Not sure if I have posted about this before or not. It bothers me that there is not a slot feature. I believe 5 dimensions would be needed. Center distance, radius, x-pos., y-pos., and a depth.
Have you looked at iFeatures yet?
There are several shapes, including slots, for you to place on your part.
Mike
I have considered that option but would like to see a home grown feature in my ribbon.
I agree. That's something I've been wanting since I started with Inventor (version 4) along with a variable pitch coil and a center point rectangle. A slot feature could use two end points or any path like an arc, circle, straightline, 2D spline and so on just like a sweep. Options for the ends would be good too, like full radiused ends, square ends, or filleted ends.
I'd much rather see new features like this than a fancy new GUI.
@jason.stephens wrote:I agree. That's something I've been wanting since I started with Inventor (version 4) along with a variable pitch coil and a center point rectangle. A slot feature could use two end points or any path like an arc, circle, straightline, 2D spline and so on just like a sweep. Options for the ends would be good too, like full radiused ends, square ends, or filleted ends.
I'd much rather see new features like this than a fancy new GUI.
Yeah, I agree that would be good to have, but the OP didn't specify that.
There are also ball end mill slots and end mill curved and end mill straight slot iFeatures.
I'm using the Classic UI.
Mike
I'm not a huge fan of i-Features but they do have their place. However, a slot to me is so basic it deserves it's own tool. With a simple sketch and a good feature control tool one could specify the profile too, rather it be a counter-slot, a radiused bottom, or other shape.
I prefer iFeatures, but you can also place a Slot ( straight or curved ) from Manage >> Insert >> Place Feature. See this link:
http://teknigroup.com/CI2010/Videos/Slots/Slots.html
That is great to know, however, we don't use the content center here for some reason. It has been brought up numerous times to management....disappointing.
Do you mean fully constraining a 2d sketch that will be extruded into a slot shape?
I've never had an issue fully constraining a 2D sketch. Depending on how you draw the profile you may need to add a tangential constraint at the end. However, I believe 2011 automatically adds the final tangent constraint now. I used to start a slot by drawing a straight line, then a tangential arc, followed by another straight line then a final tangential arc. When connecting the last point the tangent constraint may not be inferred and you'll have to add it. Now when I draw a slot I just draw a rectangle and add 2 circles at the mid points on two ends and extrude all three unless it's on an angle or of course an arc slot.
How do you rotate slot when inserted in an *.ipt? I insert a slot in my part. It comes in vertically but I want it horizontally or visa versa, how is the feature rotated 90 or 45 degrees?
Right click > Edit Sketch. Delete the horizontal or vertical constraint that holds its orientation and reconstrain as desired. By the way, this is a lot more work than just sketching your own slot the way you want it to begin with.
Please include the version of Inventor you're using when you ask a question about functionality.
Sam B
Inventor 2012 Certified Professional
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Inventor Professional 2013 SP1.1 Update 1
Windows XP Pro 32-bit, SP3
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still waiting for a foreshortened radius dimensioning tool in Drawing Manager
If you create it as a punch feature you should get a dialog box requesting angle.
Another option is to edit the sketch and convert it to a Sketch Block for easier control.
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