Modeling of the machine foundations

Dear All,

We have just swopped from ProE to Inventor and I have a following question:

How do you model the machinery foundations in Inventor?

We are mainly doing rebuilds or small sections for paper machines. Paper machine foundation may be sometimes quite complex and especially if you have existing foundations which you need to modify it will become difficult.

Earlier when we used ProE, we never modeled the foundations. Our 3D model started from the sole plates and the base bolts were in the 3D model. All foundation drawing were done in 2D in basic AutoCad. Now when I have seen the capabilities of Inventor I would like to make the foundations also in 3D. Our scope of supply does not normally include the civil engineering but the shape of the foundations will affect our design.

So what is the best way to do it? All help and possible examples would be highly appreciated.

BR. John

you have 60 odd views lol

you may need to explain in detail what you mean about machinery foundations...

can you can try upload your examples

Steve

For example something like in attached picture.

I think the easiest way is to make one part of the building foundations. When our erection supervisor will arrive to the site the building should be ready and there should be holes in the floor for the base plates and bolts as indicated in the picture.

The base plates are prealigned and the base bolts are crouted. Note that only the bolts are crouted, after this first crouting there is still about 50 mm air under the base plate. When the first crouting has cured, the base plates are aligned within accuracy of 0.1 mm. When the aligning tolerance has been reached the second crouting is done. When the second crouting has cured the bolts are tightened.

An ideal tool would be such that you can make an assembly of all the base plates and when you place this assembly of the base plates to foundation assembly you can easily create crouting by a simple "fill" tool by just pointing the begin and end surface. Or something similar. By adding relations if you update the position of the base plates on the base plate assy also the foundation assy/dwg is updated automatically. It is necessary to see the two croutings as different parts (in dwg) as it will make the sectional views much more informative.

BR. John

I would just say what I do with this. In my case where our designs are affected by foundation dimensions & levels, we create the foundation as a part. The bill of material property is set "Reference" so it does not show on our Bill of Materials. This part is placed in the assembly, located and grounded. The rest of the parts are placed on the foundation.

Regards

Milind L. Kulkarni

Pune, INDIA