Using Adaptive parts to create custom size Pulley belts.

[Anonymous]

Hi all,

Currently working on a design for work where i have to create different length pulley belts to fit different size pulleys and different distance dimensions.

Ive been using the below video to create the following parts but I'm struggling with adapting the part when placed in a assembly, I've followed the video step by step so many times but yet I'm still getting a constraint error.

Can anyone help point me in the right direction as to what I'm missing please?

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elAcO7nhjiY&t=180s

Regards.

[kelly.young]

Hello @Anonymous I see that you are visiting as a new member to the Inventor Forum.
Welcome to the Autodesk Community!

Did you make sure that once you insert the Belt-Test-Template part into the assembly you R+Click and set it to Adaptive?

If you miss this it will definitely get an error trying to match the face to a cylinder. 

Please select the Accept as Solution button if a post solves your issue or answers your question.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for your response, I did indeed miss the part where you select the imported template as adaptive. I am still having trouble completing this task successfully like in the video i linked at the beginning, but i am still learning and going through each step to ensure i have completed everything correctly.

After viewing your video i see that the belt does not conform to the same diameter as the shafts you constrain it too? is this just a coincidence or is this an error?

One more question is that once i have successfully created my desired pulley belt, would it be easy to create a flat pattern from there assembly so i can easily calculate the total length of the belt? maybe there is a design accelerator in Inventor which could do this for me?

Thanks again for your help.

Kind Regards.

[kelly.young · Accepted solution]

Excellent @Anonymous I thought making adaptive might be the initial problem.

The reason the belt doesn't conform to the cylinder is that it is offset by a distance rather than from the cylinder edge to the width of the belt, like you had it initially before I tinkered with it.

As for the length of the pulley, you can create an arc length dimension and pull it into the drawing.

Hope that's not too confusing, screencast should clear it up.

Edit: As a bonus this will save you a headache. You've been warned enough!

Please select the Accept as Solution button if a post solves your issue or answers your question.

[Anonymous]

Thank you Kelly for your help, this has solved my question.

As for your additional Edit in your last post, i am unsure what your trying to suggest. I have checked my sketch settings and currently my "Apply Driven Dimension" is unchecked.

However after investigating my version of the assembled model against yours and the Youtube video versions; i have found that i applied a driven constraint on the offsets to the belts sweep path. This may have been the reason for my constraint errors from the beginning, an over sight on my part.

Thank you again for your help, much appreciated and during both your video clips i have gained additional knowledge of the user interface which i did not know so added bonus i suppose 🙂

Kind Regards.

[kelly.young]

@Anonymous if you check the radio button for Apply Driven Dimension it will stop that dialog box from popping up and just place it as (driven).

When setting a dimension it will prompt you to enter in a length if it can, if it is forced to be driven it will show up as such, no warning needed! Just eliminates an added step of clicking OK to make the dialog box go away.

Glad you got it figured out.

[Anonymous]

Ok I understand now

Thank you