Autodesk Inventor

[#1]

I am a new user with inventor. my background is in autocad.  I am building a simple spreader bar made from 3 pieces of channel, two inside the longer one. The main piece is 93" long.  the two smaller pieces are each 12" long and located at both ends.  I have made the sketch and extruded the 93" channel symmetrically about the sketch.  I do not know how to place the 12" piece on each end.  I made one 12" extrusion at one end and tried to mirror it.  But when I try to sellect the 12 " part, it highlights everything.  This is not an assembly.

jr

[#2]

Hi jr-brown, 

You can edit your features and make each a separate solid, by using the New Solid button. Then you will be able to use the Mirror tool to mirror the feature or mirror the solid.

If other features (such as fillets for example) break when you edit your features and make them new solids, you might need to edit them and use the Solids button to specify which solid(s) the feature is to involve.

Creating each part as a part file and then assembling them in an assembly file is probably the best approach though.

I hope this helps.
Best of luck to you in all of your Inventor pursuits,
Curtis
http://inventortrenches.blogspot.com

[#3]

What options are you using in the Mirror command?  If you are setting it to "Mirror a solid" instead of "Mirror individual features", and you didn't use the setting in the 12" channel extrusion to make it a new solid, then it selecting everything in the mirror command would be what is expected.

I think you need to either:

1) Do the 12" channel extrusion with the "New solid" option on, then use Mirror with the "Mirror a solid" option

2) Keep the extrusion as a "Join", and use the "Mirror individual features" option.

That all being said - the proper way to model this would have been with an assembly, not a single part.  That's how your bar will be created in the real world:  cut three pieces (parts) of channel, then weld them together (assembly).  In fact, if what you're using are standard channel sizes, it's very likely that the channels are in the Inventor Content Center, and you wouldn't have to model them at all (other than setting the length).

[#4]

Hi! It sounds like you make all features in one solid body. Could you try editing one of the extrusions and change the option from Join to New Solid. You will see the extrusion will become a separate solid. Then you can use Move Body command to reposition the solid.

I personally think a better workflow would be making each extrusion as separate body. Then use Make Components command to turn each solid to a part in an assembly. You can easily reposition parts in the assembly.

Let me know if more information is needed.

Thanks!

[#5]

Thank you very much. I will try these. JR