Animation with a number of parts

[quattda]

I am attempting to create an animation sequence of a 4-cylinter phneumatic engine running. I am able to get the cam shaft to turn but the piston rods, pistons, etc. do not move. Is there a way associate the movement of the piston assembly with the cam shaft?

Dale

[quattda]

I forgot to add that this is working with Inventor 5.0

[Anonymous]

If the pistons are constrained to the crank why wouldn't they move?

--
Sean Dotson, PE
http://www.sdotson.com
Check the Inventor FAQ for most common questions
www.sdotson.com/faq.html
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"quattda" wrote in message
news:f163d9f.0@WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> I forgot to add that this is working with Inventor 5.0

[quattda]

Sean,
In the assembly file the constraints work fine... the cam shaft will turn fine by hand and the pistons follow suit, but when I try and take it to a presentation, only the cam shaft moves and the pistons don't follow.

[Anonymous]

Don't record the animation in a presentation file. Record it in the
assembly. Put an angular constraint between the crank shaft and an origin
plane and then drive this constraint. In this dialogue there is an option
to record the motion to an AVI file.

--
Sean Dotson, PE
http://www.sdotson.com
Check the Inventor FAQ for most common questions
www.sdotson.com/faq.html
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
"quattda" wrote in message
news:f163d9f.2@WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> Sean,
> In the assembly file the constraints work fine... the cam shaft will
turn fine by hand and the pistons follow suit, but when I try and take it to
a presentation, only the cam shaft moves and the pistons don't follow.

[quattda]

Ok, now I tried that and it didn't work. I created my cam shaft assembly and made sure that it was constrained to an origin axis. Then I tried adding angular constraints to pretty much everything and couldn't drive the constraint and make the assembly move.

[Anonymous]

Can you post the assy to the Inventor Customer Files group (see the FAQ for
address)

--
Sean Dotson, PE
http://www.sdotson.com
Check the Inventor FAQ for most common questions
www.sdotson.com/faq.html
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
"quattda" wrote in message
news:f163d9f.4@WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> Ok, now I tried that and it didn't work. I created my cam shaft assembly
and made sure that it was constrained to an origin axis. Then I tried adding
angular constraints to pretty much everything and couldn't drive the
constraint and make the assembly move.

[Anonymous]

In your assembly file you say that the crank-conrod-piston turn by hand with
mouse.
Your camshaft should also turn freely by hand on its axis.
Apply an Axis to the axis of your crank.
Then apply a Plane between the new Axis and an origin Assembly plane
parallel to the new Axis.
Apply an angle constraint to the new plane and the origin plane of your
crank.
Then apply a Rotation constraint between your crank and camshaft.
Drive the angle constraint.
If your cranks origin axis is the same as assembly origin axis or two origin
planes then use assembly origin and crank origin to apply angle constraint
instead of above method for new plane.
The rotation ratio should be to match your required ratio e.g. 2:1.

--
Laurence,

Power is nothing without Control
---


"quattda" wrote in message
news:f163d9f.4@WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> Ok, now I tried that and it didn't work. I created my cam shaft assembly
and made sure that it was constrained to an origin axis. Then I tried adding
angular constraints to pretty much everything and couldn't drive the
constraint and make the assembly move.

[quattda]

OK.. NOw I've got the assembly to move (thank you, by the way). Now there are two exhaust valves that need to move for a certain distance when the piston head strikes the valve pin and then stop on a gasket. Right now I've got a transition constraint on the valve and piston but the valve will not stop when it reaches the gasket. How can I accomplish this?

[Anonymous]

As its not a conventional set up its difficult to grasp the layout, can you
post the file to INV CF?

--
Laurence,

Power is nothing without Control
---


"quattda" wrote in message
news:f163d9f.7@WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> OK.. NOw I've got the assembly to move (thank you, by the way). Now there
are two exhaust valves that need to move for a certain distance when the
piston head strikes the valve pin and then stop on a gasket. Right now I've
got a transition constraint on the valve and piston but the valve will not
stop when it reaches the gasket. How can I accomplish this?