Making a support for a imported part

[karthur1]

I am looking at building a support for a customers part.  Trouble is the part is curves and surfaces.  Part doesnt have too many "flat" sides to it.  I am struggling with how to get what I need.  In this video, I am showing how the part will move onto the support (support is clear blue).

I created an assembly, then derived the iam into a part... subtracting out where the part will sit in the support. The problem I am having is removing the material so the part can move into the support from above.

Here is a picture of the support with the part subtracted out.  I would post this, but the filesize is pretty large (18mb).

I cant seem to find a way to trim this off.  Maybe I am going at this wrong. There might be a better approach.

[SBix26]

I would start by deriving the customer part into a new part file as surfaces, then build the support around it.  This might involve extruding to those surfaces, or perhaps using the surfaces to split the support, or some combination.  You might also end up creating some new surfaces that are simpler than the customer part so that the support can actually be fabricated.  Looks like a nice challenge...

Sam B
Inventor 2012 Certified Professional

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