iPart or something else?

[Anonymous]

Let's say you have a part with many features on it that don't change. The
only thing that changes is the overall length. For example, in a project
today, I might need the part to be 1.000" long. Next week, I might need to
use the part in a new project with different length. The problem is that I
don't know now what length I'll need next week.

So I considered setting this up as an iPart (my first one), but it seems
that I need to put specific lengths in the table. However, next weeks part
might only be .001" different from this week's. For lengths from 1 to 10
inches, we're talking about 9,000 possible lengths.

What would you do here?

Thanks,

Tom

[MechMan_]

See Sean's tutorial on Custom Parameters in iParts.



http://www.sdotson.com/tutorials.asp



MechMan

[Anonymous]

Why dont you make this part adaptive?

"Tom Lee" wrote in message
news:0BAA02E76514F54E16AE56E58E9D2AF5@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> Let's say you have a part with many features on it that don't change. The
> only thing that changes is the overall length. For example, in a project
> today, I might need the part to be 1.000" long. Next week, I might need
to
> use the part in a new project with different length. The problem is that
I
> don't know now what length I'll need next week.
>
> So I considered setting this up as an iPart (my first one), but it seems
> that I need to put specific lengths in the table. However, next weeks
part
> might only be .001" different from this week's. For lengths from 1 to 10
> inches, we're talking about 9,000 possible lengths.
>
> What would you do here?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Tom
>
>
>

[MechMan_]

Adaptivity isn't a good idea if the part to be adaptive is part of a series of parts that are used in several different assemblies. A part cannot be adaptive in more than one assy.



Did that even partially make sense? It's getting into the later part of the day.



MechMan

[Anonymous]

Well, if he wants to use a part with diff. length
in diff. assembly, he has to insert ipart for each assembly  and
enter a new length's parameter. The problem is: he doesn't know what length will
be used next. Why dont copy this part over and make it
adaptive.

style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">

"MechMan" <mechman> wrote in message
href="news:f163f49.2@WebX.maYIadrTaRb">news:f163f49.2@WebX.maYIadrTaRb...

Adaptivity
isn't a good idea if the part to be adaptive is part of a series of parts that
are used in several different assemblies. A part cannot be adaptive in more
than one assy.

Did that even partially make sense? It's getting into the later part of the
day.

MechMan

[Anonymous]

Model your part with a arbitrary length. Save the file in the TEMPLATES
directory of Inventor (perhaps in a subfolder of Templates).

Back in your assembly, use create component, and use the Browse button to
pick your template file to create the new file based upon it and then just
adjust the length for whatever you need - repeat process....


-Ryan


--
----------
Ryan Small
Solid Caddgroup Inc.
Authorized Autodesk Systems Center
Burlington, Ontario, Canada
Ph:905-331-9670 Fx:905-331-7280
http://www.solidcadcam.com
ryan@solidcadcam.com

"Tom Lee" wrote in message
news:0BAA02E76514F54E16AE56E58E9D2AF5@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> Let's say you have a part with many features on it that don't change. The
> only thing that changes is the overall length. For example, in a project
> today, I might need the part to be 1.000" long. Next week, I might need
to
> use the part in a new project with different length. The problem is that
I
> don't know now what length I'll need next week.
>
> So I considered setting this up as an iPart (my first one), but it seems
> that I need to put specific lengths in the table. However, next weeks
part
> might only be .001" different from this week's. For lengths from 1 to 10
> inches, we're talking about 9,000 possible lengths.
>
> What would you do here?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Tom
>
>
>

[Anonymous]

Why not save a template with the sketch-shape of
the part. You can make a new directory in the directory where the template
are, Inventor sees this as a new page with templates in your startup
screen. The advantage is, you can open your part as a sketch and then you
can extrude the part to the length you want. You don't have to draw the part
anymore because the sketch is already there. And Inventor will ask you to save
the part to a certain name, so you don't overwrite your sketch template. I've
done this myself for the same reason like you. You can even link an excel table
to it, for example to work with standard profiles, you only have to select
another and the sketch will change. I found that I-parts do not always work very
easy, specially if you wan't to change the part with the same part but then with
different dimensions. But then again, everbody has his own way of working with
it.

Greetz,

Johnny

style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">

"chris" <
href="mailto:chrisc@alumni.ucsd.edu">chrisc@alumni.ucsd.edu> wrote in
message
href="news:67E93DE072C8A8D3F883FCEAC751670C@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb">news:67E93DE072C8A8D3F883FCEAC75......

Well, if he wants to use a part with diff. length
in diff. assembly, he has to insert ipart for each
assembly  and enter a new length's parameter. The problem is: he
doesn't know what length will be used next. Why dont copy this part over
and make it adaptive.

style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">

"MechMan" <mechman> wrote in message
href="news:f163f49.2@WebX.maYIadrTaRb">news:f163f49.2@WebX.maYIadrTaRb...

Adaptivity
isn't a good idea if the part to be adaptive is part of a series of parts
that are used in several different assemblies. A part cannot be adaptive in
more than one assy.

Did that even partially make sense? It's getting into the later part of
the day.

MechMan

[Anonymous]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I'll experiment with the different
techniques like a custom parameter in an iPart or using a special template
file.

-Tom

"Ryan Small" wrote in message
news:1E468C5D27C794A8897B0A1DFD977D86@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> Model your part with a arbitrary length. Save the file in the TEMPLATES
> directory of Inventor (perhaps in a subfolder of Templates).
>
> Back in your assembly, use create component, and use the Browse button to
> pick your template file to create the new file based upon it and then just
> adjust the length for whatever you need - repeat process....
>
>
> -Ryan
>
>
> --
> ----------
> Ryan Small
> Solid Caddgroup Inc.
> Authorized Autodesk Systems Center
> Burlington, Ontario, Canada
> Ph:905-331-9670 Fx:905-331-7280
> http://www.solidcadcam.com
> ryan@solidcadcam.com
>
> "Tom Lee" wrote in message
> news:0BAA02E76514F54E16AE56E58E9D2AF5@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> > Let's say you have a part with many features on it that don't change.
The
> > only thing that changes is the overall length. For example, in a
project
> > today, I might need the part to be 1.000" long. Next week, I might need
> to
> > use the part in a new project with different length. The problem is
that
> I
> > don't know now what length I'll need next week.
> >
> > So I considered setting this up as an iPart (my first one), but it seems
> > that I need to put specific lengths in the table. However, next weeks
> part
> > might only be .001" different from this week's. For lengths from 1 to
10
> > inches, we're talking about 9,000 possible lengths.
> >
> > What would you do here?
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Tom
> >
> >
> >
>
>