Dynamic 3d fasteners.

[stevsmith]

I'm starting to get right into this "3D" mallarky, but I have got to the stage where i'm going to have to start putting fasteners into my projects.

I am able to draw the fixings no bother but how can i make them dynamic blocks so I can change the length from say 30mm deep to 50mm deep?

[MaxwellEdison]

Well Steve, as it currently stands you can officially only create 2d Dynamic blocks. However, I have successfully made some 3d blocks with some dynamic attributes. You will only be able to work in one axis so before you turn the bolt into a block add a point to the center of the bottom of the head (assuming pan or hex head). Then I'd reduce your threaded area into smaller subdivisions matching the minimum increment of the required bolt depth.

 

Now create the block based on the side view so that the head shaft and threads are all visible. You can then set just one linear parameter from the point you added to the underside of the head to the tip. Set the parameter type to be incremental or list the distances of your required lengths. Then add a move or stretch action to the tip and an array to the threaded section. You can also toy with the idea of nesting several types of fastener heads together and control them through visibility states...but those are all just window dressing after the guts of the dynamic block are formed. I'd show you what I mean...but I'm only running 2004 on my home machine. Oh, and it should go without saying that you should ensure that the point under the head is the blocks base point for easy use.

[stevsmith]

wow maxwell, thats great. even though it is a bit time consuming for me because i've just started out. I guess AutoCad just isn't as advanced as solidworks. (My previous best friend)

 

I'll give it a shot and spend some time on it.

Ill get there in the end. (i'm Stubborn)

 

Cheers mate

[MaxwellEdison]

Its not as bad as it sounds, really. but its nowhere near what a true parametric program will do. I've been toying with the idea of doing this for our fasteners too, although we mostly use 3/8 or 1/2" lag screws, once you see how the block is created its a simple matter to make one for metric sizes.

[ammobake]

There are a couple things you could potentially do.

 

You could search manufacturers for 3d models of what you need.

 

You could also search autodesk seek at this website:

 

http://seek.autodesk.com/

 

You can usually find what you need on that site.. Some manufacturers don't have their products in 3d, but since there are probably many different manufacturers of fasteners you can usually find what you need from one source or another. Autodesk is constantly adding to the autodesk seek block library and it is completely free. It's a great resource for BIM blocks as well, however, alot of manufacturers probably don't have BIM models yet for their products (although it is slowly becoming the standard over time).

 

The corps of engineers is officially requiring anyone doing business with them to use BIM by 2009 with either autodesk revit or bentley software.. Who knows whether or not they will stick to that. BIM has its advantages but it still seems that 2D drawings are not going away anytime soon. The transition to BIM is going to take a while....And it is completely unreasonable to create BIM of an entire building to do a simple renovation project or whatever..

 

The problems with such a transition are many.. For example, since most government buildings don't have existing as-built BIM's ( I'm usually lucky to get 2d line drawings) where would a contractor start? It's not like the contractor should be forced to do the government's work for them and give them a full BIM for a simple project. Therefore until the government itself starts to transition and get BIM's to work with for their buildings, we are still stuck with doing the old style 2D drawing sets.

 

-ChriS

[JD Mather]

.... I guess AutoCad just isn't as advanced as solidworks. (My previous best friend)

 

Forget about AutoCAD - it is not a valid comparison to SolidWorks. Autodesk Inventor is nearly identical to SolidWorks and of course it includes built in 3D content like fasteners. (Bolted Connection Generator, Design Accelerators, Content Center, iParts...)

 

If you are a student you can get it free at http://engineersrule.org

 

there is also free Inventor LT (but I don't think it includes libraries but I think you can create custom iParts which can be anything, including parametric 3D fasteners) http://labs.autodesk.com

[ammobake]

I used to work in R&D for a company that designed and built portable carbon-composite shelters for various government agencies and the military. Our primary design software was solidworks (and it worked really good). We could design each composite component as a separate entity and any interferences would make themselves known in the assembly. We did have some problems though.. (mostly related to the fact that we had one licensed solidworks disc being used on 4 computers). Then again, our design team leader was not too bright.. But we made it work.

 

Solidworks drawings were extremely easy to create and change when we had redlines. That was probably my favorite part..But creating an actual physical building/structure in solidworks could get nightmarish extremely fast...That's probably why autocad is still the industry standard for architectural plans/drawings.. Solidworks seems to be best for creating 3d models/renderings/animations for non-architectural 3d objects (maybe inventor competes but i haven't tried it yet). The drawings solidworks creates can look just as good or better than autocad drawings and the renderings/animations look awesome.

 

Kinda just depends on what you are drawing/designing and what application it is for. For us, we were designing a structure from scratch and it needed to all fit together no matter what.. The fastners needed to be proper types and dimensions, the carbon columns on the corners had to jive with the endwalls/sidewalls and all holes had to be in precise locations to make it work.

 

An architectural design for a residential structure doesn't need to be that involved/detailed. It is much easier to draw a residential structure with 3d solids in autocad than design and put together some kind of 3d residential structure in solidworks.. So for architectural renderings/ conceptual 3d models I always use autocad because it makes sense.. Until the transfer to BIM software becomes the big revolutionary way of doing things in the CAD community (and it isn't just yet) autocad will still be the industry standard for architectural designs and drawings.

 

-Chris