Newbie question

I am trying to transition from 25 years of 3D solids work using AutoCAD to Inventor 2013. One of my concerns is how to create a complex weldment that will have 25 or 30 parts, some of them are standard AISI shapes plus some other standard stuff and make all that one part. The impression I have from reading is that Inventor wants you to create individual parts and then make them into an assembly.

But my brain says that all the parts have to be fitted to each other as the weldment is developed to meet the primary design requirements.

Some suggestions would be very much appreciated.

Thanks

Create a sketch skeleton file of the frame.

Place this skeleton part file into an assembly file.

Use the Frame Generator to create the frame. Any changes made to the skeleton file will propagate to the individual parts in the assembly file.

Convert the assembly to a Weldment if you want to add any of Prep Machining/Weld Beads/Post Machining.

I think there are probably a couple of Weldment tutorials in the Help>Learning Tools>Tutorials

Create a sketch skeleton file of the frame.

Place this skeleton part file into an assembly file.

Use the Frame Generator to create the frame. Any changes made to the skeleton file will propagate to the individual parts in the assembly file.

Convert the assembly to a Weldment if you want to add any of Prep Machining/Weld Beads/Post Machining.

 

I think there are probably a couple of Weldment tutorials in the Help>Learning Tools>Tutorials

I like the sound of that advice JD, thanks.

As impressed as I am by the Modernity of Inventor, and having tried it before, I didn't feel that it

would be so appropriate for the kind of work I do, much like that described by RB.

You have picqued my interest, I will have to look into this possibility.

This tutorial

http://home.pct.edu/~jmather/content/CAD238/AutoCAD%202007%20Tutorial%208.pdf

follows a similar Sketetal Modeling technique in AutoCAD, but of course AutoCAD does not have the library of profiles (but both Inventor and AutoCAD could have user created libraries), end treatments and welding environment.

As always JB you are a fount of knowledge and share it willingly. I do have a complete file of very accurate AISI shapes for my AutoCAD 2013 and I assume that at some point I will learn how to use the Design Accelerator in Inventor 2013 to give me the profiles I need.

Thanks a bunch.

Bob Price

Scientists investigate that which already is: Engineers create that which has never been. Albert Einstein

JD - that link took me to an AutoCAD demo - how do I do the same thing in Inventor? And what is a Frame Generator?

Thanks

RBP

Scientists investigate that which already is: Engineers create that which has never been. Albert Einstein

Frame generator is in the assembly environment.

Have a look here.

Thanks a bunch Gazza - that helped a great deal. That being said I am going to take advantage of my Newbie status and ask how does one add all the small plates to the ends of those box beams and trim the beams etc. that in the REAL world would be needed to actually construct that grossly simple example and in particular, to get a reliable stress analysis.

That question, how does one, using INVENTOR, design in all the critically important details in any assembly, whether it is a structural steel thingy or a three stage 150 HP gearbox. My experience is that you have to design Top Down meaning one needs to be able to keep adding to the design as one proceeds: every little item from the holes for the fasteners to the commercial items added as Xrefs (does Inventor use Xrefs?) needs to be there in the design stage.

You cannot design each individual part that then create the assembly. The assembly has to come first. Its like making nail soup: one needs to add the potatoes, carrots, meat until the soup is ready to eat.

Guess I have a lot learn or maybe un-learn.

Thanks again.

Scientists investigate that which already is: Engineers create that which has never been. Albert Einstein

....You cannot design each individual part that then create the assembly.

Sure you can.

In fact - I recommend that beginners avoid top down till they have mastered bottom up.

I guess I need to finish this thread http://www.cadtutor.net/forum/showthread.php?85808-Inventor-101

Most of Inventor works pretty much like out on the shop floor in the real world (when used correctly).

Thanks for the input JD - but help me out here please. How do I create 1225 individual parts that have to mate with one another in size, hole patterns, welds preps, bolt wrench clearances requirements, fits to commercial components, locations for electrical conduits, limits switches, control cabinets, HMI displays, pneumatic components, guarding, bearings, pulleys, drive belts, casters, etc. etc. etc.

And what happens out on the shop floor is that machinists, welders, technicians etc. follow the instructions on detail drawings and wiring diagrams to build what the engineer designed. They DO NOT START WITH A BLANK SHEET OF PAPER AND A CONCEPT IN ONES HEAD!

Bob Price

Scientists investigate that which already is: Engineers create that which has never been. Albert Einstein

I don't understand the problem?

The engineer designs

the shop floor machines, fabricates, assembles.

Same as always.

If the shop floor workers can manage that - why can't the engineers manage that in digital form?

Well JD - I was just in the learning mode with my Inventor and while watching a video about Top Down design, the lecturer stated " All the important size and layout information must be in the Master Skeleton Sketch". That seems to imply that the total spectrum of the details needed to fully define the assembly, from the fillets in a casting to the lock washer under the nut to the tube fitting on the nylon air line going into the input port of a solenoid valve need to be in the assembly drawing. Is that what he meant by that statement and if not what did it mean?

I have absolutely no problem doing all of that in AutoCAD 2013 in full blown 3D: been doing it for many years. Many, many, many hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of complex machines have been built and used from my designs ranging from a 7 axis robotic system to high speed assembly systems to picking gold coins off a stack to making huge generator stator assemblies using a robot hanging upside down.

But if I cannot, as yet, see how to do that in Inventor when I have to start with some stick figure that ostensibly defines all that stuff. And I sure would like to be able to do that.

... while watching a video about Top Down design, the lecturer stated " All the important size and layout information must be in the Master Skeleton Sketch". That seems to imply that the total spectrum of the details ....

Who is this person? url?

My estimate is that only about 10% of Inventor users (including VARs) know how to use Inventor.

A basic skeleton is just what the name implies - a skeleton.

Keep it simple, you can add complexity at any time, but the KISS principle always applies.

I see too many people try to dive into the deep end before learning how to do anything more than tread water. And they carry all the bad habits developed in the kiddie pool with them into the deep water.