Automating the creation of an assembly with modular panels

[BasVermeer]

I've spend too much time manualy creating assemblies that always contain the same parts, but in different compositions. I've tried dabling in iLogic, but coding is definitly not my strongpoint. Creating parameters and using basic formules is something I can do. I'll try and describe my situation withouth too much detail as I cannot share too much information.

The system I have to assembly consists of a module thats 400x400mm and a module of 200x200mm. These will be attached to a wall with some metal frames verticaly placed right behind each module, ranging from 300 to 1200mm with 100mm increments. Through a form that I made I can input the max width and height (for example 3500 x 6000mm) of the planned surface and then the assembly is automaticaly adjusted to fit these dimensions. However I can only do this with the 400x400 modules. The 200x200 modules should not be added at the edges. Instead they should be placed one row inwards IF the customer wants to make use of the smaller modules. The metal frames on the back should be as tall as possible, but with a max length of 1200mm. 

How should I go about creating a form that will create this assembly based on the inputs of max dimenions and optional use of the smaller module? Any sources you can point me to or functions I should look into?

[A.Acheson]

Hi @BasVermeer 

Not so much a working sample so much as a start for the workflow planning. It might help get some ideas going for you. 

1. Generate a parameter for max length. Any panel added needs to have a parameter or easily identifiable length so you always know what length has been consumed.

2. Create a formula to add panels based on the length required. For the first one i would suggest manually doing out the combination and see can you get a formula to automatically determine them. I haven't needed to do this often so this can be tricky especially with custom length panels.

3. Once you have a manual combination created you can capture the occurrence added and constraints created using ilogic capture tool in the ilogic editor.

4. Start to generate your simple logic if statements needed based on monitoring parameters in item 1 and 2. Start with just adding occurrences and don't worry about constraining for now. 

[chris]

@BasVermeer I opened your assembly, I however did not see the form for it. Something like this shouldn't be difficult, it's just going to take a few equations. I do this type of stuff a lot but for different designs/industry. Something like this might be better explained by you in a screen capture, that way we understand your design intent, from there a video can be made to explain or even a Zoom call to demonstrate.

[BasVermeer]

The form is not in the documents I attached. This was just for illustration what kind of objects I have to work with and I couldn't get the iLogic to work with this. 

Could you talk me through how you would tackle this with the smaller modules not allowed to be at the edge? What do you mean by screen capture?

Can I put all the iLogic in one rule or is it better to split several function in their own rule? This is where I got the code from to edit the lenght of the profiles on part level: https://inventorfasttips.blogspot.com/2021/07/pushing-parameters-to-all-parts.html

[BasVermeer]

Thank you for your reply. I'll try again but with following your steps.

[A.Acheson]

Post any areas your having difficulty automating. Remember the code is only replicating what your doing manually so if you can capture those steps that’s the first hurdle. Implementing the code is your next. Write in the steps in your code editor and comment them to form headers then fill in the blanks either with custom code or captured from the editor.

If you have any issues with a section of code then post the code, the manual steps and an image of the task your doing. Using a mock up model will help us help you if your actually assembly is proprietary.