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A few beginner's questions, if you've the time


WalkerRiley

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Hey all. I've a newbie question for you guys, no time constraints on this'un.

 

We are a custom wood window and door fabrication company looking at Inventor to compliment and/or replace AutoCAD 2D. We produce shop production drawings for every unit ordered. Because we offer custom sizes of near any variety (within reason), we may have standard profiles of each part (e.g. the base sketch), but the lengths of each part can be damn near anything.

 

I started looking into Inventor as a way to help automate our billing, drilling schedules, BOM, etc. I've a good grasp on the basics of parts (sketching, extruding, adding/modifying parameters), assemblies (placing parts, constraining, etc), and even dabbled a bit in iLogic to create drilling locations based on part length and a form to adjust the overall size of the assembly (via part skeleton).

 

Where I'm at, and I'm not even sure it can be done, is if there is a way I can use the base assembly as a template from which I can have multiple units drawn.

 

I guess an example is in order:

 

On one project I may have four fixed windows

 

2 @ 36" wide x 45 " tall x 6-1/4" deep

1 @ 36" wide x 53-7/16" tall x 8" deep

1 @ 24-3/16" wide x 54-7/16" tall x 9" deep

 

All four will use the same profiles for their individual parts, but the part lengths (and sometimes widths) will vary depending on the unit size. The above example is not all inclusive; the units can be just about any size between our minimum and maximum ranges down to 1/32" precision.

 

My form in my base assembly will obviously alter the sizes of the individual parts as well, so at the moment I can do a drawing for one size, but not multiple different sized units. I'm thinking I might need to look at iAssemblies for this, but I'm not certain that is correct?

 

Long question long, I would like to a way to make template assemblies for our units which can then be added to individual projects and used to create the elevations and profile drawings we need for each custom sized unit, as well as all the extra fiddly bits with BOM generation and whatnot. I'm not looking for exact step by step instructions (that'd be nice, but I'm not going to learn anything that way), but if someone could point me to some resources that may help me solve this, or give me some direction on what I should investigate, or if this is even feasible, it would be most appreciated.

 

If clarification is needed I'll do my best. Thanks in advance.

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  • 1 month later...

Seems like this would be a good project for iParts

 

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/inventor-products/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2014/ENU/Inventor/files/GUID-6A984E7A-C08E-45C0-906B-7143596A4581-htm.html

 

You should be able to set the "template" part up and fully detail the drawing. When you make a new configuration of the part the drawing should go with it. I will be honest it has been 5 years or so since i messed with this functionality in Inventor. I do it all the time in Solidworks and from what i remembered about this the functionality was similar.

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Back to the world of programming if you search here for David Bethel he has some great 3d examples of commercial kitchens, these are generated in a lot of cases by using lisp programs he has created. Just answer the 10 questions and the object is drawn. Full 3d.

 

Another example here is Bill Tillman he has used lisp to automate products his company produces, I have seen a couple of his examples and they are pretty good. He is asking questions here improving no doubt his day to day production.

 

What I am getting at just changing software may not improve anything.

 

Using a type of window and relevant dimensions you can produce your design quickly.

 

Its a case of just taking the first step. There have been quite a few similar posts about cabinetry, doors etc posted here.

 

Using dynamic blocks has improved immensely creation of parts just changing values in the properties box or via a lisp.

 

Post a sample dwg for us to have a look at, you may be better off paying some one to generate a suite of programs to meet your needs.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I would start by creating a new part file and sketching a door and window inside the sketch mode.

 

next, i would set multiple parameters. example: window a (width, height, depth)

window b (width height depth)

window c (width height depth)

door a (width.......)

door b (width....)

 

then, copy and paste you "window" sketch for the number of different windows you have, and simply change the parameters of each one to match.

 

next, extrude the parts, make sure they are as separate solid entities.

finally, use "make component" and export the separate solids into their own assemblies.

 

hope this helps.

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