Inventor 2018; 2D file generation...

[Anonymous]

Hi all

Im very new to inventor... Im just plodding though some examples and I decided to put something together that I kind of needed made.

So i drew up the 4 small pieces of 10mm steel which i put together in an assembly and all worked rather nicely, I even managed to generate the drawing file... anyway, I then came to the realization that my local laser cutters only work off 2D drawing files. Now as I am a total Inventor amateur I thought i would ask rather than stumble around in the dark...

Can a standard 2D autocad file be auto generated from a part file (or even more than one part) or is it more involved??

Thanks Jon

[mjc_design]

If you create parts as sheet metal parts, then you can flat pattern them. Right click on the flat pattern and select "save copy as" to create .dxf file of the profile for laser cutting

[Paul1084 · Accepted solution]

You can also generate AutoCAD DWG files from your IDW drawing file. Try file, Export to DWG, make sure you select the save type as AutoCAD DWG There are a number of options to do with sheet scaling vs 1 to 1 model space scaling, but it will create a 2D DWG exactly as you see it in your IDW sheet

[Binga]

Just to expand the answer: You can RMB click in a planar face and select "Export Face As..." to get a .dxf or a .dwg.
If you want to organize a bunch os parts to optime the material consumption you can test the new Nesting Utility (https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/inventor-forum/nesting-utility-2019-3-what-s-new/td-p/8577665).

[mcgyvr]

Typically one would create a drawing (idw file) in Inventor that fully details your part in its formed/final shape..

This would be used for your internal quality inspection and would even be provided to your sheet metal manufacturer as is.. It would typically be their job to produce the part from that formed drawing..

"IF" you have a special relationship with that vendor and know the exact k-factor to use to properly generate a flat pattern with the correct developed length/width then you could enter that k-factor for that specific material/fabrication process into Inventor and have it generate a flat pattern of that part. At that point you could also supply a dxf file with just the outlines/cutouts,etc.. that they could use to drive the programming of their laser directly from your file..

I personally recommend against providing flat patterns to outside vendors as like I said that requires that you have specific k-factors for each and every material thickness/fabrication technique so that you can generate the desired blank size that works with their specific process.. And should you change vendors that k-factor could be different and now you are providing an incorrect blank size..

My preference is to only provide the "as formed/final" drawing and let the sheet metal manufacturer do their job..

I also provide a step file as all of my sheet metal vendors have a cad package (solidworks) and program their machines from that.. They are still responsible for calculating the proper flat dimensions and can easily utilize my "as formed" step file to do such..

[Anonymous]

Thanks all...

I had thought about going down the sheet metal route, however nearly all my stuff is welded plates rather than manipulated sheet.. the manufacturer is only a small single machine laser cutting shop that doesnt have extensive resources (i still have to supply my autocad 2018 drawings as 2013 format!)

So I think i will play around with the idw file export option and see how they respond to that...