Limiting Motion in Assemblies

[dstrayer]

How do you limit translation/rotation of components in Assembly mode?  I'm volunteering as a teacher to some high school students and we're modeling a robotic arm using syringes as prime movers.  I want to keep the linkages from traveling inside-out and limit the travel of the syringe plunger.

Thanks,

Dave

[JDMather]

What version of Inventor?

2010?

2011?

2012?

Look into Constraint Limits and/or Contact Sets.
Can you attach your assembly here?

[dstrayer]

Thanks for the reply.  The District currently only has 2009 loaded (Grrr).  I'm also dealing with an overly protective IT guy that I now won't see until Monday.  I'll try to Pack n' Go it to you on Monday.  Appreciate the help.

[dstrayer]

Tried a Packngo and attached the assembly - not sure if it worked.

Dave

[JDMather · Accepted solution]

An assembly file by itself is useless (just lok at that file size).
An iam file is simply a record of hyperlinks to parts and a list of assembly constraints.

You must include the part (*.ipt) files.

[dstrayer]

OK, let's see if this works.  I zipped the pack and go folder and attached it (2 to follow).

Again, this is a simple model of a (high school project) mechanical arm.  I'm looking for help in learning how to limit constraints so that it won't flip inside out or come apart.  Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

Dave

[dstrayer]

Second one.

[dstrayer]

Last.

[JDMather]

Password protected?

[dstrayer]

Really?  I didn't enable anything for password protecting whenI zipped.  I don't know if the school IT adminstrator has everything so locked down that I can't even zip a file or what.  I'm only volunteering in the mornings so I'll have to see what I can do tomorrow.  Sorry for the hassle.

[Curtis_Waguespack]

Hi dstrayer, 

I haven't had a chance to look at your assembly, but I was able to open the zip files without running into any password prompts.

I hope this helps.
Best of luck to you in all of your Inventor pursuits,
Curtis
http://inventortrenches.blogspot.com

[dstrayer]

Thanks Curtis

[JDMather]

Hmmm, just tried again and had no trouble extracting on a different machine.

I'll have to go back and figure out why I was getting a password prompt on my main machine.

[Curtis_Waguespack]

Hi dstrayer, 

Unless I missed it, there is another assembly file and its components required. When I try to open General Assembly (Austin).iam I encounter a resolve file dialog.

General Assembly (Austin).iam is looking for General assembly.iam  which was originally at R:\robotic arm project\General assembly.iam

Here's what I see (or don't see) when I open General Assembly (Austin).iam in case it helps.

I hope this helps.
Best of luck to you in all of your Inventor pursuits,
Curtis
http://inventortrenches.blogspot.com

[dstrayer]

Yep, that's it, and I know exactly where to get the missing asembly.  I'll get it on here first thing in the morning.

[Curtis_Waguespack]

Hi dstrayer,

In looking at your assembly, and considering the version of Inventor you're using, I think this link might have the answer you're looking for. There are even some example files at the link at the very bottom of this page:

http://design-excellence.teknigroup.com/tutorials/Inventor/restrictiveTransConstraint.html

Kudos to the late Dennis Jeffrey for making this avaliable.

I hope this helps.
Best of luck to you in all of your Inventor pursuits,
Curtis
http://inventortrenches.blogspot.com

[dstrayer]

Curtis, thanks again for the help.  I haven't checked out the link yet but I wanted to get the missing file on here right away.

Dave

[JDMather]

Your students can download Inventor Professional 2012 for free from http://www.autodesk.com/edcommunity for their own personal computers. Unfortunately any work they do in 2012 could not be opened in 2009 version.

I will be having my class work on this assembly in 2012.
Not sure I will have time to document what we do for the 2009 version.

[JDMather]

As I go through the parts I see many sketches that could be simplified by using geometry constraints rather than dimensions.