Table of iFeatures?

[Anonymous]

I work for a company that produces table tops. One of our lines is quartz which requires thread inserts to be placed based on the hole layout of any given base. We've created an iParts table which allows us to have all our Table top sizes pre-made so that we just have to select the size we want and the part will update. I'm trying to figure out if there is a way to do this for iFeatures so that i can choose my top size, and the go down to another table and choose my hole layout feature. I've been able to bring in a single iFeature (which places 8 extrusions that would be the pilot holes for the inserts), but i'm at a loss as to how i can format this to create a table or catalog of all our base options. 

Any tips would be appreciated. 

[jtylerbc]

An iPart has one table, so the literal thing you asked for (a table for size and a second table for hole layout) is not possible.  What you can have is a table that contains rows to account for all the possible combinations.  For example, let's say you only have two different base sizes, and each has a possible 4 different hole layout patterns.

• Size A
  • Pattern 1
  • Pattern 2
  • Pattern 3
  • Pattern 4
• Size B
  • Pattern 1
  • Pattern 2
  • Pattern 3
  • Pattern 4

So in this case, you end up with 8 rows.  In your iPart, you would model all four hole patterns.  In each row, you would suppress all but the applicable one.  In this method, how you model the hole patterns isn't really important - lots of ways could work.  The important thing is that they are all modeled in the iPart and suppressed in the members where they don't apply.

See the attached, very basic example. 

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! To add to John's comments, you can turn the iFeature into a table driven one. You need to have the iFeature source ide file. If you don't, you will need to extract an iFeature just like that.

1) Open the ide file in Inventor -> click on iFeature Author Table.

2) Just like iPart, you can add parameters to the table and have different members. 

3) Save the ide file.

4) Insert the iFeature to the iPart.

5) Edit the iPart table -> add iFeature to the table (Table Replace).

Now you can specific which iPart member uses which iFeature member.

Please try it out and see if it works for you.

Many thanks!