I was following the demo by @Neil_Cross on YouTube for angular constraint limits but ran into issues when I want to have asymmetric angular limits beyond 180 degrees. I can't share my project but have attached a demo hinge to show what I mean.
Say I want my blue beam to be in-line with my red beam and travel the long arc up to the 210 degree angle.
(A second scenario is where I want the blue beam to be +30 to -120 degrees from aligned with the beam).
1) Inventor won't let me enter a Maximum limit of 210 degrees
2) If I enter a smaller Maximum e.g. 120 degrees (with Min=0) then the constraint is applied symmetrically so that the blue beam can move PLUS and MINUS 120 degrees from zero.
Is this bad implementation or am I just using it wrongly? How would I limit the angular constraint for large angles (above 180 degrees) and for asymmetric limits?
NOTE: Inventor allows vectors to be entered (i.e. negative angles) but always treats them as positive.
Solved! Go to Solution.
Solved by imajar. Go to Solution.
I'd use the directed angle option and define a reference axis. That will help Inventor understand what to do with angles larger than 180 deg and negative values.
Steve Walton
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Hi! Steve is right. Undirected angle is only meaningful between 0 and 180. Any value beyond the range is not valid. I suggest you use Explicit Reference option so you can specify the full range (+-360). But, you need to select a rotational direction, which helps avoid flipping.
Many thanks!
It is not possible to use limits with Directed Angle. When Directed Angle is selected the Limits fields become greyed out and unavailable.
Undirected Angle - Limits available
Directed Angle - Limits not available
Sorry, I used the wrong name for the angle option.
I meant the Explicit Angle Reference option (right-most button). That option allows you to define a reference vector that uses the right-hand-rule to define the + and - directions for the angle value.
See: https://help.autodesk.com/view/INVNTOR/2020/ENU/?guid=GUID-AD4679FD-EE9B-47C0-9E32-04B990BDD29E
Steve Walton
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This has to be a bug or a very poor implementation.
Even by using the Explicit Reference Vector I could not restrain the movements as required.
Min::Max::Expectation::Result
FAIL - 0::70::The blue beam to be limited from 0 - 70 degrees :: Beam limited to +/- 70 degrees (i.e. 140 degrees travel)
FAIL - 0.5::70:: Limit travel 0.5 - 70 degrees :: Beam limited to +/- 70 degrees (i.e. 140 degrees travel)
FAIL - 1::70:: Limit travel 1 - 70 degrees :: Beam limited to +/- 70 degrees (i.e. 140 degrees travel)
PASS - 5::70:: Limit travel 5 - 70 degrees :: Beam limited to 5 - 70 degrees from parallel
PASS - 5::170:: Limit travel 5 - 170 degrees :: Beam limited to 5 - 170 degrees from parallel
FAIL 5::180:: Limit travel 5 - 180 degrees :: Beam can travel the long arc between 5 degrees and -5 degrees from parallel (i.e. 350 degrees travel)
I cannot see a simple way to achieve the limits that I need to apply.
See attached. Is that what you need it to do?
I generally have had a good experience using explicit reference vector, although selecting a good vector (that is orthogonal to the angle) is essential to get it to work right.