Contact surface between parts in assembly environment

[kresh.bell]

Hi,

does Inventor have the ability to recognize the rectangular surface contact between two parts?

If so, can the length and width of that rectangle be used for some other options?

Solidworks has this possibility, which is extremely useful in the furniture industry, for placing connectors between two panels, always centrally in relation to the length and width of the contact surface.

[WCrihfield · Accepted solution]

Hi @kresh.bell.  What you are doing in your video clip kind of looks similar to the functionality of a tool that is available within Inventor Professional.  I do not really utilize this tool in my work, but it may be useful to you.  It is called Bolted Connection, and it can be found on the Design tab when you have an assembly open.

You can also check out the Autodesk App Store to see if anyone has published an add-in for this functionality.

Other than that, I believe I have also seen others attempting to simulate similar functionality through iLogic/VB.NET automation means, so you might try searching through this forum for similar sounding links you could look into, if you want to attempt to create something similar in Inventor.  I am not currently aware of a simple/easy way to detect and use the profile of one assembly component's face against another component's face in an assembly.  I do know that it is possible to project profiles from one component face to another, and therefore be able to transfer a hole feature location from one part to another within an assembly, and/or check hole alignments.