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Derived Part with Mirrors and Adaptive Features.. How to accomplish?

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Message 1 of 6
tdswanson
1800 Views, 5 Replies

Derived Part with Mirrors and Adaptive Features.. How to accomplish?

Hey everyone:

 

I'm designing a machining fixture for a customer and it's got two legs.  I drew the base stock for the left leg, then placed it in the assembly and constrained it.  I then projected some geometry from the customer part to make some relief cuts and added a few tapped holes to mount it.  Fine.  Easy.

 

Now....  I need a right leg, and there are features on the left leg that are not required on the right leg.  So here are my questions.

 

1.  With a mirrored component, I cannot omit features to the mirror, correct?  Everything that's on the left is going to the right, right?

 

2.  If I use a derived part, I cannot omit features to the derivation, correct?  So if I went this route, wouldn't I have to have the "master" in the assembly to get the projected geometry, a derivation to make the left, AND a derivation to make the right?

 

Is there a better way to do this?

 

Thanks!

5 REPLIES 5
Message 2 of 6
SBix26
in reply to: tdswanson

I think that you will have to have the master part (the Layout, in Inventor's terminology) in the assembly in order to pick up the cross-part features.  But make your mirror to a new solid in the layout file, so you can add additional features to either side after the mirror.  Then derive the two solids separately to two parts and you're all set.

Sam B
Inventor 2012 Certified Professional

Please click "Accept as Solution" if this response answers your question.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Inventor Professional 2013 SP1.1 Update 1
Windows XP Pro 32-bit, SP3
HP EliteBook 8730w; 4 GB RAM; Core™ 2 Duo T9400 2.53 GHz; Quadro FX2700M
SpaceExplorer/SpaceNavigator NB, driver 3.7.18
still waiting for a foreshortened radius dimensioning tool in Drawing Manager

Message 3 of 6
tdswanson
in reply to: SBix26

Thanks Sam.  After reading your post, I realized that I was making it too hard......

 

I finished this today and here's what I did. 

 

As a reminder, both sides can be mirrored, but the LH side has some additional features with respect to the RH side.  I drew the right hand side and put in all the features that are shared and/or mirrored.  I then derived a new part (the LH side) from the right hand side, using the mirror option in the derive box.

 

Once the LH part (derivation) was made, I placed it in the assembly and constrained it.  This worked out great and I only have two IPT files.  Technically speaking, I have a mirror, but I didn't actually use the mirror command.

 

Thanks for your help!

Message 4 of 6
SBix26
in reply to: tdswanson

That's how we had to do such things in the old days before multi-body solids, and of course it still works.  But mirroring to a new solid in the layout file gives you far more efficient editing-- it's all done in one file, and the changes just appear in your assembly when you click the Update button.  Cross-part projections and linkages can happen easily, etc. 

 

One quick example: suppose you have a hole through both parts, but one is threaded, the other is clearance.  You can't put that in your master, because it's not the right hole for the other part.  In the layout scenario, though, you put the hole through one solid, then project that to the other one for the other hole feature, which always stays lined up no matter what changes you make.  The two derived parts just follow along, always correct and aligned, because all the work takes place in one layout file.

 

I don't think I'm describing it very clearly, and obviously what you did works for you.  But try it sometime using the layout/multi-body method and see what you think.  It's really powerful.

Sam B
Inventor 2012 Certified Professional

Please click "Accept as Solution" if this response answers your question.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Inventor Professional 2013 SP1.1 Update 1
Windows XP Pro 32-bit, SP3
HP EliteBook 8730w; 4 GB RAM; Core™ 2 Duo T9400 2.53 GHz; Quadro FX2700M
SpaceExplorer/SpaceNavigator NB, driver 3.7.18
still waiting for a foreshortened radius dimensioning tool in Drawing Manager

Message 5 of 6
tdswanson
in reply to: SBix26

Thanks Sam.  I do thing simlar to your hole projection scenario all the time.  But I usually just to it through the assembly IAM and not in a multibodied IPT.  I've worked with multibodied IPT's before, but usually just with supplier part models where I won't break them apart and don't want to have to manage them as individual components.

 

One question though.  When you go to make a drawing of a multibodied component, is there a way to only show one in a viewport?  Just crop the other one out?  I can see the distance between the two parts being a factor with viewport scaling and being able to fit everything on a sheet.

 

Thanks again.....

Message 6 of 6
SBix26
in reply to: tdswanson

I never detail the layout, only the components derived from the layout.  So in your case, I'd have a left hand part and a right hand part, each derived from one of the solids in the layout, and each having its own iProperties, Material, etc.  Each of these is placed in the assembly and constrained appropriately.  And each has its own detail drawing.

Sam B
Inventor 2012 Certified Professional

Please click "Accept as Solution" if this response answers your question.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Inventor Professional 2013 SP1.1 Update 1
Windows XP Pro 32-bit, SP3
HP EliteBook 8730w; 4 GB RAM; Core™ 2 Duo T9400 2.53 GHz; Quadro FX2700M
SpaceExplorer/SpaceNavigator NB, driver 3.7.18
still waiting for a foreshortened radius dimensioning tool in Drawing Manager

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