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Creating multiple parts from a cut part within an Assembly

llorden4
Collaborator

Creating multiple parts from a cut part within an Assembly

llorden4
Collaborator
Collaborator

I'm looking into processes to automate one of our repetitive tasks of taking a ring and cutting out notches at varying widths, radius, and angle position.  Creating the cuts themselves is no headache but the resulting multiple pieces would ideally become new parts.  In the example image below, I can easily create a sketch(es) in an assembly file to create openings from the original part.  What I'd like to discover if there is a path to have these remnants become new parts that can become new/separate entities?Capture.JPG

I've seen other posts suggesting the use of Derived sketches, but derived sketches consistently fail for me when used in a template format that I use where files must be renamed and a link cannot be re-established to the derived files.  Short of deriving each section/piece individually, do you have any other ideas for a development path to achieve the individual entities?

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bradeneuropeArthur
Mentor
Mentor

why not using skeletal design and adaptivity?

Regards,

Arthur Knoors

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llorden4
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@bradeneuropeArthur wrote:

why not using skeletal design and adaptivity?


I'll have to look into that as it's new for me; hopefully it's not a fancy word for derived components.  Thanks.

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chandra.shekar.g
Autodesk Support
Autodesk Support

@llorden4,

 

Hoping that below blog link may be helpful for skeletal modelling.

 

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/inventor/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2019/ENU/Inve...

 

Thanks and regards,


CHANDRA SHEKAR G
Developer Advocate
Autodesk Developer Network



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llorden4
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Collaborator

@chandra.shekar.g wrote:

@llorden4,

 

Hoping that below blog link may be helpful for skeletal modelling.

 

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/inventor/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2019/ENU/Inve...

 

Thanks and regards,


Yep, already visited there.  It's a start, thanks.

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llorden4
Collaborator
Collaborator

I've spent some time looking into the Skeletal design, it is the "top down" design I'm looking for and appears to function primarily using one of two methods, that being "Derived" sketches/components or by Linking parameters from a Part file to an Assembly file - nothing new here but a new name association I hadn't heard of before.  Both methods have the same limiting characteristic, that being once a link is created it cannot be repaired if the link is broken.  How would this happen, you might wonder?

 

I would use this same assembly multiple times on a design and each time it was used it would have some variation required than the previous time used.  So the attempt here is to create a pre-configured assembly with all associations already made (I call this the "template files", though not technically a template file as considered by Inventor), copy it to a project folder elsewhere on the network and rename the part/assembly files with a routine via an algorithm associated with the location and properties of its usage.  Once the assembly filename is changed to the new filename, all the links between that assembly and part files are now broken.  Opening the part files offers no method that I've found to repair the link for the parameters or derived features of a sketch; it's just simply lost, no saving throw, game over.

 

The only option I've had any success with is to keep making individual parts and recreating each assembly time and time again; at least assembly drawings will allow me to repair links if filenames are changed and the file can no longer be found, if renamed.  I'm hoping to find a much simpler process than this.

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Koekepeerke
Advocate
Advocate
Hi @llorden4, did you manage to find a way to 'export' new part files from a cut/extrude feature in an assembly? I was thinking about trying something very similar for a automation i'm working on.
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llorden4
Collaborator
Collaborator

@Koekepeerke 

No, this did not work out as I had hoped, but you could apply some code to figure out the pieces and then make those pieces.  I frequently use an Assembly file to figure out the size of part files I need and push parameter values to a part template that make up the parts.  This is likely the workflow you'll end up with in the end.

 

This particular part I'm showing here we have to purchase as a full circle, and our production crews cut needed openings, so it finally worked out in the end to simply leave the entire ring as a single part number with notches cut into it the part.  The BOM wasn't very efficient but it got the job done.

 

Good luck!

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Koekepeerke
Advocate
Advocate
@llorden4 ahh i see, thanks for the swift reply and clear explanation! Ill have to do some more investigation to see what a favorable workflow could be then.
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