Permanent cuts / moving objects

[Xaser]

Hi there!

I'm currently designing a frame for a geodesic dome. I have created a wireframe from an excel sheet (I calculated the vertices in a c# program) and added this to my 5-edges-corner part as derived part.

I used the wireframe to create the part that can be seen in the attached picture (basically its a 5 sided cylinder and i used layers which i generated from the wireframe to cut away the top bits).

Now because the wireframe has its origin in the WCS origin, the part isn't centered in the WCS. If I use the "move body" tool to move the part, the layer that creates the cut is not moved as well and the cuts disappear. Also the roation is kinda messed up.

My first idea was to define a UCS and use that to replace the WCS but apparently, that's not possible in Inventor 2014.

I would like to know, whether there is a way to make the cuts permanent and independent of the layer (which is dependent on the wireframe which i want to delete anyways as soon the part is done). And what the best way would be to move the part to the WCS origin.

Regards,

Tobi

PS: sorry the screenshot is all in german - but you get the idea.

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! I am not sure if you are familiar Derive Assembly. Actually, you might be able to use DA to achieve your goal. What you need to do is to put the part in an assembly. In this assembly, the part can be transformed easily (via constraints or occurrence position in iProperties). Next, derive the whole assembly as a new part. Then add new features to it.

Does it make sense?

Regarding your comment about UCS, I am not sure I understand why UCS does not work in this case. Could you elaborate it?

Thanks!

[Xaser]

Hi!

Thanks for your reply, unfortunately I don't have time anymore to try out the DA thing (it's pretty late in Germany already 😉 ) but wouldn't that put my object in a .ipt group in my new .ipt file? Because everytime I derive something its contents are put in a group with the same name as the file, right? (hope that makes sense, if not I will elaborate it further tomorrow)

About the UCS: All I wanted to say was that I couldn't find a way to move the origin of the WCS to my UCS (which would be identical to moving everything to the WCS origin)

Regards,

Tobi

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! DA is just an idea. It may not work for your workflow since I don't fully understand the objective here. Regarding the inabilityto move WCS, I would argue that the current behavior is correct. If we allow WCS (origin) to move, then what is the meaning of an origin? Do we need another super WCS so origin can move relatively to it?

I still think UCS should be the answer here. You don't have to use WCS if the coordinate system is not fixed. You can simply place an UCS at the origin 0,0,0. Then build your model based on UCS (parametric relationship and feature dependency). When you move UCS, all dependents will adjust accordingly.

Thanks!

[Xaser]

Hi,

right, so maybe I got the idea of the UCS wrong. Is it possible now to add a UCS to the part that I have created already, lock the relative position of layers and objects to the UCS and then move the UCS to the wcs origin?

Also I have now the problem that I cannot simply remove the wireframe again as I have many constraints that rely on the wireframe. Is it possible to remove the wireframe and keep the part (i.e. rip up all constraints to the wireframe automatically, or mor generally speaking can I make an object that was created with the help of another object independent of the helping object?)

Regards,

Tobi

[mikejones]

Create boundary patches on the skeleton model that represent the cutting faces required on the derived part. On the derived part model import the boundary patched and you will be able to move them using the Move Bodies function in the X Y & Z directions. These boundary patches can be use for the cut operation.

Mike

[johnsonshiue · Accepted solution]

Hi! Yes, you can add a new UCS and reorder it from the bottom of the feature tree to the top. After that, you will need to edit the downstream features depending on the WCS and redefine the reference to the UCS. The process to do that is straight forward but it does need to take a few steps than I can describe it clearly here. If you can send me the files directly, I can take a quick look and see how it can be resolved easily.

Thanks!

[swhite]

Ummm, why not just finish that part where it is, Stick it in an assembly and constrain it where you want it inside the assembly?

[Xaser]

Hi guys,

sorry I didn't reply for such a long time, buisy in uni 😉

Well it turned out that I just didn't get the "Inventor Way of Doing Things" when I was posting the original post.

I have started from scratch using an assembly part and now everything works out nicely, I get faster every day 🙂

All your answers were helping me alot, but i chose to give the "Accept Answer" to Johnson Shiue for posting the most replys, all of you got "Kudos" 😉

I have attached a pic of my progress so far, its still a little bit of a pain to constraint all the parts, but I'll figure out a way - i guess.

Regards, Tobi