Some basic questions from a beginner

[oneloosecrank]

Hi guys,

I'm starting out teaching myself how to use Inventor and need some advice with the basics. I hope you'lll share some skills with me.

Firstly, I have designed in 2D the outline of a bicycle. The I now to to make this 2D design in 3D. I can extrude (square) one tube and then fillet it back to round, but once I've done a single tube, the I don't seem to be able to go back to the 2D design to make the other tubes. Also, some of the lines I have drawn have nodes that have lock on to other lines, so I cannot adjust them. Specifically, I need to constrain lines to be parallel, but I can't now the node has latched onto one it meets with.

All help much appreciated!

Aaron

[CCarreiras]

Hi!

1 - When you do a operation, like a extrusion, that operation consume the sketch. The skecth is above that operation in the browser.

If you want to use the sketch more times, to do other operations you have to "Share the Sketch"

2- If you want to use geometry from a existent sketch or solid geometry, you can project that geometry for the new sketch using the tool "Project Geometry"

3- To unlock geometry, you have to remove some constrains. Make all constrains visible, RMB in the work area and  "Show all constrains".  RMB hover the constrain's icon and delete the one that is locking the geometry.

Did you find this reply helpful ? If so, use the    Accept as Solution or Kudos - Thank you!

[oneloosecrank]

Terrific, sharing the sketch allowed me to extrude the remaining tubes 

The next issue is that I can't fillet one of them to round. A dialogue box comes up saying the fillt operation is too complicated:

"Create fillet feature failed
Main traingle.ipt: Errors occurred during update
Fillet10: Could not build this Fillet
The attempted Fillet operation is too complicated to trim and join to the part. Try adding more edges or by specifying a smaller radius."

Interestingly, three of the four sides, including its mirror vertice have all accepted the fillet to make the rectangle round. Only one refuses to accept the fillet. I've tried simplifying the sketch, but of course the mirror filleted fine... How would I go about solving this problem?

[JDMather]

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@oneloosecrank wrote:

Terrific, sharing the sketch allowed me to extrude the remaining tubes 

The next issue is that I can't fillet one of them to round.

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Make them round to begin with.  Extrude (or Sweep) a circle rather than a square.
Better yet, learn to use the Frame Generator.

http://home.pct.edu/~jmather/SkillsUSA%20University.pdf
http://inventortrenches.blogspot.com/p/inventor-tutorials.html
http://wikihelp.autodesk.com/enu?adskContextId=HELP_TUTORIALS&language=ENU&release=2014&product=Inve...

[mcgyvr]

post your part?

Not sure why you would extrude square then use fillet to make them round.. why not extrude it round already?

Also

The worst thing you can do when trying to self-learn a program is to start out with something too complicated.. It tends to make you frustrated which leads to you not wanting to continue your learning..

walk before you run.. or in this case walk before you try to ride the bike.

[oneloosecrank]

Well, I hoped that making some tubes at the correct angles wouldn't be too tough. I've designed some of the hardware parts to go onto the assembly already, so I've got the first few steps down. I looked into extruding round but I started with a 2D sketch of a frame which prohibited the revolve tool. I think sweep would be better, but I hoped that extruding to round from my 2D drawing would be a little simpler.

I'll read into those links and see what I can learn. In the mean time, I am trying to project the seat tube up from the bottom bracket (the lowest tube).

[JDMather]

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....but I started with a 2D sketch of a frame which prohibited the revolve tool.

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Wrong!  (see the part in Post # 9 in this thread http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/Autodesk-Inventor/Problem-adding-Contour-Flange-onto-loft/td-p/4463865 )Attach your file here to get help.

[oneloosecrank]

Well, I understand that I can draw any shape and then extrude that shape in a direction. But if I draw a side profile of the frame, I have a load of rectangles. Extruding those rectangles (the side view of the tubes) gives me square tube profiles. From what I understand, I can't select the side view of a 'tube' and say, 'make this a long round thing'. What I would have to do is draw the ends of the tubes round and then extrude them to full length. My barrier to doing this is that I need the 2D profile to get the ends of the tubes, and can't with my current experience make a plane at the ends to draw the tube profile facing the right directions. I hope that makes sense... 

My file is attached. Could anyone point me in the right direction of the 'correct/best' way to start out and I'll get researching the appropriate method and look up tutorials.

Cheers all

[JDMather · Accepted solution]

You make a plane perpendicular to a line by starting the Workplane command and selecting the endpoint of a line and the line.

But I recommend you put this project aside for a while and go through these (with particular attention to dimensioning and constraining sketches)

http://home.pct.edu/~jmather/SkillsUSA%20University.pdf
http://inventortrenches.blogspot.com/p/inventor-tutorials.html
http://wikihelp.autodesk.com/enu?adskContextId=HELP_TUTORIALS&language=ENU&release=2014&product=Inve...

[oneloosecrank]

Perpendicular to a line, workplane command - got it 🙂 I'll get experimenting and learning. Thanks for the direction. 

[mcgyvr]

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@Anonymous wrote:

But I recommend you put this project aside for a while and go through these (with particular attention to dimensioning and constraining sketches)

http://home.pct.edu/~jmather/SkillsUSA%20University.pdf
http://inventortrenches.blogspot.com/p/inventor-tutorials.html
http://wikihelp.autodesk.com/enu?adskContextId=HELP_TUTORIALS&language=ENU&release=2014&product=Inventor

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best recommendation there.. You need to have a good understanding of the basics first.. 

There is NO reason to model squares when you need circles..