topic Re: trying to rotate a shaft in animation in Inventor Forum

trying to rotate a shaft in animation

sam.hy.wong — Mon, 26 Sep 2022 15:38:07 GMT

I have a very simple assembly. Just 3 parts. I want the rod and wood board to rotate about the centre of a round base, kinda like a rotating vertical windmill. It should be very simple right but for the love of god I have tried every possible way, every joint and constraint, but the whole thing just wouldn't budge. I could move them in translational motion but not in rotation. It just seems Inventor hates things that turn or rotate.

One weird issue I notice is that if I ground the base everything related to it got grounded too. I'm really confused, hope someone could help. Thanks!

Re: trying to rotate a shaft in animation

Gabriel_Watson — Mon, 26 Sep 2022 16:04:36 GMT

Something like this (driving that dimension to turn it)?

See attached.

Re: trying to rotate a shaft in animation

JDMather — Mon, 26 Sep 2022 16:05:29 GMT

Attach your assembly here if you can’t figure it out.

Re: trying to rotate a shaft in animation

sam.hy.wong — Tue, 27 Sep 2022 01:36:54 GMT

Thank you for your help. I have attached a zipped folder as I cannot upload more than 3 files at a time.

Re: trying to rotate a shaft in animation

Gabriel_Watson — Tue, 27 Sep 2022 03:50:04 GMT

Added tangent constraint between deflector face and rod), plus a zero degree angle (undirected type) constraint between deflector face and Part5 (base) XY plane. Right-click > "Drive" on the angle dimension between 0 and 360 deg to animate.

Re: trying to rotate a shaft in animation

sumit_teke — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 12:32:18 GMT

can we dont have any motor for rotating shaft like parts. In solidworks they provide motor and we need to specify only Shaft Surface & RPM