Autodesk Inventor

[#1]

HI All. I've been authoring to the CC for a few years now and have varying results with the LENGTH (set as a key) and G_L values. Today it's got me annoyed because I just can't get the G_L value to update to the correct length regardless of whether I'm just placing the CC member into an assembly OR applying it too a frame. It just stays at a static value (actually the initial part extrude LENGTH value).

I head a team of 3 and we are all tuned into using G_L in our Description/Title rollups so I don't want to deviate from that parameter.

I've tried just the standard authoring/publish method (which I am most familiar with) and the iPart table method and both are giving me trouble. below is a screen capture of a placed part with the differing LENGTH and G_L values.

I'm after either a concise document to show me what I think I must be doing wrong because sometmes it works and sometimes it doesn't, OR a heads up as to what I'm doing wrong OR a hot fix that someone knows of for 2011 that fixes the problem (as it could be a bug?).

Attached is a screen capture of the placed part fx parameters screen showing the 2 differeing lengths.

[#2]

The only question I would ask is have you upgraded to 2012 recently? I see your signature line says 2011, however if it is outdated and you are on 2012 then the G_L problem is a bug and there is an update to fix it.

I am on 2011 and have never seen this happen, we also use the G_L parameter in a similar way. The G_L bug was one of the reasons we did not upgrade to 2012. We are planning to upgrade to 2013 and have received all of our upgrades to do so.

Hope this helps, Paul

[#3]

Paul, I have 2011+Vault (production), 2012 and 2013 (both testing macros & such) installed. But I am having this G_L problem in 2011. I have applied the hotfix and all service packs but did not notice any changes. I have eventually gotten my INV reseller/support company interested in this and they have supplied some hints about fixing the problem.

We are migrating to 2012 in 2 weeks time. We try to stay 1 release back from the latest cutting edge release due to service packs and hotfix's and such.

I'll report if/when I get it sorted. Thanks for your input.

[#4 · Accepted solution]

Okay, an update and solution (maybe).

My reseller/support company have tested and confirmed that converting the part to an iPart and doing the structural author/publish is faulty. This is the approach I was told/shown to use but have had a lot of trouble with. It breaks the link between G_L and the part extrusion length parameter (in my case LENGTH). Just doing the standard Structural Author and Publish options works as long as you map all of your needed parameters in the Structural Shape Authoring/Parameter Mapping window (I think there is a limit of about 8 parameters that can be used-basically don't touch anything with an area or mass Catergory Parameter). After that I was able to complete the authoring and then finish off all of the additional sizes and file naming and mapping and such in the CC Family Table screens.

P.S. My reseller just emailed me with a work around for using the iPart technique but it involves a silly walk and a secret handshake. I think I'll stick with the old fashioned way of doing it!