Align parts in assembly

[alijahed]

Hi All,

 

I'm new to Inventor and coming from AutoCAD. So far so good but the logic is completely different.

I have 2 parts a Box and a Cylinder. I want to put the center of the Cylinder on the midpoint of one of the faces on the Box.

When I use mate constraints I can pick the center grip of the Cylinder but unlike AutoCAD I can't find the midpoint of the Face to drop it there.

How can I do that?

 

Cheers

 

Ali

[JD Mather]

Can you attach your part files here? If modeled correctly you should be able to mate your Origin CenterPoints.

 

http://home.pct.edu/~jmather/AU2006/MA13-3%20Mather.pdf

 

Like the real world - parts in Inventor will move together to adapt to changes in size and motion if mated correctly. AutoCAD cannot do this.

[alijahed]

Can you attach your part files here? If modeled correctly you should be able to mate your Origin CenterPoints.

 

http://home.pct.edu/~jmather/AU2006/MA13-3%20Mather.pdf

 

Like the real world - parts in Inventor will move together to adapt to changes in size and motion if mated correctly. AutoCAD cannot do this.

 

Thanks for your reply.

 

here is the file.

Hammer.zip

[Pablo Ferral]

You could add a work axis in your square part for the cylinder to constraint to.

[JD Mather]

Have you gone through the built in tutorials and read pdf I linked earlier.

 

Unlike AutoCAD, Inventor works more like the real world. A part is a part, in Inventor an ipt file. An assembly is a collection of parts whose relationship is defined in an iam file. And a drawing might be of a part or an assembly and is like a flat sheet of paper represented in an idw file.

 

Model your hammer parts in separate ipt files and the assemble, just like the real world.

[alijahed]

You could add a work axis in your square part for the cylinder to constraint to.

 

Thanks for your reply,

 

My problem is I can't find the center of the surface to put the axis on it! in AutoCAD I hover the pointer on the midpoint edges of the surface and with moving the mouse on the surface the intersection of those midpoints guide me for the center of the surface but I have no idea here:cry:

 

Can you please explain me.

 

Cheers

 

Ali

[alijahed]

Have you gone through the built in tutorials and read pdf I linked earlier.

 

Unlike AutoCAD, Inventor works more like the real world. A part is a part, in Inventor an ipt file. An assembly is a collection of parts whose relationship is defined in an iam file. And a drawing might be of a part or an assembly and is like a flat sheet of paper represented in an idw file.

 

Model your hammer parts in separate ipt files and the assemble, just like the real world.

 

 

Sorry for sending you the ipt file and thank you for telling me about the differences between the files. I sent a wrong file, firstly I drew them in same ipt file and I figure out if I want to assemble them I have to create an assembly file and my problem appeared in an iam file.

Thank you very much, I have your tutorial and I will go through it soon.

 

Cheers

[kencaz]

Thanks for your reply,

 

My problem is I can't find the center of the surface to put the axis on it! in AutoCAD I hover the pointer on the midpoint edges of the surface and with moving the mouse on the surface the intersection of those midpoints guide me for the center of the surface but I have no idea here:cry:

 

Can you please explain me.

 

Cheers

 

Ali

 

Sadly, there is no command in Inventor like M2P.

 

You could center constrain your rectangles and that helps, but only with the surface on the original sketch plane. If your part is extruded you still have 5 other surfaces that would not have center points.

 

I just use the measure command and offset my constraint from each edge. or make my sketch dimension visible for reference. I find it easier than making a construction line since you don't have to make a new sketch within your assembly.

 

If you can think ahead in your designs you can avoid a lot of these situations, however, that's not always easy or practical.

 

KC

[vertical horizons]

Can you attach your part files here? If modeled correctly you should be able to mate your Origin CenterPoints.

 

http://home.pct.edu/~jmather/AU2006/MA13-3%20Mather.pdf

 

Like the real world - parts in Inventor will move together to adapt to changes in size and motion if mated correctly. AutoCAD cannot do this.

 

I enjoyed reading your link.

Very informative.

 

What does RMB stand for?

[alijahed]

a question!

 

When you use flush constrain in assembly how can you flip the object to the other way? basically I'm not happy with the orientation I want to mirror the object according to the flush surface.

 

Cheers

[JD Mather]

What does RMB stand for?

 

Right Mouse Button

[kencaz]

a question!

 

When you use flush constrain in assembly how can you flip the object to the other way? basically I'm not happy with the orientation I want to mirror the object according to the flush surface.

 

Cheers

 

Try a "Mate" constraint and it may flip the part for you... Also you can rotate the part close to how you want it and "Flush" will just line it up the rest of the way for you.

 

KC

[alijahed]

Try a "Mate" constraint and it may flip the part for you... Also you can rotate the part close to how you want it and "Flush" will just line it up the rest of the way for you.

 

KC

 

Thanks KC

 

I think Inventor is not that much user friendly like AutoCAD and I don't know why they didn't use those very handy features of AutoCAD like object snap here!

Anyway I carry on and ask you guys more question and thanks in advance for helping me as always.

 

AJ

[JD Mather]

I think Inventor is not that much user friendly like AutoCAD...AJ

 

Inventor is far far easier to use than AutoCAD, but first you will have to accept that it is not AutoCAD and give up the notion that AutoCAD is in any way better.

 

In 6 months you will have either given up, or you will agree with above statement. Everone goes through this same experience.

[alijahed]

Inventor is far far easier to use than AutoCAD, but first you will have to accept that it is not AutoCAD and give up the notion that AutoCAD is in any way better.

 

In 6 months you will have either given up, or you will agree with above statement. Everone goes through this same experience.

 

That's exactly why I've started learning Inventor, because I feel it should be much easier in 3D Modeling than AutoCAD.

For giving me enough motivation can you please teach me step by step how to put those two objects(Hammer) together in the smartest way.

 

Thank you very much in advance

[kencaz]

Thanks KC

 

I think Inventor is not that much user friendly like AutoCAD and I don't know why they didn't use those very handy features of AutoCAD like object snap here!

Anyway I carry on and ask you guys more question and thanks in advance for helping me as always.

 

AJ

 

Well, transitioning to Inventor, (a parametric modeler), from AutoCAD, (a free-form modeler), takes some getting used to. I would not say one is better then the other since they are entirely diff types of applications.

 

I also wish Inventor had some AutoCAD commands and vice-versa but I would not want to have to choose between the two. If I did I would have to go with, (I'll get a lot of flack for this), AutoCAD, since it is more versatile and I can do 3D in AutoCAD fairly well, but Inventor is really superior for mechanical design which is what I do mostly.

 

This is one command I would love Autodesk to implement into Inventor.

 

Taken from KeyCreator:

 

 

KC

[kencaz]

Hi All,

 

I'm new to Inventor and coming from AutoCAD. So far so good but the logic is completely different.

I have 2 parts a Box and a Cylinder. I want to put the center of the Cylinder on the midpoint of one of the faces on the Box.

When I use mate constraints I can pick the center grip of the Cylinder but unlike AutoCAD I can't find the midpoint of the Face to drop it there.

How can I do that?

 

Cheers

 

Ali

 

To get back to your original question... I did find kind of a work around to get the center of your rectangle. It's not as simple as M2P in AutoCAD but you don't have to measure anything or create a new sketch.

 

 

First edit your part in the Assembly with a right click.

 

Then choose "Work Point", select the face, right click and choose loop. Choose the top edge of the rectangle and you have your point. Save you edit then insert your cylinder on that point.

 

Hope it helps.

 

KC

[alijahed]

To get back to your original question... I did find kind of a work around to get the center of your rectangle. It's not as simple as M2P in AutoCAD but you don't have to measure anything or create a new sketch.

 

[ATTACH]18185[/ATTACH]

 

First edit your part in the Assembly with a right click.

 

Then choose "Work Point", select the face, right click and choose loop. Choose the top edge of the rectangle and you have your point. Save you edit then insert your cylinder on that point.

 

Hope it helps.

 

KC

 

 

Thank you very much I'm going to check this out tonight.

I am still thinking why they haven't put those useful AutoCAD features in the Inventor!!!!!!!

 

Cheers

[JD Mather]

>I am still thinking why they haven't put those useful AutoCAD features in the Inventor!

 

Forget AutoCAD. There are easier methods than KC demonstrated. How much Inventor training have you had?

[alijahed]

>I am still thinking why they haven't put those useful AutoCAD features in the Inventor!

 

Forget AutoCAD. There are easier methods than KC demonstrated. How much Inventor training have you had?

 

I'm new to Inventor and learned the AutoCAD 3D by asking question on this forum and read different sources and now pretty much good at it. So I decided to do the same thing with Inventor.

If there is an easier method than KC's one and AutoCAD can you please let us know I'm sure it helps a lot.

 

Thanks in advance