Best Way to Tackle Dimensions of Irregular Shape

[Anonymous]

Hi experts,

I'm working on an IVT and the dimensions are all over the place, meaning that it isn't a simple square. I need to create a sync for it. The best I can think of, is to make the IVT housing transparent and then delete the portion where the sync is located and its surrounding gears and look at that area to get an idea of how much space I have.

Then when I'm designing a new sync, make sure to use the surrounding gears as a reference. For instance, if I want something to be housed over a particular surrounded gear, project that gear shape on an object and then use the offset feature to produce a little bit of space and go from there.

I'm sure this is the way to go, but wanted to make sure that I'm approaching this as the way a professional would so that I can be productive.

Thanks everyone!

[kennyj]

Hello ChrisBizle,

I have no idea what an IVT or sync is, but it sounds like you would want to investigate using derived parts and assemblies to do your builds / subassemblies to allow you to dimension in the drawing the sub assemblies separately.

I am assuming your dimension problem is drawing related and not part sketch related.

Hope this helps,

Kenny

[mcgyvr · Accepted solution]

What I commonly do is create a "block" part (whatever your housing is) then take my other part and place both into an assembly..

Then I "edit" the block in the context of that assembly and create a sketch then simply project the edges of the other part into that sketch then use offset..

Note: Edit will be grayed out in the assembly if you have the block still open by itself.. Once you close that then you can edit right in the assembly..

But yes.. Derived does a very similar function and is much better if you not only have a 2d profile but 3d features that need to be removed from the housing..

Derive can be used to create a "mold" where a part is placed into that block and then whatever areas are common are easily subtracted from the material as needed..

See here.. www.widom-assoc.com/derived_parts2.pdf

[Anonymous]

Just checked on derived parts and this will be a useful tool.

Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the advice. In my case, that block would be better used as a housing so I know my boundaries. I don't think Inventor can pretty much get that voided area that I created and make it a boundary, which would be great, but I can see it being difficult for the software to know the voided area. However, no big sweat. I can look at that area and get an idea and then create my part and then resize it and etc while in the void until it fits just fine.

And the project feature will be a tool I can use too, to help me make sure that my created part fits. Thanks for sharing your expertise.