Extruded letters

[abishop]

I have a ring about 1" in dia and 1/4 wide. The ring is flat for that 1/4". I want to extrude or whatever some raised letters along the surface. What is the best way to do this?

Thanks

AndyB

[Steve_wright]

 

after you have extruded your circle or ring

offset a work plane any distance up to 50mm

start a new sketch on that work plane

draw a circle (but make sure it's approx right for when you place your text on top of that circle)

then go to text... then geometry text.... click the circle

type your text to appropriate size (make sure the direction ect is correct in the edit text box..which is text on top of cicrle)

then finish sketch

emboss text to extruded circle ..there are plenty of options for you to work on

that should be it

 

well thats how i would do it ...please note i am no expert... but i am quite sure most of the basics to do this is in my explanation

hope this helps

Steve

 

p.s

This is for inventor 2010...i have noticed on your tag it says "inventor not??" :S

Edited December 15, 2010 by Steve_wright

[Hopinc]

Hi Guys,

 

You don't actually need to offset a plane at all. The two attached examples were created by sketching directly on top of the "puck" and by sketching on a tangential plane to the arc.

 

You can dimensional drive your text, or use constraints, to locate it. If you wish to place text, say with centre justification, right click on it and turn off the "text box." You will then be able to see the justification point of your text and use this for positioning.

 

On the right hand part the emboss has been wrapped to the surface. One of the options that Steve mentions in his post. Another you may not notice at first is that you can select a different colour to the base part for your emboss, if you wish.

 

There is one caveat with text - you will not be able to emboss all of them. Certain fonts will generate intersection errors. You will have to use trial and error to select a successful one.

 

Regads,

 

Dave

Edited December 17, 2010 by Hopinc

[Steve_wright]

Nice one Hopnic !!

I'll remember that you don't need to use the emboss feature for flat surfaces and only for curved surfaces when you want to wrap text

Cheers Steve

[Hopinc]

Hi Steve,

 

Actually, that not what I said. I said you don't need to have an offset plane to sketch on. You can sketch directly onto a flat surface and then emboss. You were making one unnecessary extra step in your process.

 

Emboss is very similar to extrude, but has some advantages, like the ability to wrap to a face so the emboss is always tangential to the surface and being able to simultaneously apply a chosen colour to the embossed face.

 

On a flat surface you can of course just extrude/cut text, and not use emboss, as you rightly say.

 

Emboss is not tied to just text and can be used for example to apply a depressed indentation, or raised island, on a surface for a label or decal. It's a function I find most useful in many ways. It does have it's shortcomings though, it will not wrap to an oval surface, planar,cylindrical, conical yes, ovoidal no.

 

Regards,

 

Dave

Edited December 17, 2010 by Hopinc

[Steve_wright]

right got it now ..sorry for the miss understanding there....

still learning

and trying...lol

cheers

Steve:thumbsup:

[Hopinc]

Hi Steve,

 

Please don't run away with the idea that I come close to knowing it all, nothing could be further from the truth. Using any CAD system is a constant learning process. Heck! - I was still learning new things about I-Deas, and I had been using it for over 20 years.

 

I bet there are certain functions within Inventor that you have had more experience with than I - the sping animation for instance. It is not something I have had a requirement for in my work, up to press.

 

You don't need to apologise for learning/trying, only people that refuse to learn/or try should apologise

 

Regards,

 

Dave

[Steve_wright]

Thank you for the very nice reply

I value your experience Hopnic.. so putting me right is all good to me....

You don't come across like you are showing of in your knowledge of inventor ....

i respect your input!!

Cheers

Steve

[Inventor]

The Emboss Tool is a great tool and don't forget it's not just about text, you can emboss sketch geometry too which makes it a great tool for creating wrapped cuts e.g. very simple cam path.

[Inventor]

It will also let you cut and join in one operation including Draft at the same time! So the above smaller circular flat feature can be created in one feature rather than a cut then share sketch and then join and then add face draft.

A massive time saver.

 

Regards

[Hopinc]

Emboss is not tied to just text and can be used for example.....

 

I thought I had already covered that it had more uses than just text - a good example though

 

Regards,

 

Dave

[Inventor]

Oh Sorry i didn't see that bit must have missed a thread.

 

It will work on a conical face by the way, you have to create the work plane and sketch tangent to the conic. It is only double curvature it cannot handle (as you say oval etc) but a conic is only curved in one direction so it is possible.

 

Regards

[Inventor]

 

Emboss on a Conical Face

[Hopinc]

Sorry Inventor, but I had already covered that too:

 

It does have it's shortcomings though, it will not wrap to an oval surface, planar,cylindrical, conical yes, ovoidal no.

 

The one thing no one has yet mentioned is that the emboss sketch must NOT exceed the width of the projected surface you are working on. So if you want to wrap an emboss totally round an object it has to be done in two stages.

 

Regards,

 

Dave

[abishop]

I am back. I was gone traveling yesterday to a customer.

So, you are saying create a tangent plane, create the text with text or draw the text? Then use the emboss tool?

[Inventor]

Sorry Inventor, but I had already covered that too:

 

 

Sorry about that Dave - i obvioulsy need to get my eyes checked.

 

Just trying to be helpful

[Hopinc]

Hi Inventor,

 

No need for apologies - you did something I should have done by supplying more examples. Good job!

 

BTW- I hate using acronyms - if you don't mind I prefer using first names?

 

Hi Abishop, Creating text is a real pain in the proverbial. It is something I had to do on occasion when generating logo's in the past. Avoid if possible.

 

If the font you want to use will emboss or extrude (please note that scripts often won't work due to intersecting geometry) then do that. It is the quickest way.

 

Regards all,

 

Dave

[abishop]

This is what i am trying to do!

[abishop]

can i add draft? It is only coming out .012. I did my first letter and it worked! I had to sketch the letter.

THANKS A TON!

Andy B

[Hopinc]

Unfortunately no. Inventor does not yet support a wrap to face function that can have draft.

 

There is a function within emboss (from a plane) where you can set a draft angle, and it can be useful - see image two. But it will not work in this instance.

 

What version of Inventor are you using. I have a model of your ring, which you can re-size to your requirements if you wish, and be able to see how I have created it using text, not sketched individual letters.

 

One thing that you might come across is shown in the first image, where the text is mirrored. To correct this right click on the sketch plane and select "Flip Normal."

 

Regards,

 

Dave