The photo shows the fin and the face (the narrow and long face) that I am trying to constrain to the tube.
SO what is everyone say, trick about speeding up constrain execution. I have started working on this new project with 2013. And i'm finding myself losing alot of time. Basicly what i do is insert part from our database or content center and assemble them. So 80% of my activities on inventor are constraints. Right now i have this assemblies 175 / 156(small to me). And executing a constraint is minimum 4 seconds each time. If you consider that about 3 contraint is needed for each piece and final total part will probably be around 1000. i'm losing alot of time here
Yeah, i am not using preview. Why is inventor recalculating that much each time? Is it doing a rebuilt after each constraint?
What have you done that really increase the excution time of constraints?
Workstaion is Windows 7 64bit Intel Extreme i7cpu I975 @ 3,33 12bg ram 4 ssd in Raid stripping.Nvidia FX3800 Inventor 2013 SP1
I am trying to determine how to properley constrain the assembly below, so that the compression of the rubber gasket will be properly indicated.
Currently I am seeing the deflection of the shelf in the downward direction, but I do not see any indication of stress in the gasket behind.Currently the gasket is "bonded" to the steel tube the screws are bonded to the shelf bracket and the steel tube.
I put in "work axis" at the center line of the shelf bracket and the CL of the gasket, but I can't find a way to constrain to a work axis.The file is too large to upload here...
I have one problem and I would like to get your opinion how I could solve this.
I can't share models I have problem with, but I made another with the same problem.
I have two parts - one with slot, another with "pin". How to constrain the "pin" to always move in slot?
I had some ideas but non of them worked for me:
1. Use the Transitional constrain came first in mind, but it gives unsuspected results in this situation. Pin part is jumping around and ends up contrained in another place ir should be.
2. Contact solver kind of do the job, but it works quite bad. I gives no control or accuracy (i can not control how much pin is moved out)
3. I even thought of point on 3d sketch constrain, but it can not be done
How you would suggest to constrain the movement? I hope I stated problem clear enough.
I'm trying to make a constraint allowing the dark smaller cylinder (1) to run in the copper track (2). I want the larger cylinder (3) to be able to rotate around its own axis, while everything is rotating around the Z axis. I've successfully constrained the parts so that all the parts can rotate around the Z-axis but when I constrain the smaller cylinder (1) with the tangent constraint with the track (2) the smaller cylinder is not able to move around on the face, it's just glued to the face.
I want the smaller cylinder (1) to recognize the copper faces as solids (so that it can't intersect the surfaces), this would allow the proper movement. I've attached an image of the parts.
How is this accomplished in Inventor? The 3D sketch environment seems intentionally crippled. Many of the constrains are not available, and the "include geometery" command refuses to include the origin (or any other planes and axis for that matter).