Free Tutorials

[georgetrott]

Good morning all.

I am an experienced SolidWorks modeler and drafter and recently just left an old job of 10 years and started with a new company that uses Inventor. So far I have been doing well in the modeling and drawing department in the way its done in Inventor vs SW, but I would like to be a better Inventor drafter for this company. I have been kind of limping along with using the on line help, forums, and youtube videos for my training. This company will not spend any extra money on training, so I would like to find a more organized and informative tutorials or virtual classroom in order to train myself on the more advanced features. Not just for this company but for own hunger for knowledge. At this new company we do a lot of sheet metal, and structural frame assemblies. It is a fabrication company so we get most of our drawings from a customer and have to redraw the customers .PDF or autoCAD drawings to meet our shop requirements. I have purchased a few SW books to increase my knowledge but do not know what the best ones for Inventor would be. Could anyone help me with this? Thank you in advance for any reply.

[Curtis_Waguespack · Accepted solution]

Hi georgetrott,

You can find some links to free tutorials as this link:

http://inventortrenches.blogspot.com/p/inventor-tutorials.html

I hope this helps.
Best of luck to you in all of your Inventor pursuits,
Curtis
http://inventortrenches.blogspot.com

[mcgyvr · Accepted solution]

And of course Curtis has some "books" out there too..

http://www.amazon.com/Curtis-Waguespack/e/B001JSAVJC/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

[georgetrott]

I would like to know more about the drawing found on the http://inventortrenches.blogspot.com/p/inventor-tutorials.html found under the 24 detailed drawings for modeling practice (not really tutorials, but they'll help with practice): A.... (drawing attached).

I see that it is a machined rod bent at 90°. What I want to know is how to get inventor to show the flat pattern of the rod. I have some pipe that I am showing bent in a drawing and would like to show a raw material flat length (flat length with some extra) and then show my shop the bent pattern on the same drawing. The second drawing I attached is the best way I can translate this to the shop, but I don't like it cause its time consuming and has a great opportunity to screw something up if this pipe were to change lengths. I have sketched the hatch pattern onto the view and typed that dimension to reflect the raw material length. if you can help me on this or point me in the direction on how this drawing was done that would be totally awesome.

Thank you.

[Curtis_Waguespack]

Hi georgetrott,

Currently the most common way to do this is to have 2 files, typically with one derived from the other in order to keep the design information all in one place, so that if you need to make changes it can be done in one place.

For example:

1. Create the part in the un-formed shape
2. And then create a Derived part from it.
3. In the derived part add the formed feature using the Bend Part tool.
4. Detail the part using the original part file and the derived part file to show the part in both states.

Or create an iPart to do this:

1. Create the part in the formed shape
2. And then convert the part to an iPart factory (configuration part file).
3. Then create an iPart member for the formed part (leaving the model as is).
4. Then create an iPart member for the un-formed part by suppressing the Bend feature.
5. Detail the part using both iPart members to show the part in both states.

There is currently an IdeaStation idea to improve this, so that we are not required to create 2 files to pull this off:

http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/Inventor-IdeaStation/Level-of-Detail-for-Parts/idi-p/3822718

I hope this helps.
Best of luck to you in all of your Inventor pursuits,
Curtis
http://inventortrenches.blogspot.com

[georgetrott]

Thank you. This is what I was going for but I would have liked it to be easier to do. I would also have liked to have just made one file and not have to keep track of the flat pipe and or the formed pipe. But thank you for helping me with this work around.

[dlmsdm1]

This is how I create a flat pattern for rod.

(2014)

[georgetrott]

What do you do when you need to show and call out a longer length in the flat pattern for a raw material. I have tried this for a pipe profile and it threw errors at me. I will try it again but I will see. Thank you.

[dlmsdm1]

We started out by adding to the flat pattern extrusion, to make the BOM right. Then later decided the BOM length was not that critical to us, and did a sketch on the IDW. In the end we just made a note for the shop to add a couple inches, and everything worked out. So I guess in depends on your shops capability.

[georgetrott]

That is what I was afraid of. I want to drawing to look the same and be understood by all of the shop from now till the end of time. I dont want to tell the guys out in the shop how to read what the drawing should be and then have to rely on them to relay the same info to the new guys coming in. Also I want my inventory to reflect off of the BOM so If I need to cut extra pipe or flat bar then I want to accurately show that in inventory. I know I can do this easily in SolidWorks and also ProE has the same capabilities but Inventor has not yet gained this capability. I hope soon we can do this in Inventor. Until then the work around will have to do. thank you for your help.