Calculating outside surface area

[Alspos]

I have a model of a diecasting we want made and I would like to find out the surface area of the OUTSIDE of the casting (for heat dissapation calculations). iProperties tells me the entire surface area and the help file is next to useless. Is there a way to select the outside surface so I can get the outside surface area?

Thanks for any light you can shed on this.
Alan

[JD Mather]

Is there a way to select the outside surface so I can get the outside surface area?

There are several ways to do this, here are two methods -

Delete Face the inside faces and then iProperties
you could then undo or drag the EOP above the Delete Face feature...

or

start a new part file and Derive component and Delete Face the inside faces of the derived part.

If there are a lot of inside faces and the part geometry allows it, you might be able use Sculpt to fill and simplify the inside. I would need to see the part to offer other suggestions.

[Wowzer]

I find that typing "area" then o, then selecting the object does a good job.

Are there any limitations to this tool?


Command: area
Specify first corner point or [Object/Add/Subtract]: O
Select objects:
Area = 23415.0647, Perimeter = 0.0000

[JD Mather]

Say what? Are you lost? Can you demonstrate this on a 3D model?

Inventor does not have a command line - where are you typing area?