Bolted connections are a really great addition to the mechanical design process to neatly keep mounting holes in sync over multiple parts inside an assembly.
However, there there's still some issues and some ideas for improvement here, that I would love to see some improvement on:
Bolted Connection Assembly Re-Order
- Bolted Connections in Assembly mode can not be re-ordered properly inside an assembly's Model Tree as any other component can
→ Note: when a Folder has is dragged below component, then it works somehow… 😄
Updating A Bolted Connection
- menu item for component → manual update is marked with a checkmark, but actually triggers an event (this is no toggle 🤔)
- in assembly mode at least a lightning symbol is shown when update is needed
- in part
- in part mode of the bolted connection only manual resolving is available
- lightning icon next to bolted connection item in model tree lets the user assume, it can be updated easily (by clicking "Update All" or just by RClick context menu
→ BUT the user has to just know, it's located inside the component submenu (with no indication for it to be there)
above: Updating in Part Mode
below: Updating in Assembly Mode
Multiple Instances
- most of the time it would be required/desireably to put multiple screws in one go
- this works as expedted for "Concentric" as placement method, but not in "On Point" or "By Hole"
- e.g. in "By Hole" mode "1 Existing Hole(s)" remains forever at 1, just replacing instead of adding to the selection → "hole(s)" implies that there CAN be multiple ones
Screw Size Inference
- this can be used to infere the proper Diameter not only in "By Hole", but also in "Concentric" placement mode
- for the templates I would suggest separating component combination from the actual diameter
- e.g. therefore in my templates there is just: ISO 4762 Screw + ISO 7089 Washer + ISO 1502 Threaded Hole → the diameter is then infered from the diameter field
- of course there can be combinations, that are just not available in all sizes → this needs to be addressed by a simple warning
- but it keeps the template library really clean as size can always be changed from the diameter field
Revisit Hole-Only Bolted Connection
- at least in part mode when only holes have been created (and no new components such as screws etc. have been created [or they've been forgotten 😒]), there is no way to edit or delete this afterwards as there is no item inside the model tree
- you have to manually go inside the parts involved here and delete the auto-generated holes there separately
Length Can Not Be Changed in Window that seems designated for this
- occurred in bolted connection assembly mode (not sure about part mode)
- Workaround is to use the red arrows inside the UI
Folder Shift
in several (but not all) of our assemblies
when multiple screws are inserted as parts (not as in assembly mode) and put into a folder inside the model tree, one single screw per group moves up one folder, when manual update got triggered → really weird…
Dockable Panels For Assistants
- Assistants like Bolted Connection are still not dockable panels such as e.g. Bore Feature Panel is
Assembly Mode vs. Part Mode
- I've had multiple occasions, on which creating a bolted connection failed in assembly mode, but worked in part mode somehow → but to me assembly mode would be much more preferrable (especially for large amounts of screws)
Holes Not Always Created Reliably
- on several occasions the auto-generated holes are just not created or not updated accordingly
- when the resulting bore diamter to be created is the exact same as a bore hole, that's already in place, this results in an error (probably > and < are catched but = is not)
→ I suppose Inventor wants to create a hole inside the part, but then the hole-extrusion fails as no material has been subtracted there
Thanks in advance, dear Inventor Team and keep the good stuff coming. Please feel free to reach out, if you have any questions, I am always happy to help 🙂
