Bolted Connections Won't Update?

[LT.Rusty]

So I've got this part, and it's got bolted connections.  There's two of them, and each one is a pattern of multiple #10 machine screws.

No matter what  I do, one of them will always have a lighting bolt next to it, as shown in this picture:

Rebuild All doesn't fix it.  Manually editing the bolted connection will fix the lightning bolt ... but it will invariably switch to the other bolted connection instead.

Also, another fun little thing I've found: if you grab one of the screws with the mouse and drag on it, only the first bolt in the pattern seems to be actually constrained to the hole.  The others appear to have pretty much just distance constraints, maybe plane-axis constraints.  You can rotate the whole pattern around the hole that the first bolt was set in.  This doesn't seem like a good behavior to allow ...

Anyway, the data set for the above image is attached.  The screws themselves aren't, but they're just content center parts and should get automatically generated if you open the assembly.  I'd love to see if this same behavior is exhibited for anyone / everyone else.

[BLHDrafting]

Bolted connections go hand in hand with needing updates. Simple solution is to turn off the 'solve of the BC. Just remember thougfh that if you change a member thickness where the BC goes through tat the BC won't update.

The behaviour of the BC being constrained to only 1 hole is normal. Simply place another constrain (mate) between 1 other fastener centre line and a hole centreline.

[wseaston]

I have had the exact same issue with bolted connections quite sometime back. Due to that issue I never really adopted the use of bolted connections but here I am at it again because they are rather tempting to use but again I find myself frustrated with another promising tool in Inventor which just doesnt seem to work quite like I would have hoped. There really seem to be some "unfinished" tools in Inventor which just need that little bit of extra work to make them great and really usable.

Brendan, your solution of setting the solve to "off" is great at getting rid of the annoying lightning bolt and works well for a single user situation but I am to scared to do that in an environment where other CAD users may end up on a project they never started in the beginning (perhaps for some mod down the line). They may not be familiar with bolted connections. In that type of environment turning the solve off would be dangerous as the draughtsman on the project may not even realize that the holes need to be updated.

I really wish the Inventor developers would address this type of issue and fine tune some of the promising tools which are just not used because they don't seem to work quite like they should.

[BLHDrafting]

wseaton, all valid points. But don't hold your breath waiting for Adesk to fix it. They are too busy making new logos and adding new features we probably don't need 🙂

I run a team and we have a simple rule about BC's : if you change the thickness of a member that has a BC through it then you need to edit/fix the BC. Simple. For your drafters that are not familiar with the BC, teach them. They will love it.

The other option is to just continually place bolts/nuts/washers from the CC. Painfull on large assemblies. I do use the drag/drop method from the Favourites quite a bit. Really quick for the items that mate to the face (like a bolt or the washer) but the nuts needs to be made as separate placements. Still, a viable alternative. But no smarts. If the bolted members change in thickness enough they can break the placed items.

Cheers.

[JamesG99991010]

"wseaton, all valid points. But don't hold your breath waiting for Adesk to fix it. They are too busy making new logos and adding new features we probably don't need :)"

heh.

Bump, been a few years, maybe time to fix bolted connections now?

[nathanr]

Between this and the weld symbol freeze issue how are we supposed to attach pieces together?  I'm getting tired of this 'fake it until you make it' crap.

I bet Solidworks doesn't have this issue.

[JamesG99991010]

nathan your replies are becoming tiresome, if you like solidworks so much why not just GO BUY IT. With what money - I'm calling your bluff!

I tried solidworks once, it doesn't even have bolts, I had to draw them myself.