Question: calculating tube length (not tube & piping)

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I have a question about calculating the maximum tube length. Why do i ask this, because you can just measure it on drawing?

I'm building a parametric model for building simple storage tanks, and the goal is to get a complete BOM out of the model without any difficulties.

I have 4 possibilities of tube positioning on the tank. (see image)

1. A tube that stands in the center of the axis of the main tank.

2. A tube that stands in the center of the axis of the main tank, but under an angle

3. A tube that doesn't stand in the center of the axis of the main tank.

4. A tube that doesn't stand in the center of the axis of the main tank, but under an angle

These 4 possibilities can be flush with the inside of the tank or not.

Is there a easy way to determinate the longest point from the front of the tube? This longest measurement will be the length i need to get into my description for the BOM.

If there are any questions, please feel free to ask. I will respond as soon as possible!

Thanks.

Jef

[Mark_Wigan]

it depends a bit on how you are building your assembly. if i understand your question correctly, there a a few ways...

1. if you are using a skeleton and have a sketch in that file that shows the geometry you refer to then you could extract that one "worst case" value and use it in parent assembly & then in turn obtain it for each connection and of course export it to your BOM.

2. if you have not used a skeleton for the job, then if it is just a case of tricky geometry, make a part that merely consists of a few sketches that represent the critical geometry concerened. then put some reference dimensions on those sketches between your critical geoetry and export those dimensions, or

 ... place the part into the top level assembly or the weldment that you are building, and constrain it to the critical part in that assembly.

you can then obtain the parameter from the "Link" function in your assembly. (it will default to Excel but you can tell it to find inventor files)... just choose the dimension you wish to pull throutg to the assembly.

if you need to obtain that dimension for when you end up exporting the BOM from your top level assembly, then just push the parameter into a custom property in the file you need to show it, and set your BOM up with the specific field you require so that the value can be exported.

if your geometry is setup in such a way as to show the several tube lengths that could arise, then you could export each value into a set of 3 or 4 custom properties so that you could list them for your workshop to see.

each of these little points can be its own topic of discussion. there is lots of help in this forum and the help menus of inventor if you need to see a bit more on each one.