Mastering Autodesk Inventor 2010 E-Book

Curtis Waguespack

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 1361

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2010

Beschreibung

A complete tutorial for the real-world application of AutodeskInventor, plus video instruction on DVD Used to design everything from airplanes to appliances, AutodeskInventor is the industry-leading 3D mechanical design software.This detailed tutorial and reference covers practical applicationsto help you solve design problems in your own work environment,allowing you to do more with less. It also addresses topics that are often omitted from otherguides, such as Inventor Professional modules, design tactics forlarge assemblies, using 2D and 3D data from other CAD systems, anda detailed overview of the Inventor utility tools such as DesignAssistant and Task Scheduler that you didn't even know you had. * Teaches the most popular 3D mechanical design software in thecontext of real-world workflows and work environments * Provides an overview of the Inventor 2010 ribbon Interface,Inventor design concepts, and advanced information onproductivity-boosting and visualization tools * Offers crucial information on data exchange, includingSolidWorks, Catia, Pro-E, and others. * Shares details on documentation, including explodedpresentation files, simple animations, rendered animations andstills with Inventor Studio, and sheet metal flat patterns * Covers Inventor, Inventor Professional, and Inventor LT * Includes a DVD with before-and-after tutorial files, asearchable PDF of the book, innovative video tutorials for eachchapter, and more Mastering Autodesk Inventor teaches you to get the mostfrom the software and provides a reference to help you on the job,allowing you to utilize the tools you didn't even know you had toquickly achieve professional results. Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials arenot included as part of eBook file.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Dear Reader

Dedication

Acknowledgments

About the Authors

Introduction

Who Should Read This Book

The Mastering Series

What Is Covered in This Book

How to Contact the Authors

Chapter 1: Inventor Design Philosophy

Moving from the AutoCAD Environment

Using the Inventor Graphical Interface

Learning the File Types in Inventor

Creating a 3D Virtual Prototype

Understanding Parametric Design

Understanding Functional Design

Understanding Solids vs. Surface Modeling

Best Practices in Autodesk Inventor

The Bottom Line

Chapter 2: Data and Projects

Creating a Data Structure

Creating the Project File

The Bottom Line

Chapter 3: Sketch Techniques

Exploring the Options and Settings for Sketches

Creating a Sketch in a New Part

Taking a Closer Look at Sketch Constraints

Gaining More Sketch Skills

Creating Sketches from AutoCAD Geometry

Creating and Using 3D Sketches

The Bottom Line

Chapter 4: Basic Modeling Techniques

Exploring Application Options and Settings for Part Modeling

Creating Basic Part Features

Exploring the Extrude Tool

Creating Revolved Parts and Threads

Creating Work Features

Creating Fillets

Hole Features

Bend Parts

The Bottom Line

Chapter 5: Advanced Modeling Techniques

Creating Complex Sweeps and Lofts

Creating Multi-body Parts

Creating Derived Parts and Assemblies

Working with Patterns

Setting Parameters and iProperties

Adding Part Tolerances

Troubleshooting Failures with the End-of-Part Marker

The Bottom Line

Chapter 6: Sheet Metal

Understanding Sheet-Metal Parts

Getting to Know the Features

Using Sheet-Metal Templates and Rules

Authoring and Reusing Punches

Working with the Flat Pattern

Using Sheet-Metal iPart Factories

Modeling with Non-Sheet-Metal Features

Working with Imported Parts

Annotating Your Sheet Metal Design

Harvesting Legacy Sheet-Metal Templates

The Bottom Line

Chapter 7: Part and Feature Reuse

Working with iParts

Working with iFeatures

Reusing Existing Geometry

Introducing Content Center

The Bottom Line

Chapter 8: Assembly Design Workflows

Understanding Subassemblies

Top-Down Design

Adaptivity

3D Constraints

Assembly Features

Managing the Bill of Materials

Assembly Reuse and Configurations

The Bottom Line

Chapter 9: Large Assembly Strategies

Selecting a Workstation

Working with Performance Settings

Working with General Settings

Large Assembly Best Practices

Managing Assembly Detail

Simplifying Parts

The Bottom Line

Chapter 10: Weldment Design

Exploring Weldment Design Methodologies

Modeling Preparations

Exploring Cosmetic Welds

Creating Weld Beads

Creating Fillet Welds

Creating Groove Welds

Performing Machining Operations

Exploring Weld Properties and Combinations

Using the Weld Symbol

Understanding Bead Property Report and Mass Properties

Creating Drawing Documentation

Generating a Bill of Materials and Parts List

The Bottom Line

Chapter 11: Functional Design

Geometric Modeling vs. Functional Design

A General Introduction to Design Accelerators

Bolted Connections

Calculators

Generators

The Bottom Line

Chapter 12: Documentation

Working in the Presentation Environment

Using the Drawing Manager

The Bottom Line

Chapter 13: Inventor Tools Overview

Exploring the AEC Exchange

Using AutoLimits

Using the Design Assistant

Using the Drawing Resource Transfer Wizard

Using Style Tools

Exploring the Supplier Content Center

Using the Task Scheduler

Using iProperties

Using the Measure Tools

Participating in the CIP and CER

Using Miscellaneous Tools

The Bottom Line

Chapter 14: Exchanging Data with Other Systems

Importing and Exporting Geometry

Using Inventor File Translators

Working with Imported Data

Viewing DWF Markup

The Bottom Line

Chapter 15: Frame Generator

Accessing the Frame Generator Tools

Exploring the Frame Generator File Structure

Exploring the Anatomy of a Frame Member

Inserting Frame Members

Adding End Treatments

Maintaining Frames

Performing Analysis

Publishing Frame Members

Frame Assemblies and BOMs

The Bottom Line

Chapter 16: Inventor Studio

Exploring the Inventor Studio Environment

Creating and Managing Studio Styles

Animating with Studio

The Bottom Line

Chapter 17: Stress Analysis and Dynamic Simulation

Introduction to Analysis

Conducting Stress Analysis Simulations

Conducting Dynamic Simulations

Exporting to FEA

Using the Dynamic Simulation Information in Stress Analysis

The Bottom Line

Chapter 18: Routed Systems

Tube and Pipe

Cable and Harness

The Bottom Line

Chapter 19: Plastics Design Features

Using Plastic Part Templates

Creating Thicken/Offset Features

Creating Shell Features

Creating Split Features

Creating Grill Features

Creating Rule Fillet Features

Creating Rest Features

Creating Boss Features

Creating Lip and Groove Features

Creating Snap Fit Features

Creating Rib and Web Features

Creating Draft Features

The Bottom Line

Appendix A: The Bottom Line

Chapter 1: Inventor Design Philosophy

Chapter 2: Data and Projects

Chapter 3: Sketch Techniques

Chapter 4: Basic Modeling Techniques

Chapter 5: Advanced Modeling Techniques

Chapter 6: Sheet Metal

Chapter 7: Part and Feature Reuse

Chapter 8: Assembly Design Workflows

Chapter 9: Large Assembly Strategies

Chapter 10: Weldment Design

Chapter 11: Functional Design

Chapter 12: Documentation

Chapter 13: Inventor Tools Overview

Chapter 14: Exchanging Data with Other Systems

Chapter 15: Frame Generator

Chapter 16: Inventor Studio

Chapter 17: Stress Analysis and Dynamic Simulation

Chapter 18: Routed Systems

Chapter 19: Plastics Design Features

Appendix B: About the Companion DVD

What You'll Find on the DVD

System Requirements

Using the DVD

Troubleshooting

Index

Wiley Publishing, Inc. End-User License Agreement

Senior Acquisitions Editor: Willem Knibbe

Development Editor: Denise Santoro Lincoln

Technical Editors: Loren Jahraus and Curtis Waguespack

Production Editor: Angela Smith

Copy Editor: Kim Wimpsett

Editorial Manager: Pete Gaughan

Production Manager: Tim Tate

Vice President and Executive Group Publisher: Richard Swadley

Vice President and Publisher: Neil Edde

Media Associate Project Manager: Jenny Swisher

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Book Designers: Maureen Forys and Judy Fung

Proofreader: Jen Larsen, Word One

Indexer: Ted Laux

Project Coordinator, Cover: Lynsey Stanford

Cover Designer: Ryan Sneed

Cover Image: © Pete Gardner/DigitalVision/Getty Images

Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

ISBN: 978-0-470-47830-1

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Waguespack, Curtis, 1974–

Mastering Autodesk Inventor 2010/Curtis Waguespack.—1st ed.

p. cm.

ISBN 978-0-470-47830-1 (paper/dvd)

1. Engineering graphics. 2. Engineering models–Data processing. 3. Autodesk Inventor (Electronic resource) I. Title.

T353.W18 2009

620.′00420285536–dc22

2009016261

Certain images and materials contained in this publication were reproduced with the permission of Autodesk, Inc. © 2009. All rights reserved.

TRADEMARKS: Wiley, the Wiley logo, and the Sybex logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates, in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. Autodesk, AutoCAD, Autodesk Inventor, DWG, the DWG logo, and Inventor are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., in the U.S.A. and certain other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.

Dear Reader,

Thank you for choosing Mastering Autodesk Inventor 2010. This book is part of a family of premium-quality Sybex books, all of which are written by outstanding authors who combine practical experience with a gift for teaching.

Sybex was founded in 1976. More than 30 years later, we're still committed to producing consistently exceptional books. With each of our titles, we're working hard to set a new standard for the industry. From the paper we print on, to the authors we work with, our goal is to bring you the best books available.

I hope you see all that reflected in these pages. I'd be very interested to hear your comments and get your feedback on how we're doing. Feel free to let me know what you think about this or any other Sybex book by sending me an email at [email protected]. If you think you've found a technical error in this book, please visit http://sybex.custhelp.com. Customer feedback is critical to our efforts at Sybex.

To Jennifer.

—Curtis

To Penny, Edan, and Annie.

—Loren

Acknowledgments

This book is a collaborative effort involving far more people than listed on the cover. Personally, we would like to thank our families, whose patience and understanding made this and all other pursuits possible. Professionally, we would like to thank the co-workers, clients, customers, and friends whose input and ideas have helped build the knowledge and experience that each of us draws from in applying concept to practice.

A special thank you goes out to the Mastering Inventor 2009 team: Sean Dotson, Bill Bogan, Andrew Faix, Seth Hindman, Dennis Jeffrey, Shekar Subrahmanyam, and Bob Van der Donck, all of whom are true masters of Inventor.

Thank you to the team at Wiley: Denise Santoro Lincoln, Kim Wimpsett, Angela Smith, Willem Knibbe, Peter Gaughan, and Jay Lesandrini for their patience, focus, and professionalism, without which there would be no book. Your hard work and support have eased our efforts in turning ideas into pages.

—Curtis Waguespack and Loren Jahraus

About the Authors

Mastering Autodesk Inventor 2010 builds on the strong foundation established by Mastering Inventor 2009, which was written by a team of Inventor experts with a diverse and expansive pool of industry experience. Two members of the 2009 authoring team worked on the 2010 edition to update the existing content and add new content to cover the exciting improvements Autodesk made in the 2010 release of Inventor. Here is a bit more about each of them.

Curtis Waguespack served as lead author on this book. He is an Inventor Certified Expert and an Autodesk Manufacturing Implementation Certified Expert. His experience designing construction equipment, industrial machinery, and food service equipment, while working closely with the shop floor, has provided real-world insights into the requirements and demands of using Inventor in day-to-day design. Curtis has consulted with and supported manufacturing and design firms whose industries range from aerospace to consumer products to industrial machinery, each using Inventor in a specific way to meet the demands of their particular industry. Aside from work, he enjoys traveling and spending time outdoors pursuing a variety of interests.

Loren Jahraus, P.E., authored the chapters on Inventor design philosophy, sheet metal, assembly design workflows, functional design, and Frame Generator. He has a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and attended the Universität Stuttgart as an academic exchange student. He has designed a variety of machinery including an optical sorter for food products, an automated system to handle and monitor decommissioned nuclear weapons, and equipment to test computer chips. He is an Inventor founder and has designed functionality for part and assembly modeling, drawings, sheet metal, design accelerators, weldments, and Frame Generator. He also volunteers extensively to help prepare the next generation of engineers. He has taught elementary-school students the SAE A World in Motion curriculum for eight years, he has mentored FIRST LEGO League and FIRST Robotics Competition teams, and he is serving on the organizing committee for the 2009 SAE Baja West Design Competition.

Introduction

Autodesk Inventor was introduced in 1999 as an ambitious 3D parametric modeler based not on the familiar AutoCAD programming architecture but instead on a separate foundation that would provide the room needed to grow into the fully featured modeler it now is, a decade later. Inventor 2010 continues the development of Inventor with assembly layout, plastic parts, and other productivity tools.

The maturity of the Inventor tools coincides with the advancement of the CAD market's adoption of 3D parametric modelers as a primary design tool. And although it is important to understand that 2D CAD will likely never completely disappear from the majority of manufacturing design departments, 3D design will increasingly become a requirement for most. With this in mind, we have set out to fill the following pages with detailed information on the specifics of the tools, while addressing the principles of sound parametric design techniques.

Who Should Read This Book

This book is written with a wide range of Inventor users in mind, varying from beginning to advanced users:

Beginning Inventor users who are making the move from traditional 2D CAD design to Inventor 2010. These readers will have experience with AutoCAD and an understanding of basic design and engineering concepts, as well as a desire to improve their skill set and stay competitive in the marketplace.Intermediate Inventor users who have gone through formal Inventor training during their company's initial implementation of Inventor and are looking for more information on a specific module within Inventor. This book also targets users looking for a desktop reference to turn to when they come upon an area of Inventor that they do not encounter on a day-to-day basis.Advanced Inventor users who have mastered the Inventor tools they use over and over daily but want to conquer the parts of the program they do not utilize during their normal design tasks. This book also targets advanced users who want to add to their skill set to move up the ranks within their current company or want to expand their knowledge in pursuit of a new position with another employer.

Attempting to learn all the tools in Inventor can be an intimidating experience, because of the wide range of task-specific modules available. It was the goal of this book's authors to separate these modules into easy-to-tackle chapters relating to real-world situations for which the tools were designed, while also including chapters on general Inventor tools, techniques, and design principles.

What you will learn

The following pages will explain the Inventor settings while teaching you how each tool functions. Just as importantly, though, these pages are filled with the tips and techniques learned by the authors while spending years using, researching, and discussing the tools that are Autodesk Inventor. You should come away from reading this book with a solid understanding of the capabilities of Inventor and a strong idea of how to tackle your design challenges in the future, as well as an abundance of timesaving tips and tricks.

What you will need

The files needed to complete the tutorial projects in this book are included on a DVD. Please consult Appendix B, “About the Companion DVD,” for more information on getting these installed.

To install and run Inventor, you should consult the system requirements information found on the installation media and ensure that you have a system capable of running Inventor competently. Autodesk recommends a minimum of 512MB of RAM and 1.5GB of available hard disk space for basic educational purposes dealing with small tutorial-sized assemblies. An additional 1.8GB of hard disk space is required to install Content Center. Note that these are the bare minimums to run the program, and you might see slow performance when executing operations that require heavy calculations.

We recommend a minimum of 2GB of RAM for doing production work on moderate-sized assemblies and encourage you to consider a 64-bit operating system with at least 8GB of RAM if considering large assembly design. You can find more information about workstations specs and large assemblies in Chapter 9.

The Mastering Series

The Mastering series from Sybex provides outstanding instruction for readers with intermediate and advanced skills in the form of top-notch training and development for those already working in their field as well as clear, serious education for those aspiring to become pros. Every Mastering book includes the following:

Real-world scenarios, ranging from case studies to interviews, that show how the tool, technique, or knowledge presented is applied in actual practiceSkill-based instruction, with chapters organized around real tasks rather than abstract concepts or subjectsSelf-review test questions, so you can be certain you're equipped to do the job right

What Is Covered in This Book

This is what the book covers:

Chapter 1, “Inventor Design Philosophy,” covers how to design the “Inventor way” when transitioning from other 2D or 3D design applications.Chapter 2, “Data and Projects,” examines file structures and search paths and explains project file types and configurations.Chapter 3, “Sketch Techniques,” explores the principles of creating parameter-driven sketches for use in modeling features and parts.Chapter 4, “Basic Modeling Techniques,” conquers creating parametric features and building 3D parts models.Chapter 5, “Advanced Modeling Techniques,” explores complex feature creation including sweeps, lofts, and more.Chapter 6, “Sheet Metal,” covers how to create accurate sheet-metal models and flat patterns as well as how to create documentation and set up sheet metal styles and templates.Chapter 7, “Part and Feature Reuse,” examines the different methods for reusing parts and features for maximum consistency and design efficiency.Chapter 8, “Assembly Design Workflows,” covers a thorough understanding of this key concept of Inventor design, including the use of assembly constraints, subassemblies, and more.Chapter 9, “Large Assembly Strategies,” explores the tips and techniques to getting the best performance out of your Inventor workstation and considers upgrade requirements for the future.Chapter 10, “Weldment Design,” explores Inventor's weldment modeling environment and the weldment documentation tools.Chapter 11, “Functional Design,” gives you a thorough look at this collection of Inventor design accelerators and considers the difference between standard modeling and functional design.Chapter 12, “Documentation,” covers how to use the Drawing Manager and presentation files to create both traditional, 2D annotated drawings as well as animated assembly instructions.Chapter 13, “Inventor Tools Overview,” examines this collection of Inventor utilities including AutoLimits, the Design Assistant, the Drawing Resource Transfer Wizard, style tools, and much more.Chapter 14, “Exchanging Data with Other Systems,” shows the available options for importing and working with solid models from other CAD packages.Chapter 15, “Frame Generator,” covers how to get the most out of this utility when creating structural frames from Inventor's library of common shapes.Chapter 16, “Inventor Studio,” covers this powerful tool set to create photorealistic images and animations of all your Inventor models.Chapter 17, “Stress Analysis and Dynamic Simulation,” explores the simulation tools used to analyze load stress and mechanism motion on your models.Chapter 18, “Routed Systems,” covers the cable and wire harness and tube and pipe environments and their uses in creating routed design layouts.Chapter 19, “Plastics Design Features,” explores the tools used specifically for plastics design as well as the general tools used in specific ways for plastics design.

How to Contact the Authors

We welcome your feedback concerning Mastering Autodesk Inventor 2010. We want to hear what you liked, what you didn't, and what you think should be in the next edition. And if you catch us making a mistake, please tell us so that we can fix it on our errata page (available at www.sybex.com/go/masteringinventor2010) and in reprints. Please email us at [email protected] or contact Wiley customer service at http://support.wiley.com.

Thank you for purchasing Mastering Autodesk Inventor 2010; we hope it helps you on your way to happy and successful inventing, and we look forward to hearing your comments and questions.

Chapter 1

Inventor Design Philosophy

In this chapter, we will introduce the concept of design the “Inventor way,” recognizing that many users of Autodesk Inventor are transitioning from the 2D world of AutoCAD or from one of the many other 3D modeling packages available today.

The change is not painful, provided you fully understand the concepts and workflows in creating efficient, accurate models and drawings.

In this chapter, you'll learn to:

Use the Ribbon bar in Autodesk InventorUtilize the Inventor Model browserUnderstand the various file types used in InventorUnderstand basic principles of parametric designUnderstand the differences between solid and surface modelingDevelop best practices for using Autodesk Inventor

Moving from the AutoCAD Environment

To the experienced AutoCAD user, Inventor may seem extremely foreign and difficult to use. In actuality, Inventor is much simpler to learn and use than AutoCAD. The key to grasping the concepts of part creation in Inventor is to set aside the methods of AutoCAD design and embrace a new and more powerful way to approach computer-aided design.

AutoCAD was developed as a general-purpose drafting tool. Although there have been many enhancements over the years, it is still basically an electronic drafting board.

Inventor was developed as a mechanical design tool. In Inventor, you focus on creating a model of your design. Just like a machine is made of parts and assemblies, you create parts and assemblies in Inventor.

Many commands in AutoCAD are very specific. For example, there are different dimension commands for lines, angles, and circles. Inventor has only one general dimension tool that creates the appropriate dimension based on what you select.

At the top of Figure 1.1 is the 2D Sketch tab that you use to create and dimension the sketch profiles. Upon the completion of a sketch, simply right-click and then choose Finish Sketch in order to allow the creation of a part feature. Once you do this, the Ribbon automatically switches to the Model tab, as shown at the bottom of Figure 1.1.

Figure 1.1 Top: the 2D Sketch tab; bottom: the Model tab

When working with assemblies, the tool tab changes to the Assemble tab (as shown at the top of Figure 1.2). When you create a 2D drawing of parts or assemblies, you see the Place Views tab, as shown at the bottom of Figure 1.2.

Figure 1.2 Top: the Assemble tab; bottom: the Drawing Views tab

As you can see, the tabs on the Ribbon change with every environment. With a task-based user interface, there is no need to display every possible tool.

Using the Inventor Graphical Interface

The Inventor graphical interface might be different from what you're used to in AutoCAD. In Figure 1.3, you can explore the entire Inventor window, which shows an assembly file open for editing.

Figure 1.3 The complete Inventor screen in assembly mode

Inventor Title Bar

Starting at the upper left of the Inventor window, the Inventor button has a drop-down panel that is similar to the File menu in previous versions. The title bar now includes two toolbars:

The Quick Access toolbar has frequently used commands.The Help toolbar provides access to help files and Autodesk websites.

You can customize the Quick Access toolbar for each file type by selecting and deselecting icons from a list, but you can't rearrange them. The custom part modeling toolbar in Figure 1.4 shows all the icons in the same order as they appear on the list.

Figure 1.4 The Inventor button and Quick Access toolbar

Table 1.1 defines all the Quick Access toolbar icons available for the different file types.

Table 1.1 Quick Access Toolbar Icons

IconDefinitionThe New icon launches the New File dialog box. The drop-down allows you to create a new part, assembly, drawing, or presentation file using the standard templates.The Open icon launches the Open dialog box. It displays a location defined in your active project.The Save icon saves the file.The Undo icon undoes the last action. The Undo list tracks changes for the current Inventor session, not just the current document. If you have two part files open, this icon will undo changes that are made in both files. Undo will also “close” files, if your undo sequence takes you back past the point of a file being opened or created.