is there no object snaps in Inventor sketching?

[sschulteH6WZ3]

Hi all I am trying to copy a circle using the intersection of construction lines as the target. I do not find any way of making the center point snap to the intersection so I can have the circle in the proper place. It seems strange that Inventor would not have something as fundamental as snapping when in sketch mode. Please do not suggest array as none of the locations are equally spaced.

[JDMather]

Normally you would create a new circle at the intersection and then add an Equal (=) constraint.

If you wan to place (copy) instances of geometry - then I recommend creating Sketch Blocks and setting the Insertion Point.

I don't think that in 15+ years of using Inventor that I have ever used the Copy sketch elements.

Edit:  If you place the copied circle somewhere on the screen you can then drag and drop the centerpoint on the intersection and it will automatically create the two coincident constraint.

Edit2:  For whatever it is worth - I just tested the same behavior in SolidWorks and not only does it not snap to the intersection, when drag and drop it only creates one of the Coincident constraints.

[Mark.Lancaster]

@sschulteH6WZ3

Although @JDMather beat me to my reply (same response as his)..  I also notice that you're in assembly..  Are you making assembly features or creating a component while in an assembly?  Your provided image is not really clear at what state you're in.

Also will these circles be extrusions or holes/cuts?

[jletcher]

There are but like Autodesk they half baked the feature you can only use snap points to pick starting location not end location.

 

 I have been trying to get fixed from day one.

But they believe a interface change is better then fixing half baked features they gave us years ago.

[mcgyvr]

As stated one simply needs to select the center point and drag it over the intersection..

What are your constraint inference settings?

Having infer constraints on makes this easy..

[sschulteH6WZ3]

I don't know, not sure how to get that box up. I am putting a bunch of holes in an assembly. I put a plane on a face then started the sketch on that. once some key features were projected the visibility of all the solids were turned off. I was just trying to save some time by copying circles instead of making a new circle every time at each intersection.

[jletcher]

Don't worry about those settings @mcgyvr is showing they have no effect on what you are trying to do. They are for normal sketching you are trying to copy and those only work at the end of the line not intersections.

 There are no snap for you to use, the only way is to place center points at every intersection and if you are going to do that you might as well draw every circle.

But if you are putting holes in using the point center at the intersection is the way to go then use the hole feature rather then extrude.

[SBix26 · Accepted solution]

You really, really need to get some training on Inventor, either through tutorials (from Autodesk included with Inventor or other on-line sources) or in a classroom setting.  Inventor sketching is not at all like AutoCAD because it's not for the same purpose.

You should not be extruding circles to make holes.  You should be placing center points (and constraining them with dimensions and geometric constraints) and using the Hole tool to create holes that include metadata that carries over to the drawing environment.  You might also check out the Bolted Connection tool that can place holes and hardware in the assembly environment.

Whatever else you do, get some training, learn to use Inventor properly.  It will save you a lot of time and frustration.

---

Sam B
Inventor Pro 2019.2 | Windows 7 SP1
LinkedIn

[jletcher]

 If you want to use @mcgyvr way click on the circle and dimension then copy and paste near intersection then when you are done pasting go back and click the center point of the circle and drag it to the intersection then @mcgyvr way will work, you just can't use the copy feature.

All your options he is showing should be checked from factor settings.

And you can find those settings under "Application Options" then "Sketch tab" Constraint Settings at the top left.

[jletcher]

Forgot picture

[sschulteH6WZ3]

I would love to take some training. Between directing people in the shop how to build or repair what I am working on, generating bid packages for customers, quoting costs, interpreting foreign and old hand prints, sourcing and purchasing materials, talking to customers and vendors along with doing the design work for my projects etc there is scant time in a day.

Any way that does make sense to put in points and then use the hole command. That never occurred to me.

[jamesSS8E4]

No there isn't because Inventor Sucks.  I been using Solidworks for 30 years and have just started getting into the worl of Inventor.  There are no snaps in sketches. Also when you mirror parts in assemblies they are fully constrained to the relationship of the mother part in respect to the mirror plane. Inventor is ridiculous and I have convinced my company to go back to Solidoworks.  It is WAY more user friendly and has so much more support and also cost less in the long run.

[johnsonshiue]

Hi James,

With all due respect, I am not sure what you are talking about. Just as SWX, INV 2D Sketch allows users to snap to end points, mid points and add other constraints. What is the particular workflow not available in INV?

Many thanks!