Sheet Metal Extents

[JohnKHouston]

Hi all,

We've recently upgraded to Inventor 2015 and tried to install the AddIn to create the custom property sheet metal extents but we're not able to generate the values anymore.

The AddIn is showing as installed and loaded but it does not update the values. I've tried installing the addin from a local drive rather than a network drive but that doesn't seem to have had any effect.

Any suggestions on what can be done?

Thanks in advance,

John Houston

[mslosar]

Seems to me this should be integrated into the package by now. You shouldn't have to resort to sticking iLogic into every part in order to get to those parameters.

Still, the source code was posted at some point. Is it that hard to update it to work with 2015? I'm on 2013 so I have no idea what the issues are with it now.

[karthur1]

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@mslosar wrote:
Seems to me this should be integrated into the package by now. You shouldn't have to resort to sticking iLogic into every part in order to get to those parameters.

Still, the source code was posted at some point. Is it that hard to update it to work with 2015? I'm on 2013 so I have no idea what the issues are with it now.

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Wish it was integrated into it.

The source code is attached.  I am not familar enough with VB or C# to do anything with the code.  Maybe someone can look at it and see why it doesnt work on 2015.

The page this came from is  http://modthemachine.typepad.com/my_weblog/2012/05/sheet-metal-extents-add-in-update.html

Kirk

[YuhanZhang]

Hi John,

Do you mean the addin SheetMetalExtents or the FlatpatternExtentstoParameters. I re-build the SheetMetalExtents and tried it here with Inventor 2015 and works(you can try to re-start Inventor and load the addin, then open a sheet metal to double check it). For the FlatpatternExtentstoParameters it has a problem that if the document length units is not cm then the calculated area returns wrong value(I will contact the author to fix it).

Please let me if this helps.

[karthur1]

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@YuhanZhang wrote:

Hi John,

Do you mean the addin SheetMetalExtents or the FlatpatternExtentstoParameters. I re-build the SheetMetalExtents and tried it here with Inventor 2015 and works...............

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Rocky,

What do you mean by "re-built"?  I have the SheetMetalExtents (the one from Brian Ekins) loaded and it does not work in 2015.

Kirk

[JohnKHouston]

Hi Rocky,

Same as Kirk, I don't understand what you mean by re-build the SheetMetalExtents.

I've found that sometimes the addin works in Inventor 2015 but for the most part, it doesn't.

If you've found a solution to updating the addin, that would be great! Please share. 🙂

John

[YuhanZhang]

I checked the source code of the SME and it will create/update the parameters only when you open a sheet metal with a flat pattern in it or modify the sheet metal, but no a button for you to explicitly enable this. I will ask Brian to help to update the addin. But you can find a similar app(cSysFlatpatternExtentstoParameters) from our Apps Exchange which does same thing as the SME(i.e. create parameters and custom properties for flat pattern extents), I also mentioned it in my previous post, it has a button in sheet metal for you to do this so you can try it.

Hope this helps.

[RobJV]

Brian Ekins,

Will you be updating this addin?  As Kirk and others pointed out, it is definitely not obsolete and I know of many people who need it.  It works great with legacy data which most other solutions do not and it does not require you to place extra parameters in the original file. 

As a daily user of this addin, I hope it will not be discontinued.

Rob

[YuhanZhang]

Hi Rob,

I am afriad Brian may not be informed because he was not involved in this post. If you have any suggestions/feedback about this app, I can forward to Brian. We will continue to maintain this app:).

[naikpravinv.610]

<FLAT PATTERN LENGTH> is working but I am getting units in cm instead of in. Although my units are set on in. Can anyone help me with this.

Thanks 

[YuhanZhang]

The Document.UnitsOfMeasure.ConvertUnits can be used to convert the units from cm to in. Hope this helps.

[naikpravinv.610]

Hi Rocky

I have set my unit of measure at in in document setting. Please see the attached file

[naikpravinv.610]

That's because you are getting units in cm instead of in. 

[YuhanZhang]

I understand you can set the document units to in or cm as you like in UI, but when you get the <Flat Pattern Length> data from API which is a Double value without units, as default in Inventor API the database units for length are centimeters, you can use UnitsOfMeasure to convert it to other units, if you get the length data with an expression then you can use the UnitsOfMeasure to parse it and convert it also. Hope this clears.

[naikpravinv.610]

Can you please show me how you got units in fraction?

I have used syntax <SHEET METAL LENGTH> x <SHEET METAL WIDTH> 

I am getting units in decimals. 

[JohnKHouston]

The only way to do it, that I know of, is to change the Custom Property Format of the parameter. Right click on the row of your flat pattern parameter and you should see an option "Custom Property Format..."

Once you select that option you will get a dialog box that allows you to change various properties of the parameter. I deselect the unit string, change from decimal to fractional and adjust the precision to suit our engineering standards.

Hopefully this is enough info to get you to where you can change the format.

Good luck!

[karthur1]

Like John says above to change to fractional.  You will have to do this in every part that you want the units to be shown as fractional, however.  There is no way to set this so that its always in fractional that I know.  I am sure there is a way to do it in iLogic if you are a coder.

Kirk

[JohnKHouston]

Yeah, that part is a real pain in the butt. I set up a sheet metal template that contains the parameters with the fractional values instead of having to update the parameters every time.

John

[naikpravinv.610]

Thank you so much. 

But I think I am not doing it right. Please correct me if I am doing it wrong. 

First I had my syntax in custom i properties and I was getting Flat pattern dimensions but in decimals.  

Am I supposed to go to the Parameters in Manage section (in sheet metal part file) and add the sheet metal parameters to user Parameters first? If so it takes default value for length as 1 and it shows just 1 in Part list in dwg file. 

[karthur1]

1. Go to the parameters.  Assembly tab >Manage Panel>Parameters.

2. Find the "SheetMetalWidth" parameter in the list.

3. Right-click on the value in the equation column.  Choose "Custom Property Format".

4. In the format dialog, change it to fractional and the precision you want.

If your still having trouble post back.

Kirk

[JohnKHouston]

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@naikpravinv.610 wrote:

Thank you so much. 

But I think I am not doing it right. Please correct me if I am doing it wrong. 

First I had my syntax in custom i properties and I was getting Flat pattern dimensions but in decimals.  

Am I supposed to go to the Parameters in Manage section (in sheet metal part file) and add the sheet metal parameters to user Parameters first? If so it takes default value for length as 1 and it shows just 1 in Part list in dwg file. 

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I quickly tried a sample sheet metal part and the parameter that you're using, <SHEET METAL LENGTH>, is a built-in function or parameter. It has spaces in it's name so it cannot be used as a user parameter. The only way that I can figure out to modify it is through using VB code, somehow. I don't have the knowledge to be able to help you with using the built-in parameter.

If you were to use the SME (sheet metal extents) code that is linked earlier in the thread, then you could modify the parameter as I indicated earlier.

There may be a simple way of changing the units for the built-in code but I don't know how to do that, sorry.

John