merging lines and curved within a 2d sketch

[office6PUWT]

I need to use the various lines and curves in a 2d sketch  as a path for a rectangular array so need to merge them all into a single spline. How do I do this. Seems simple enough but I can't find a way to do so? What are my options please? see attached pic

[FacebookGroupMember]

All curves, (all lines and arcs) need to have a coincidence constraint connecting their end points together.

[FacebookGroupMember]

You can also right click on your sketch and run the sketch doctor. If the sketch was imported from a source such as AutoCAD, this might be necessary to tidy things up.

[FacebookGroupMember]

You don’t need to merge them. They can be separate entities as long as they’re connected. What you’re saying is technically achievable but through a workaround rather than actually merging them into a polyline.

[office6PUWT]

Apologies but I don't seem to be able to add the coincident constraints.

Do I click once on the shared points? or once one each line/arc?

Do mirrored lines act differently?

should I expect to see two constraint icons per join?

What are small blue squares?

What are large yellow squares?

Will the completed sketch highlight as a continuopus spline once ready or will it still highlight as coincident sections?

Have attached the .ipt file for you have a closer look if possible please?

many thanks Luke

[office6PUWT]

The sketch doctor appeared at one point and I followed it through as best I could without fixing any of the problems I could see afterwards. right clicking in the browser or sketch is not bringing it up now (possibly because it's completed it's work). Not sure which part of the sketch to click on either as I'm still unable to highlight and select it all.

cheers

Luke

[office6PUWT]

Also, when I'm trying to add coincident restraints to the relevant points I'm getting an error message saying that a constraint already exists. These are mirror constraints as this is how I made the sketch. can I not have mirror and coincident restraints at the same time? or can mirrored lines not be coincidently contstrained?

[office6PUWT]

If the sketch remains as separate lines then I still won't be able to select it all when using it as an intersection curve within a 3ds sketch. I've tried creating the intersection curve via numerous iterations for each line/arc but it then won't work as a curved driven pattern.

[office6PUWT]

3s sketch not 3ds sketch

[office6PUWT]

sorry 3d sketch not 3ds sketch. think i need a time out!

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! The Sketch Doctor is able to combine the points properly. Please follow the Sketch Doctor's instruction and combine points accordingly. After that, the sketch can be used to create a surface.

Many thanks!

[SBix26]

OK, your sketch has some of the coincident constraints needed, but some of them are not end point to end point, which they need to be.  However, it has no other dimensions or constraints, but many measurements are nominal to a large number of decimals.  How did that happen?  I see that your curves are not simple arcs, but ellipses; is that as intended?

For this to be a useful and reliable sketch as the foundation of your part, it needs to be fully constrained.  As it is, Inventor suggests (in the lower right corner of the screen) that it needs sixteen dimensions.

Maybe you could show us what you're trying to model?  What will be patterned along this path?

But the first thing is to get your path sketch properly defined: need four tangent constraints, some more coincident constraints and a handful of dimensions.

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Sam B
Inventor Pro 2022.0.1 | Windows 10 Home 20H2
LinkedIn

[office6PUWT]

I have attached a picture of the cinema organ from a local museum for you to see where I'm headed with this. I managed yesterday to rec pattern 2mm holes around the inside of the curved screen which houses the keyboards. This was why I needed to join the connected straight and curved lines with a view to creating the 25mm spaced holes around the edge in one go. As it was I managed to do this line at a time, creating new template holes after each edge. I had huge problems with the tool working in unpredictable ways and am wondering now if this was due to the my original sketch not being fully constrained. I know I should be working off robust sketches but a combination of laziness, lack of need (sizes are not likely to change when I'm working on reproducing an object which already exists) and lack of skills means I end up just making it and moving on. What are the overall disadvantages of not having a fully constrained sketch as may be this will firm my resolve in future to put the extra time in to do so. I also find the the process for selecting and not duplicating constraints quite confusing, is there an online tutorial you could recommend for me to work through with a view to improving this element of my overall workflow?

Many thanks for all your help and advice btw.

Luke

PS Are small blue square joins and large yellow ones constraints? and where do I click to constrain both ends?

[SBix26]

Properly constrained sketches are vital to a robust and useful model.  An unconstrained sketch is an accident waiting to happen, because it is very easy to unintentionally move an unconstrained sketch element, thereby changing your model in ways you never intended (and may not notice until it's too late).

In this particular case, you should be able to select the complete path with one click, but that requires that all the end points are connected to each other.  I suspect that you also want tangent constraints between the elliptical curves and the connected lines on each end.

Question: why doesn't your sketch have these dimensions and constraints?  How did you create it without them?  It's actually somewhat difficult to create a sketch without constraints being created automatically, but yours has only a few that you created afterwards.

As far as the glyphs you're seeing in the sketch, the yellow squares indicate coincident constraints, and if you hover your cursor over them, you will see glyphs for each participating element [you can hover over them individually to see the corresponding element highlighted; you can also right click and delete these individual participants].   I am using a different color scheme than you are, so I'm not sure what "small blue squares" are, but they may be sketch points, such as the centers of the elliptical curves.

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Sam B
Inventor Pro 2022.0.1 | Windows 10 Home 20H2
LinkedIn

[SBix26]

I attached a different way (much easier, I think) to make the holes (Inventor 2022 format).  But, the full path did not succeed because there is a break in the geometry (circled below) that prevents a continuous path.  Since I don't have the part from which this is derived, I can't offer any advice on that, but it needs to be fixed!

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Sam B
Inventor Pro 2022.0.1 | Windows 10 Home 20H2
LinkedIn