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Repeating pattern inside of a sphere

14 REPLIES 14
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Message 1 of 15
sohnrog
801 Views, 14 Replies

Repeating pattern inside of a sphere

Dear Forum,
I'm trying to build a ball/socket joint with a circular pattern inside of the socket. The design involves a raised circular feature on the leading edge of the ball part. The socket needs to have circular relief to match the raised circular feature on the ball. I want to repeat this circular indentation at 2 degree intervals all around the socket such that the raised circular feature will "lock" into the relief at various positions.

I have been able to acomplish this to a limited extent using a very tedious process.

First, I created a raised circular feature on the ball using a triangular sketch and a revolve/join function. Next I created an assembly and mated the ball to the socket. I then made a derived part from the socket by subtracting the ball part from the socket. The derived part now had the negative impression from the raised feature on the ball part. I then repeated this process, this time changing the angular constraint by 2 degrees. The new derived part then had 2 circular reliefs.

There has to be an easier way to do this. The issues I see are these:

1. Since I'm working inside a sphere, there is no real sketch plane to work with.

2. If I keep building the part using derived part after derived part, will there be an issue when it comes time to send it to machining/CNC?

3. If I want to change the pattern or shape later, won't I have to repeat the whole process again?

Thanks in advance.

Roger
14 REPLIES 14
Message 2 of 15
Josh_Petitt
in reply to: sohnrog

can you post a pic of what you have so far?

also, which version are you using?
Message 3 of 15
Anonymous
in reply to: sohnrog

Since you did not supply your Inventor version, or attached a zip file of
your parts OR attach a image or sketch, I created a ball fot you in Inventor
9 (earliest still on my system.) However the version will not matter.

image and ZIP attached. Is this what you want? Unzip and pull the End of
Part marker down to preview my steps....

--
Dennis Jeffrey, Autodesk Inventor Certified Expert
Autodesk Manufacturing Implementation Certified Expert.
260-399-6615
Instructor/Author/Sr. App Engr.
AIP 11SP3, AIP 2008 SP1, PcCillin AV
HP zv5000 AMD64 ( modified)
Geforce Go 440, Driver: .8185, 2GB RAM
XP Pro SP2, Windows Classic Theme

wrote in message news:5694012@discussion.autodesk.com...
Dear Forum,
I'm trying to build a ball/socket joint with a circular pattern inside of
the socket. The design involves a raised circular feature on the leading
edge of the ball part. The socket needs to have circular relief to match
the raised circular feature on the ball. I want to repeat this circular
indentation at 2 degree intervals all around the socket such that the raised
circular feature will "lock" into the relief at various positions.

I have been able to acomplish this to a limited extent using a very tedious
process.

First, I created a raised circular feature on the ball using a triangular
sketch and a revolve/join function. Next I created an assembly and mated
the ball to the socket. I then made a derived part from the socket by
subtracting the ball part from the socket. The derived part now had the
negative impression from the raised feature on the ball part. I then
repeated this process, this time changing the angular constraint by 2
degrees. The new derived part then had 2 circular reliefs.

There has to be an easier way to do this. The issues I see are these:

1. Since I'm working inside a sphere, there is no real sketch plane to work
with.

2. If I keep building the part using derived part after derived part, will
there be an issue when it comes time to send it to machining/CNC?

3. If I want to change the pattern or shape later, won't I have to repeat
the whole process again?

Thanks in advance.

Roger
Message 4 of 15
sohnrog
in reply to: sohnrog

I'm using Inventer 2008. I've attached a picture of the socket after 3 rounds of assembly/subtraction. I think this way works, but it doesn't allow for updates to the part if I change my mind about the size of the circle feature.
Message 5 of 15
Anonymous
in reply to: sohnrog

Can you attach the parts ( zipped) so that we do not have to try and guess
to remake yours? Does not look like any trade secrets would be revealed..

Also, did you open mine and see the workflow?

--
Dennis Jeffrey, Autodesk Inventor Certified Expert
Autodesk Manufacturing Implementation Certified Expert.
260-399-6615
Instructor/Author/Sr. App Engr.
AIP 11SP3, AIP 2008 SP1, PcCillin AV
HP zv5000 AMD64 ( modified)
Geforce Go 440, Driver: .8185, 2GB RAM
XP Pro SP2, Windows Classic Theme

wrote in message news:5694024@discussion.autodesk.com...
I'm using Inventer 2008. I've attached a picture of the socket after 3
rounds of assembly/subtraction. I think this way works, but it doesn't
allow for updates to the part if I change my mind about the size of the
circle feature.
Message 6 of 15
Anonymous
in reply to: sohnrog

See imbedded response:

--

wrote in message news:5694012@discussion.autodesk.com...

1. Since I'm working inside a sphere, there is no real sketch plane to work
with.

You can create a sketch plane anywhere on the sphere through the use of
workplanes. My file does just that,,,,

2. If I keep building the part using derived part after derived part, will
there be an issue when it comes time to send it to machining/CNC?

Depends on whether the final design is manufacturable.

3. If I want to change the pattern or shape later, won't I have to repeat
the whole process again?

Not if you have a good design. If you keep design intent within your feature
creation, it should update all parts correctly.

Thanks in advance.

Roger

Dennis Jeffrey, Autodesk Inventor Certified Expert
Autodesk Manufacturing Implementation Certified Expert.
260-399-6615
Instructor/Author/Sr. App Engr.
AIP 11SP3, AIP 2008 SP1, PcCillin AV
HP zv5000 AMD64 ( modified)
Geforce Go 440, Driver: .8185, 2GB RAM
XP Pro SP2, Windows Classic Theme
Message 7 of 15
sohnrog
in reply to: sohnrog

Dennis and all,
Thanks for the replys. I will attach the zipped parts in separate posts. I wasn't able to fully view your part file. I could scroll down the browser and see the sketches highlight up. However, I couldn't see the actual part.
Message 8 of 15
sohnrog
in reply to: sohnrog

Ball part
Message 9 of 15
sohnrog
in reply to: sohnrog

assembly I used to derive the socket
Message 10 of 15
JDMather
in reply to: sohnrog

> could scroll down the browser and see the sketches highlight up. However, I couldn't see the actual part.

You must have missed the instruction where Dennnis wrote, "Unzip and pull the End of
Part marker down to preview my steps...."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Autodesk AutoCAD 2013 Certified Professional
Certified SolidWorks Professional


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Message 11 of 15
JDMather
in reply to: sohnrog

>1. Since I'm working inside a sphere, there is no real sketch plane to work with.

How much training did you get with Inventor?

>it doesn't allow for updates to the part if I change my mind about the size of the circle feature.
First thing I noticed is your sketches are not constrained.
http://home.pct.edu/~jmather/AU2006/MA13-3%20Mather.pdf

Why not simply pattern the feature?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Autodesk Inventor 2019 Certified Professional
Autodesk AutoCAD 2013 Certified Professional
Certified SolidWorks Professional


The CADWhisperer YouTube Channel


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Message 12 of 15
Anonymous
in reply to: sohnrog

You have to drag the End of Part icon to the bottom of the browser as I
indicated...

--
Dennis Jeffrey, Autodesk Inventor Certified Expert
Autodesk Manufacturing Implementation Certified Expert.
260-399-6615
Instructor/Author/Sr. App Engr.
AIP 11SP3, AIP 2008 SP1, PcCillin AV
HP zv5000 AMD64 ( modified)
Geforce Go 440, Driver: .8185, 2GB RAM
XP Pro SP2, Windows Classic Theme

wrote in message news:5694085@discussion.autodesk.com...
Dennis and all,
Thanks for the replys. I will attach the zipped parts in separate posts. I
wasn't able to fully view your part file. I could scroll down the browser
and see the sketches highlight up. However, I couldn't see the actual part.
Message 13 of 15
JDMather
in reply to: sohnrog

Here is an example.
In the browser you will see a red End of Part marker.
Drag the EOP down step by step to see how the part was created. You will have to wait a bit for the last feature as it si a bit complex for the computer to calculate the pattern.
The full file size is nearly 15meg.
With the EOP pulled up it is 162k.
Zipped it is 48k.
That is why it is common practice to roll up a part before posting here.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Autodesk Inventor 2019 Certified Professional
Autodesk AutoCAD 2013 Certified Professional
Certified SolidWorks Professional


The CADWhisperer YouTube Channel


EESignature

Message 14 of 15
sohnrog
in reply to: sohnrog

Thanks everyone. You guys are awesome. I finally figured out what you meant by drag the EOP marker. The pattern command seems to be the answer. As you figured, I'm still learning inventor (switching from autodesk mechanical). It's a much smarter program, but I'm still making the transition. Again, thanks.
Message 15 of 15
JDMather
in reply to: sohnrog

I assume you don't need all 90 instances that I put in the pattern but you didn't state the total range of motion that you were after. Hopefully at a reasonable number the feature solves a little more quickly.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Autodesk Inventor 2019 Certified Professional
Autodesk AutoCAD 2013 Certified Professional
Certified SolidWorks Professional


The CADWhisperer YouTube Channel


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