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New user- How should I handle standard steel shapes?

24 REPLIES 24
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Message 1 of 25
slightlyagitatedwookie
590 Views, 24 Replies

New user- How should I handle standard steel shapes?

I've searched all the posts in this NG and haven't found anything like this. My aplogies if this has already been covered.
Our company uses mostly steel shapes. I would like to set up an ipart (I think?) to be able to bring them into an assembly and input the length but then become adaptable also (for easy revisions). I would like to have the following items shoe up in my parts list: Itm, Qty, Description (W6"x15# for example) Length,Mass.

So far I have dwonloaded a few iparts of steel shapes from Charles bliss' site. I have managed to get it use the "Length" parameter in the parts list. I'm stuck trying to get the description.

If I can figure out one shape, then it will be easy to do the same for the others.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Heath
24 REPLIES 24
Message 2 of 25
Anonymous
in reply to: slightlyagitatedwookie

Someone, please correct me if I'm wrong, but if he
makes the length of the extrusion (Inventor calls it Parameters for whatever
reason) adaptive in the iPart factory and makes it a Custom iPart instead of a
Standard, wouldn't that work for him?


style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
I've
searched all the posts in this NG and haven't found anything like this. My
aplogies if this has already been covered.
Our company uses mostly steel
shapes. I would like to set up an ipart (I think?) to be able to bring them
into an assembly and input the length but then become adaptable also (for easy
revisions). I would like to have the following items shoe up in my parts list:
Itm, Qty, Description (W6"x15# for example) Length,Mass.

So far I have dwonloaded a few iparts of steel shapes from Charles bliss'
site. I have managed to get it use the "Length" parameter in the parts list.
I'm stuck trying to get the description.

If I can figure out one shape, then it will be easy to do the same for the
others.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Heath

Message 3 of 25

I should add too that we use the standard shape and then put holes, miters, copes and other details in it after. I suppose this hoses the whole ipart idea? Would a table driven part be better (use as template?)

Heath
Message 4 of 25

look at cmgi software at http://cadmanagementgroup.com
Message 5 of 25

ps it does the discription for you real nice change part size dis. updates
Message 6 of 25
Anonymous
in reply to: slightlyagitatedwookie

I know there was a nice little program someone
created called "Steel Creator" which runs with Inventor.  It's on Sean's
site. http://www.sdotson.com/

 

Keith


style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
I've
searched all the posts in this NG and haven't found anything like this. My
aplogies if this has already been covered.
Our company uses mostly steel
shapes. I would like to set up an ipart (I think?) to be able to bring them
into an assembly and input the length but then become adaptable also (for easy
revisions). I would like to have the following items shoe up in my parts list:
Itm, Qty, Description (W6"x15# for example) Length,Mass.

So far I have dwonloaded a few iparts of steel shapes from Charles bliss'
site. I have managed to get it use the "Length" parameter in the parts list.
I'm stuck trying to get the description.

If I can figure out one shape, then it will be easy to do the same for the
others.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Heath

Message 7 of 25
Anonymous
in reply to: slightlyagitatedwookie

You can still use iparts but they would be "custom iparts" in that the
length would be described by a custom parameter. See the thread
"iPart column as a user defined field?" for info on how to get the length of
a custom ipart into the BOM. This ultimatley was not what the user wanted
but being the nice (and dense) guys we are we explained it there

--
Sean Dotson, PE
http://www.sdotson.com
...sleep is for the weak..
-----------------------------------------
"slightlyagitatedwookie" wrote in message
news:f1273d1.1@WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
I should add too that we use the standard shape and then put holes, miters,
copes and other details in it after. I suppose this hoses the whole ipart
idea? Would a table driven part be better (use as template?)
Heath
Message 8 of 25
Anonymous
in reply to: slightlyagitatedwookie

You can also use the iPart as a template.  Set
the table to the shape and length you desire, SAVECOPYAS, open the new part and
delete the table.  That turns the new part from an iPart to a normal part,
then modify as desired.


--
Hal Gwin
Mechanical
Designer
Xenogen
Message 9 of 25
Anonymous
in reply to: slightlyagitatedwookie

Steel Creator; nice little program. It doesn't
have small I-Beams I noticed, I needed a 2" I-Beam but I think 4" was the
smallest. Still it is a neat program.

~Larry


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

I know there was a nice little program someone
created called "Steel Creator" which runs with Inventor.  It's on Sean's
site.
href="http://www.sdotson.com/">http://www.sdotson.com/

 

Keith


style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
I've
searched all the posts in this NG and haven't found anything like this. My
aplogies if this has already been covered.
Our company uses mostly steel
shapes. I would like to set up an ipart (I think?) to be able to bring them
into an assembly and input the length but then become adaptable also (for
easy revisions). I would like to have the following items shoe up in my
parts list: Itm, Qty, Description (W6"x15# for example) Length,Mass.

So far I have dwonloaded a few iparts of steel shapes from Charles bliss'
site. I have managed to get it use the "Length" parameter in the parts list.
I'm stuck trying to get the description.

If I can figure out one shape, then it will be easy to do the same for
the others.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Heath

Message 10 of 25
Anonymous
in reply to: slightlyagitatedwookie

That  file doesn't seem to be there
anymore.

 


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

I know there was a nice little program someone
created called "Steel Creator" which runs with Inventor.  It's on Sean's
site.
href="http://www.sdotson.com/">http://www.sdotson.com/

 

Keith


style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
I've
searched all the posts in this NG and haven't found anything like this. My
aplogies if this has already been covered.
Our company uses mostly steel
shapes. I would like to set up an ipart (I think?) to be able to bring them
into an assembly and input the length but then become adaptable also (for
easy revisions). I would like to have the following items shoe up in my
parts list: Itm, Qty, Description (W6"x15# for example) Length,Mass.

So far I have dwonloaded a few iparts of steel shapes from Charles bliss'
site. I have managed to get it use the "Length" parameter in the parts list.
I'm stuck trying to get the description.

If I can figure out one shape, then it will be easy to do the same for
the others.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Heath

Message 11 of 25

I haven't used steel creator, but when we got inventor this spring, two of us spent about half a day creating one foot sections of all of the standard material we use...flats, tubes, angles, I-beams, c-channel, u name it. They are all "templates" in a material folder. Now whenever we need a certain material, we go find it and save as. I haven't thought about it since. I personally think iparts are for the birds. I just don't like to have one more file to make sure never gets lost.
Message 12 of 25
Anonymous
in reply to: slightlyagitatedwookie

It's listed under 9-06-02.


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

That  file doesn't seem to be there
anymore.

 


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

I know there was a nice little program someone
created called "Steel Creator" which runs with Inventor.  It's on
Sean's site.
href="http://www.sdotson.com/">http://www.sdotson.com/

 

Keith


style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
I've
searched all the posts in this NG and haven't found anything like this. My
aplogies if this has already been covered.
Our company uses mostly
steel shapes. I would like to set up an ipart (I think?) to be able to
bring them into an assembly and input the length but then become adaptable
also (for easy revisions). I would like to have the following items shoe
up in my parts list: Itm, Qty, Description (W6"x15# for example)
Length,Mass.

So far I have dwonloaded a few iparts of steel shapes from Charles
bliss' site. I have managed to get it use the "Length" parameter in the
parts list. I'm stuck trying to get the description.

If I can figure out one shape, then it will be easy to do the same for
the others.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Heath

Message 13 of 25

I've looked as well and could not find it. (steel creator)

Sean, I've already manged to get the custom length property to appear in my parts list. It's the description that I can't get to show up. I'm using the wide flange ipart from Charles Bliss' site. In the "weight" column it has "size" and "weight" as a concatenated value. This is the value I wish to display in my parts list.

Jim was it? (sorry if incorrect)

I was trying to download the demo version of PowerSteel as suggested but lost my connection. I'm going to try again. This software does sound like it does exactly what we want it to do. However it doesn't say if the demo is compatible with R6. I'll try it anyway.

Thanks all for the help, I'll keep you all posted

Heath
Message 14 of 25
Anonymous
in reply to: slightlyagitatedwookie


Right off Sean's
Site:


9/6/02 - Dave Adams has written an add on for
Inventor entitled "Steel Creator" that creates steel sections, pipes, channels
etc. It's pretty handy. I have agreed to host it for him on this site. Until I
can get a proper page in place this news item will suffice.
href="http://www.steelcreator.com/">Screenshot & Description
. ~~~
href="http://www.sdotson.com/vba/Steel%20Creator%20v2.zip">Download
. Note:
It was recently discovered that this program has a problem running on Windows
XP. It will run once but the second time you try to run the program it will not
load. David Adams has been made aware of this issue and I will be sure to report
when the problem has been corrected. UPDATE:9/12/02: A
new version has been uploaded that is both smaller and appears to work on XP.
You can use the same link above to download
it
UPDATE:9/17/02:Another vesrion (v2.0) has replaced the older
version. It now allows the creation of parts into a user library. Use the same
links above to download.



style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
I've
looked as well and could not find it. (steel creator)

Sean, I've already manged to get the custom length property to appear in my
parts list. It's the description that I can't get to show up. I'm using the
wide flange ipart from Charles Bliss' site. In the "weight" column it has
"size" and "weight" as a concatenated value. This is the value I wish to
display in my parts list.

Jim was it? (sorry if incorrect)

I was trying to download the demo version of PowerSteel as suggested but
lost my connection. I'm going to try again. This software does sound like it
does exactly what we want it to do. However it doesn't say if the demo is
compatible with R6. I'll try it anyway.

Thanks all for the help, I'll keep you all posted

Heath

Message 15 of 25
Anonymous
in reply to: slightlyagitatedwookie

I could have posted this earlier, but wanted
everyone to visit Sean's site since it has a wealth of
information.
Message 16 of 25

Boilerchip:
I have to agree with your opinion. To me, it just seems like a more consistent way of handling parts: no external files are required. There are also advantages in that code can be added to the template to automate other processes as well.
Just curious, but how much space does your template directory take up? Also, would you be willing to share these files?
Thanks,
Murray
Message 17 of 25
Anonymous
in reply to: slightlyagitatedwookie

Thanks <g>


--
Sean Dotson, PE

href="http://www.sdotson.com">http://www.sdotson.com

...sleep is for the
weak..
-----------------------------------------


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

I could have posted this earlier, but wanted
everyone to visit Sean's site since it has a wealth of
information.
Message 18 of 25

I haven't seen this mentioned in any of the replies, but I use iFeatures for this type of thing. I think iFeatures are under rated. You can do some neat things withs them. It is just like having a parametric 3d block in Autocad. Just draw the shape your interested in, rename the variables to things like "web thickness", "height" etc. and make it an iFeature. When you insert the iFeature into an assembly you can modify any of the variables at will, drill holes in it or whatever you want.
Phil
Message 19 of 25
Anonymous
in reply to: slightlyagitatedwookie

Thanks I missed that!

 


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

It's listed under
9-06-02.
Message 20 of 25

I am curious boilerchip as to exactly how you are using your "templates". I am assuming that you never make your parts in assembly mode, but rather make your parts in part mode and then bring them into your assembly. Or is there a way you can build your parts in assembly mode using the save as theory?

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