I'm nowhere close to an expert at Inventor, so there might be an easier way to do this, but I am trying to draw a dimpled heat exchanger. It's just two dimpled sheets welded together with hot oil running through the hollow space so I am trying to do one sheet first. I thought about making the flat sheet with the dimples first and then bending it, but couldn't figure out how to bend it.
Now I'm working off an already bent sheet. I got the first dimple close to how I want it, but when I tried to pattern the dimple along the current purple line, it would not let me.
Any suggestions? I need the dimples to eventually wrap around the sheet metal in a diamond pattern.
Also, I am using Inventor 2010
Your sketches are not constrained?
I did not see a Pattern Feature in the file you attached (even if it doesn't return the results you are after).
I recommend going through these first.
http://home.pct.edu/~jmather/SkillsUSA%20University.pdf
http://inventortrenches.blogspot.com/p/inventor-tutorials.html
http://wikihelp.autodesk.com/enu?adskContextId=HELP_TUTORIALS&language=ENU&release=2014&product=Inve...
Great information, but I have another question now. Looking at the part I have to draw, it seems like the shop that made it just used a regular dimpled sheet, cut it to shape and bent it. It seems it would be easier to just start out with a large dimpled sheet in Inventor, cutting out the shape and then bending it. The first two steps seem relatively easy, but is it possible to roll a flat sheet with dimples already on it to the shape in the part file I attached earlier?
I had a go at re-creating something like what you want in 2013 and the patterning works. The overall process wasn't too difficult. I placed the punches when the plate was Unfolded (hence the 2011 advanced Sheetmetal tools). I also made the cut while Unfolded so that the metal cut edges are perpendicular with the part flat pattern (othewise it is difficult to make in real life).
It might be tougerh on 2010 as, from memory only, the advanced Sheetmetal tools were introduced in 2011?
Follow what JD says. He is 1 of several guru's on these forums.
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