Multibody Part and Configurations (iFeature?)

[Anonymous]

I have a multibody part with about 20 bodies.

I've used "make components" to save out the derived parts and create an assembly.

Now I need to create a variation of the original design where 1-2 dimensions on a single body need to change in the original multi-body part.

What is the best method for doing this?

My goal is to have two assemblies where all but the single part (Part1) are the same. Of course I would like to maintain the link to the original multi-body part.

Assy1:

- Part1a

- Part2

- Part3

....

Assy1:

- Part1b

- Part2

- Part3

....

Solidworks had "configurations" which performed this feature. When creating a derived part there was an option to select which configuration of the master part should be used.

[Thomas_Savage]

Hello @Anonymous

Inventors version of Configurations is iParts, and iAssemblies.

You could use iParts, and change the dimensions you need.

Then place the parts with different dimensions in the Assemblys you want them in.

This video will help you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLbQh-5KXXc 

Thomas.

[johnsonshiue · Accepted solution]

Hi Boris,

Yes and no. I have slight different opinion than Thomas on this topic. You can convert the multi-solid body part to an iPart with multiple members. Then push solids into different assemblies. Here is what you need to do.

1) Open the multi-solid body part.

2) Create iPart.

3) On the table, add the varying parameters as configurable columns.

4) Add a column (non-essential one) and right-click -> make it Custom Parameter Column. This step will turn the iPart factory to a custom iPart factory. Member files will be editable.

5) Start a new assembly and place the iPart factory. You will be promoted to select a row from the table. This is the only way to generate custom iPart member, since you cannot generate custom iPart member within custom iPart factory.

6) Now you have the custom iPart members. You can use Make Components to push the solids into parts.

As you can see, the above workflow is a little bit convoluted. The reason why is that iPart/iAssembly was designed to create library content. The components are well-defined. Once they are generated, it is rare to modify the content.

The alternative workflow is to simply save the multi-solid body part as a different part and then vary the dimensions in the new source part.

Many thanks!

[Anonymous]

I've played around with iPart a little bit, it seems to do what I want, but...

As soon as I perform the iPart authoring the "make part / make components" features get grayed out.

Can both of these function be used at the same time?

As I mentioned above, I have one MASTER multi-body part that then gets split up into multiple parts and placed into an assembly.

P.S. posted this right before Johnson's reply. Let me give this method a shot

[johnsonshiue]

Hi Boris,

You will not be able to use Make Components command within an iPart factory (the part you did Create iPart on). Instead, you will need to do it in custom iPart member as I mentioned about. Try it. It should work.

Many thanks!