AutoCAD Inventor :: Simulate Path Of Ropes Through Pulleys / Sheaves - Constraining In-Place Parts
Feb 25, 2013
I am trying to simulate the path of ropes through pulleys/sheaves etc. It's a bit of a chicken-and-egg set up.
My workflow is the following:
Assemble and constrain geometry
Create plane in assembly than rope will run on.
Create in-place part (rope) with box ticked for "constrain to sketch plane" or the like, referencing above geometry.
Question 1: I see my in-place component is not constrained to referenced geometry, I can drag it around?
I then ground it or constrain to workpoints used as part of the original "project geometry".
I then alter the original geometry and...nothing!
Question 2: How do I get my rope to adapt?
Attached is a mock up - original contains assemblies within assemblies etc. The base has been altered after creating the in-place parts, and the rope has not followed suite.
I am trying to make a robot chassis in inventor using vex parts. I have a full library of vex parts. I have my basic chassis constrained but for some reason when i use the move command the parts still move, but then snap back into place.
Also, after giving up on the moving chassis i tried to move onto bearing flats. Bearing flats consist of 3 holes in a line that match up with the holes in the chassis rails. I constrain the face of the bearing flat to the face of the chassis rail. This constraint works and removes a degree of freedom. However, when i try to remove the other 2 degrees of freedom they dont seem to go away. I use the tangent constraint, constraining the hole of the bearing flat to the hole of the chassis rail(which is square) using an offset to make the hole centered. I constrain in both of my remaining degrees of freedom, but they bearing flat still moves.
My goal is to let some wheels roll in a path which exist from 2 straight paths and a corner. I can constrain them to 1 path at a time but not to all of them so my wheel makes a corner. I
You can find the guide rail as attachment. There is a path in the sketch from which i sweeped my form but he divides it in the 3 parts so i can't constrain the center point of my wheel to this path.
I'm interested in simulating an object that is held up by a number of ropes connected to winches, which can provide varying tension on the ropes. I'm fairly new to Inventor, and am not sure where to start.
I am having a problem with editing in place in Inventor 2012. Some parts will edit in place and some won't. Attached are a couple of files I am using which has this problem. I need the other assemblies in place so that I can locate a hole inline with a threaded insert.
When I insert a standard 6" square tube into an assembly there are all of the custom shapes and standard structural members to choose from. When I try to put the same tubing into a part file only the custom shapes are visible and no standard parts to choose from.
I can only guess that I have some obscure check box missing. There appears to be no good reason why I would be restricted in part files.
I have been using Inventor 2011 and I have noticed that I can’t create a component *.IAM in place if there is a content center part that is selected. I am saving content center parts as custom.
I created a curved, sloped wall (it's actually a tower) using in place mass, model by face - wall. I need to place reveals in the wall to simulate ACM panels. I've tried using the reveal tool in the wall drop down but it won't allow a reveal to be placed in the custom wall.
Since autodesk developers didn't think of the fact that somebody might want to change the material of the bolt or hollow sections when it get's saved in the library, is there any way of changing the default saving path of the content center generated parts? These parts are getting saved in the library folder at the moment so Inventor doesn't allow me to change their material.
I need to create rotating pulleys with belt can be v-belt or synchronous one. Shaft number one needs to power shaft number two by using this belt. I created shafts and belt with pulleys by using design accelerator but I dont know how to set all the constraints/connections to make them move. Link to the animation tutorial( I found tutorials for this but they are not with the shafts, just pulleys with chain or belts).
Completed a project. Wanted to show the customer the end result and go over changes on my laptop. Copied the directory to my laptop. None of the Nuts & bolts will show up on the laptop version. Got a new desktop computer. Same problem. My completed version doesn't show the content center items, Hence drawings & assemblies are always un-resolved. How can I get the Content center files to show up without deleting and reinserting the items.
Also how can I make the content center parts I place into the model reside in the local path.
When I rotate the drive shaft gear very slowly, the assembly follows the the correct motion path, (figure 1), however, when I rotate it quickly, the assembly snaps the linkages to an orientation that is not physically possible, but satisfies the geometrical constraints (figure 2). I can't use contact solver because I am using the adaptive function for my sub-assembly to avoid having to re-constrain many parts.
Is there a way to do this? 2 parts, 1 has a hole in it and the other has a slot. I want to constrain the center of the hole to the center of the slot. How do I do this?
I'm just getting started using the Tube and Pipe environment for some of my work, and I've got what I'm hoping is a simple question with a simple answer. In the picture attached I've got a 1" pipe dropping down into a 8" pipe which I've disabled because it's a standard part right now and I want to replace it with a tube & pipe run. The thing I seem to have the hardest time doing when routing my pipes is aligning/offsetting my nodes with existing geometry in the assembly. In this case I want the end of the 8" pipe to be 12" offset from the centerline of the 1" pipe, and for the 8" pipe's centerline to be 12" below the bottom of the mezzanine's I-beam (as the standard part it is now). What's the best way to do this in the Tube and Pipe environment?
I tried "Include Geometry" from the "Create" panel but that only lets me create planes, which won't work with offsetting from the 1" centerline. However, SOMETIMES (it's a big sometimes) ALL of the options in the "3D Sketch" tab are available. When that's the case, I can go to the "3D Model" tab and create workpoints, axes, and planes. Sometimes, though, they're not all available, and I'm not able to place anything but planes. How I can change it so I can always use all the geometry of my assembly?
Also I'd like to know if constraing fittings and point-snapping routes to my assembly geometry in this way is the best way to do Tube and Pipe routes. Will doing this allow my routes to update if the assembly changes?
I am assembling a weldment and need to place a looped bar onto a tubular stanchion 50mm below the top of the stanchion. I have made axis at each point on the stanchion and the bar, but i cant figure out how to constrain the loop to the point I require. All I can get it to do it to constrain to the centre of the stanchion only.
I have a piece of steel that I need to flex. It is a piece of blue tempered spring steel pressed against the corner of a brass pressure transfer. The opposite end of the transfer is tangentlly constrained to a latching mechanism. When the latching mechanism is lifted, the transfer rotates slightly around a screw (made invisible) and the spring is flexed. When the latch is released, the spring returns the latch to the closed position. I have several other assemblies that use the same principal, but some with just a piece of mild steel used as a cover as well as a spring.
I am having trouble constraining the wire track in the attached picture. I want the track to move naturally when the sliding piece moves, however it folds over on itself and doesn't stay in line. I can't figure out anyway to make it look uniform and move they way it should, is it possible in inventor?
is it possible to constrain an item twice to a base, because a task i'm doing requires a tank to be constrained to 2 completely different parts. What i've got so far is one end will go through the whole way.
I am trying to make a 3D sketch that is constrained to two different parts in an assembly. I want the sketch to be constrained to each of these parts so that if you move the parts relative to each other the sketch will adapt.
I have tried using work planes and project geometry but when I go to move the part the geometry won't always follow the part. I am using a spline for the 3D sketch so it should be able to adapt when the parts are moved but the problem is constraining it to something that follows the part.
I have a vector drawing of a logo, currently in adobe illustrator format. I'd like to create a 2D sketch in Autodesk Inventor and then insert this drawing into the sketch as a shape that can only be placed and scaled.
The way I'd expect this to work is essentially that I'd get a rectangle X enclosing vector object Y, and that I'd then be able to create a fully constrained Inventor sketch by simply constraining the corners of this rectangle X. Is it possible to do something along those lines, and if so what is the best practice for it?
What I tried, which failed, was this:
1. Converted the AI file to a .DWG file
2. Used the "Insert ACAD" command to place the file in Inventor with the Constrain End Points and Apply geometric constraints boxes checked (other boxes were unchecked)
3. Waited for a surprisingly long time for this operation to complete, maybe 30s on a 16GB 2.6GHz quad machine
The result of this operation is that I now see my imported geometry, BUT all vectors are treated as individual shapes and I have 2637 dimensions needed.
I have an oddly shaped flat plate extruded from a sketch, the sketch of which has lots on constructions lines, none of which actually represent solid edges of the plate. However, I want to locate the plate to other components via the geometry defined in the sketch.
I find that when I am trying to constrain the plate to other parts none of the sketch geometry is available to me. Points, lines, construction lines, circles; I can select none of it when constraining. I am confused. How can I constrain such a part?
Just to clarify - the flat plate is the base of a structure. Its profile is decoratively shaped, so nothing about the cut edge of the plate is suitable for constraining to. I need to constrain off geometry defined in the sketch.
Why is it that when you create the first constraint between any two components, the secondary component moves not only to satisfy the constraint, but also in ways that have nothing to do with the constraint. This is not occasional behavior, it happens every time.
I always have to stop and move the secondary component back out of the way to get to the other features I need to reference to continue.
How do you fully ground & constrain Tube & Pipe Routes?
The problem I have is after I complete My runs & routes & I have to make a dimension change in my Route, my route does not stay vertical & horizontal, then I have to start all over, which is very time consuming
I'm sure there is a way to do this , just like in a regular sketch, you want all of your lines to turn purple so it is fully constrained , well with the routes they are not, only the very first line then the rest of the lines in the route are blue. I have tried to use regular constraints but I get the error message saying constraint already applied.
I have also tried to ground a work point from where the route starts from, & that didn't work.
