Learning Pathway "Review and edit part" not working as described in lesson.

[justinthursday]

Hi, all.

I've just started on the "3D Modeling for Mechanical Design Using Inventor" Learning Pathway. 

I'm already having an issue with this lesson: https://www.autodesk.com/certification/learn/course/inventor-3d-modeling-mechanical-design-professio...

When I go to direct edit the hole as shown in the video lesson I get an error message "! Create Thicken/Offset feature failed". It allows me to make the hole smaller as much as I want but will not allow the hole to go any bigger from its original 8.1 diameter size. It needs to be 9mm as shown in the video lesson.

I've tried doing this on two different computers just to be sure and have the exact same issue. I would appreciate any help you can offer.

Thanks!

-Justin

[pcrawley]

It's frustrating when a tutorial doesn't work.  And even more frustrating when I can't replicate the error you're getting.

Attached is my unedited part (just in case yours is corrupt).  Here are the steps I took to making the hole 8.1mm dia:

1 - Select the face

2,3,4 - Size, Offset value, Diameter 

5 - Over exaggerated 8.1mm - but the diameter worked at any value (smaller or larger)

Final result:

I hope it works for you.

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! I am sorry I have not tried the tutorial. I am commenting based on the described workflow and the error message. I believe the tutorial here might be wrong. It seems to lead the users to use Direct Edit -> Size to change a hole feature. I don't think it is allowed.  Hole is a spec driven feature. It cannot be changed properly using geometry operation like Direct Edit.

Please feel free to share the file here. I would like to understand it better.

Many thanks!

[justinthursday]

Thanks for being so detailed. That's exactly what I was doing and it simply wouldn't let me make the hole bigger. Smaller was no issue. 

It may have self corrected because I was getting the same error when trying to put a hole in a square steel tube and it wasn't working. After about ten tries of doing exactly what the lesson said to do it just worked.

[justinthursday]

That was my suspicion too after a lot of internet searches. I ended up just making a few sketches and using circles to extrude the hole sizes I needed so I could move on with the lessons.You can see my work around in the attached file.

I was having a similar issue with another part and then it just randomly started to work. I haven't gone back to the original file to see if it would work yet.

[pcrawley]

@justinthursday  - Your workaround is good - but there's another path I think the tutorial should have taken.

The tutorial explains in some detail that the hole needs to be a clearance hole for an M8 bolt - it then shows hole charts - and that's eventually where the 9mm comes from.  But it doesn't tell you that those hole charts are built into Inventor.

To make the hole a clearance hole for an M8 bolt, you can use the "Hole" command - set it to clearance (1) - specify M8 bolt (2) - then select the existing face (3) and then the edge of the existing hole (4 - not yet picked in my screenshot).  Note the 9mm was automatically selected from the hole charts (an Excel spreadsheet).

Is this a "better" process?  I think it is because when you create the drawing views, there's a "Hole Note" tool (rather than a simple dimension) which can retrieve all the information about the hole - including the fastener type size, fit, tolerance etc, making for a more informative and detailed drawing. 

Placing the hole note is 2 clicks.  To indicate the fastener information would require manual typing if we'd stuck with Direct Edit or Extrude to make the hole - and it wouldn't update automatically if you later made the hole suitable for an M10, or a counterbored hole, or a countersink...   Enough rambling from me - it's not my tutorial!

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! Many thanks for sharing the file! I agree with Peter. This should be done by using Hole command instead. Also, you may install Feature Recognition tool at Inventor App store to help convert those holes to Hole features. Do you mind showing me how to see the Direct Edit -> Size issue?

Thanks again!

[justinthursday]

That's all really good info. Thanks!

[justinthursday]

Its the exact same workflow that @pcrawley shows above except when I go to confirm the dimension(when bigger than the original hole size) I get this error message. I can make the hole smaller with no error.

[pcrawley]

Any chance of a screenshot that includes the Direct edit toolbar before you change the diameter to 9?

Using your model from Message 5 above, I get this:

Changing it to 9mm works, so I can't explain why yours fails unless it's some other setting in the Direct Edit we're missing.

[justinthursday]

Sure thing. I've attached a screen shot with the original dimension and when I type in "9"(before confirming the value) to show that it doesn't show a cut preview.