Creating CNC dog bone with iFeature

[ericschimel]

I've been doing a lot of parametric modeling for CNC made furniture using Inventor. It's been working fantastic and has allowed me to make some really flexible models to mill. The stuff I'm making looks like this:

CNC machines use round bits and they don't make hard inside corners. To make square cornered parts fit into these rounded inside corners we use "dog bones". Essentially you dive the bit into the corner to make a cut like this:

In many of my designs there can be hundreds of these things. Right now I'm doing it with a sketch with lines that have points on the end of the line, and then drilling holes at those points. Essentially to make one dog bone I need a sketch, line, point, then a drilling. That's a lot of clicking.

I started fooling with iFeatures and after 20 tries I cannot get something like this to work reliably. I'm sure I'm missing something obvious.

I would like my iFeature "dog bone" to let me select a line that the dog bone is going to be on, and then a point for the corner where it will originate.

I've gotten really close in gettring this to work, but not quite there. Does anyone have any suggestions?

[Mark.Lancaster]

I don't use iFeatures a lot but when I did use them in the past it can be tricky in getting them right.  Not sure how complex your feature is but the ones I did were simple so it took a couple of tries to get it right.   You may want to post an example showing the feature done by normal modeling steps so we can see what you are trying to accomplish.

Another thing I will throw out there..  DId you know there is an application you can add to Inventor for wood working.  Click here for more info,.

[ericschimel]

I've seen that woodworking software before, it's really neat but what I'm doing isn't production cabinetry so it's not really applicable.

To give you a better idea of what I am trying to accomplish with iFeatures, this is typically how I model a dog bone:

To give you an idea of why I want to make this less clicking, this is just one piece of a table:

I got really close with an iFeature, but I think I was missing something and I couldn't get it to work every time...

[swalton]

Try this (IV 2014 format).

I made a rectangle slot with the half-circles at each end.  I did not tie it to any existing geometry in the source part.  Place it in your model and then add additional dimensions to constrain it properly.

Pattern the feature as required to locate all your components.

You might need to make a different ifeature for each slot variation you plan to use.

See http://help.autodesk.com/view/INVNTOR/2014/ENU/?guid=GUID-D0E46D2A-F2F5-46E0-B653-286DD4B07D5F

[mcgyvr]

FWIW.. You don't have to model them at all depending on which CAM program you are using..

Using the Free HSMExpress for Inventor you can do drill features and select (selected points) instead of (selected faces) for Hole mode in the drill operation and just pick the corners without needing a hole at all.

[ericschimel]

@mcgyvr

Thanks for the suggesting about the Inventor CAM software. I'm sure it would be able to take care of what I'm trying to do, but I'm actually trying to avoid the use of Inventor for milling...

Reason being is that I want to create these designs in 3D and be able to troubleshoot/control them parametricly. The 3D DWG files that are created from a finished design are obviously static, but can be read by a lot of people that I'd be sending these too, typically schools and maker spaces. I probably should be using something like Fusion for this, but it's lack of CAD import, and general bugginess (likely because it's newer) have pushed me to Inventor.

@swalton I tried your iFeature. It works exactly as it should, but I'm not always doing slots... I want to be able to apply these to any inside corner that I select. Depending on the corner, I want them on one side or the other of the corner. The best I could come up with was one iFeature that worked in one direction, I couldn't get it to "flip". I thought that I would be able to create one where I selected the line I wanted it on, and the corner where it would orginate and I'd be good to go in all situations. I was never able to pull it off.

[Anonymous]

@ericschimel did you find a solution to this?

I am wanting to do the exact same at my end.

Any input beyond your last post will be appreciated.

Thanks

[ericschimel]

Well that post is a bit old... Fusion has gotten far easier (and more reliable to use). I've been using some dog bone add-ins that work fairly well...

[iysfer58]

The key, IMO, is learning how the simple capabilities of the software paintings collectively, after which setting up a piece-flow for every form of work that you do with your corgi golden retriever mix. That takes time in the back of the screen the usage of the software in all sorts of situations.