Inventor 2010 Tutorial: > Assemblies > Constrain cylindrical components

[Qumad]

I seem to bump into issues in the tutorial constantly, and seem to need other peoples perspectives to help me see where it all goes wrong.

 

This time it is in the fifth tutorial Assemblies > Constrain cylindrical components. Here on the second segment we are going to place two Lock Pin's

 

My first problem is that I can not seem to be able to place the Lock Pin's in the way it is described (and seen in the third picture).

It seems like how far inside the block the Lock Pin's at put depends where on the Pin's I select (?) But I am not able to get the long end of the Pin to be inside the block, it is always the short end.

 

My other problem is that the flat area is not facing upwards but towards the "left"

 

The tip mentions rotating, so I thought maybe this was the solution to my problem also but the rotating feature did not revolve around the axis and was rotating in all directions and was not in the hole when I almost had the flat area upwards.

PS. The tip also says that I have to update after rotating to recalculate, where do I find this update? (maybe this will sort out my problem? If it does, then I assume that it is not important to have the flat area in a perfect alignment.

 

I'm sure that I'm doing something wrong and have tried to go over it so many times now and need someone else perspective on what I may be doing wrong.

[JD Mather]

...It seems like how far inside the block the Lock Pin's at put depends where on the Pin's I select (?) But I am not able to get the long end of the Pin to be inside the block, it is always the short end.

 

My other problem is that the flat area is not facing upwards but towards the "left"

 

The tip mentions rotating,

 

This is so easy if a basic class is taken.

 

The distance inside the hole does not matter - that is taken care of in Steps 4-11.

You should select the side of the pin (cylinder) and the side of the hole (negative cylinder). This is where I see beginners have a lot of trouble as they select the circular edge of the hole rather than the cylindical inside face of the hole.

 

The tip mentions rotate. I prefer to rotate the pin to the approximate orientation BEFORE using the Mate/Mate constraint. This ensures the correct end always goes in the hole. Always.

 

But I see where a bit of confusion now enters when considering the orientation of the flat face. There are two methods of rotate - one is to select the Rotate tool which temporarily overrides any existing constraints. I seldom use this tool except for axis alignment as above.

 

The second method of rotate assumes you have a remaining rotational degree of freedom - and in this case you do - the pin can rotate around it's axis. Simply click on the pin (no tools selected) and drag to rotate flat to approximate orientation. Steps 4-11 will take care of the precise alignment.

 

Tip: At some point in gaining experience in assembly constraints you should just think of how would I put these together if I had the parts in my hand - use pure logic in determining constraints.

[Qumad]

Thanks for a quick reply

This is so easy if a basic class is taken.

My colleagues meant that I would gain more from the basic course if I did the tutorials first as I would then have a base and some understanding in what it was all about.

 

The distance inside the hole does not matter - that is taken care of in Steps 4-11.

You should select the side of the pin (cylinder) and the side of the hole (negative cylinder). This is where I see beginners have a lot of trouble as they select the circular edge of the hole rather than the cylindical inside face of the hole.

The distance creates issues when it is to far inn for me to be able to work with it (I did not know I could just drag it anywhere I wanted it and that it did not have any effect on the future process of the tutorial.)

Note that it is the hole in the block and not the cylinder base that is to be selected and that the only "side" of the hole that is available is the short bit that is visible inside the hole, trying to select it from the outside will not work as one will only be able to select the sides or the work planes. But may be this "side" is the one You are referring to as the best pick?

 

PS. One have to pick the hole in the block first, if the pin i selected first the outer end of the piston "lets go" of the short shaft in the hinge. (at least in my file (is this the way it is supposed to be or have I done something wrong again here now?)

 

The tip mentions rotate. I prefer to rotate the pin to the approximate orientation BEFORE using the Mate/Mate constraint. This ensures the correct end always goes in the hole. Always.

Cheers, works way much better

 

But I see where a bit of confusion now enters when considering the orientation of the flat face. There are two methods of rotate - one is to select the Rotate tool which temporarily overrides any existing constraints. I seldom use this tool except for axis alignment as above.

 

The second method of rotate assumes you have a remaining rotational degree of freedom - and in this case you do - the pin can rotate around it's axis. Simply click on the pin (no tools selected) and drag to rotate flat to approximate orientation. Steps 4-11 will take care of the precise alignment.

This I did not even try, thanks.

 

Tip: At some point in gaining experience in assembly constraints you should just think of how would I put these together if I had the parts in my hand - use pure logic in determining constraints.

Thanks, will try to keep this in mind along with trying to minimize the amount of constraints.

[shift1313]

There are also check boxes when your constraints pop up window is on the screen. The box is "Pick Part First". this allows you to select a single part then a face or edge. The selection process can also be made easier by the use of "select other". If you leave the cursor still for a moment you get a little icon that has a left and right arrow as well as a green box in the center. You can use this to toggle your selection based on cursor position. For instance the first thing it will want to select will be the outter face of the object you are over, if you go to the next it will the following face as if you were cutting into the part. You can (depending on how it is setup) scroll through these with your mouse wheel once the select other icon pops up. You can also get to this with the right mouse button.

 

What you select is very important.

 

When free rotating a component i find its best to look at it with a standar view or a view that you would essentially be looking down the rotation axis. Your cursor location dictates how the part rotates. Pay attention to the icon of your cursor. If you move it outside the cross-hair circle(say the upper right quadrant) you will be able to rotate only around the central axis. If you move onto one of the cross hairs outside of the circle it will rotate around that axis(vertical or horizontal) and if your cursor is inside the circle, it will free rotate in any direction.