Machining on parts within weldments

[soggys3]

All,

I have a weldment file containg a 12" i beam with a small plate welded to the top of the beam. I have to machine that plate down to its finished thickness and punch a hole thru others. I use the machining button and remove my material with no issues. The problem comes when I launch the part the machining is not reflected at the part level. Do I need do have 2 versions (2 files)  of the part machined/unmachined? I am sure this is a common practice within Inventor. Please advise if anyone has crossed this road. See attached .jpg for clarity.

Thank you in advance!!

Shawn

[graemev]

Our shop practice is to only show the final condition as a part of the weldment, as that is the design intent.  The part drawing should reflect the condition as produced prior to welding.  For your particular example I would make a Level of Detail for the weldment itself only and make a shop drawing showing all welding and machining required to produce the base frame.

[Curtis_Waguespack]

Hi soggys3,
Thinking in Inventor terms, when you say Machining (post-weld) do you mean Preperations (pre-weld)?

See this link and see if creating the weldment features as Preperations and then using the Model State tools in the drawing view, will help to get the results you want:

http://inventortrenches.blogspot.com/2011/03/detailing-frame-generator-weldment.html

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

[soggys3]

Great tip Curtis!!! Thanks alot!!!

[soggys3]

Curtis,

The tip you shared worked well!! However I have another isuue. Explanation as follows........

We recieve loose parts from which we create a welded assembly. The weldment is then sent out for machining. (from which the model state idea works great). The machined assembly comes back to us and we then preform additional welding, then send it back out for a 2nd stage of machining. Is it possible to retain the part numbers and still reflect the different stages of machning??  Any help is greatly appreciated!!!!

Thanks

Shawn

[swalton]

I like to follow the real world with my IV assemblies and weldments. 

This is how I would approach your problem:

Create the 1st weldment with a file name like "WELDMENT PART NUMBER-w1.iam".  Model up all the welds.

Derive "WELDMENT PART NUMBER-w1.iam" into "WELDMENT PART NUMBER-m1.ipt".  Model your post weld machining.

Place "WELDMENT PART NUMBER-m1.ipt" as the first component in "WELDMENT PART NUMBER-w2.iam".  Add your additional components and model your new welds. 

Derive "WELDMENT PART NUMBER-w2.iam" into "WELDMENT PART NUMBER-m2.ipt"  Model your second set of post weld machining.  Use "WELDMENT PART NUMBER-m2.ipt" in any downstream assemblies.  

Make a separate idw for each model file, named per the model. 

I use the derive workflow so I can create external threads as part of my post weld machining.  This also avoids assembly features.  I have not tried nesting weldment.iams with post weld machining.  I  assume it works ok if you don't want to do the derives.

I also use a similar workflow for cast components with machined surfaces.