Is possible make an accordion on inventor?

[max2017]

Hi everybody.

 

I need to make something like an accordion, i have attached the picture what i am talking about, the really problem is that it is not flexible, i can not move it because the the fold can not adapt to the movement when i want to simulate it.

 

 

I just can resolve the problem of design using sheet metal part and make a contour flange.

 

Is any way to make it possible ans simulate it like real life?

Edited August 31, 2010 by max2017

[max2017]

I also attach the ipt file of the accordion for best reference.

 

Download attached file

[shift1313]

It will all come down to how everything was defined. If you created the part by drawing a triangular shaped that was fully defined, no you wont be able to "flex" it. If on the other hand you drove the shape with a dimension for the start and end where the middle floats between a range, or you drive it with the angle of each section then it will be somewhat flexible. I dont know of a way right off hand that will allow it to update if you drag the curtain but driving the constraint may be what you need.

 

Are you just looking to simulate it for some sort of animation?

[max2017]

Hi shift1313

 

You are right, i need to make and animation to make a presentation, but here is were my problems starts because i cant make that it compress when i move it.

 

coul you give the steps to make it possible?... i dont find the way to make that you explain.

 

Thank you!

[shift1313]

Well one way to do this is through parameters. What is your background with inventor. Are you familiar with parameters and animating parameters in Inventor Studio?

 

In order to do this through parameters(not the only way) you need to be real careful with your first sketch. I just threw this real crude example together. Hopefully you can open it and take a look.

 

Basically I drew one section of the curtain and used some parameters I created for some dimensions. I created a parameter that was the width of the sketch * 2 which was used for the distance of my rectangular array.

 

In inventor studio I made my curtain dimension parameter a 'favorite' and animated it from 1" to 1/2" then back to 1" over 4 seconds.

 

this is a short video that shows what it looks like.

 

curtain.zip

[max2017]

I am not really familiar with inventor parameters, coul you give any references where i can learn it?, i view you file, is really close, i will play with it.

[max2017]

Do you know if is possible to add a link in the post, i tried but it always says "waiting for Admin aproval" well something like that, and never is showed, my link is from rapidshare because the file is bigger than 250 kb that is possible to attach here.

[shift1313]

you need to have 10 posts before you can post a link.

 

Your best bet for parameters is the Inventor Help. Basically any time you add a dimension to a sketch inventor creates a parameter. These are labeled things like d0, d1 and so on. You can name them whatever you want within reason(no spaces). You can add parameters of your own before, during or after sketches and operations and you can edit them from the parameter list. You can use these for your dimensions by either typing in the name or using the drop down arrow next to the dimension and List Parameters.

 

To get to the parameters you go to the Manage tab on the Ribbon bar.

 

At the bottom of the parameters window you will see "Add Numeric". You can then type the name of your parameter and its value. You can see here two that Ive added before modeling anything.

[max2017]

I dont undesrtand very well but i will find something about it on the inventor help as you told me.

 

Thank you so much.

[shift1313]

Im not really sure the best way to explain it max.

 

How about this. Inventor is a parametric cad software. This means the model is defined and controlled by parameters. When you draw your first sketch, you need to locate your sketch with constraints and dimensions. These dimensions are all parameters that define your sketch. If you open up an old drawing, go to the manage tab and select Parameters it will bring up a list of every dimension you have added. In order for you to animate using parameters you need to manually add them just as i did above in the screen shot. There are two sections(in my screen shot). One for Model Parameters and one for User Parameters. The user parameters are the ones you add and name. Model Parameters are the ones added when you simply dimension something. For instance if you draw a circle in your first sketch and give it a diameter of 50. In the model parameters part a dimensions d0 will show up with 50 as its nominal value. This parameters window is just a running list of all the parameters in the model.

 

Does that make sense? Unfortunately i'm using inventor 2011 at home so i cant upload another file for you to see. Now that you are at 10 posts you should be able to link to your file so I can view it though. Maybe that will help me help you:)

[max2017]

This is the file that i made with sheet metal part: Download Here

[max2017]

I have other question, could you manage a global parameters, i was testing it yesterday and is very helpfully, i can have control of automatic resize or some other changes by just calculate it, but i could be more powerfull if i can have control of global parameters for example on assembly if i resize something, the dependence change the size too automaticaly.