How to create iParts with unique cut lengths | Autodesk Inventor

J welcome to deify cutting sweets this is a video that I've wanted to do for ages nuttin not meaning and you will wanted to do for ages it's advanced eye parts not entirely everything about iPods but just one particular thing in the advanced area of iPods it's really useful it's a really useful tip but I think a lot of people can get some use out of regardless of what industry you work in if you're not sure what eye parts are and you haven't used them yet check out this video that I'm gonna link up here which is my tutorial on how to create basic iPods you kind of need to know that before we do this or this won't really make much sense okay what we're doing here right well lists here that you're looking at on screen is actually a plastic pot ruler that science may science and it's a real life component this is a real life part which I modeled about 10 years ago actually for a real customer and it's a it's called a courier board it's designed to house circuit boards so what happens is their customer they'll get circuit boards manufactured right deep like bespoke custom circuit boards and the circuit boards slide into these Gups here and these grooves and then the circuit board slides into the courier board and then a plastic covers pot on top so it's it turns into like a housing for a circuit board and they buy these courier boards in set lengths right so they might come in like one meter strips and then it'll cut them down to whatever size the need but those sizes can be anything right this is almost an infinite amount of different variations of size that this board could need to be which poses a problem with iPods and this sort of applies to any industry whether it's woodworking or whether it's metalwork anything really is that you want to be able to control the size and not have a predefined set lengths to choose from and that's why I parts aren't really suitable for this in their normal sense because an iPod table is just a predefined table of values you'd say a variation one the length is going to be a hundred variation 2 the length is going to be 300 variation 3 bla bla bla bla bla so on and so forth yakety and indeed schmucky so we want to be able to control what the cut lengths gonna be based on whatever it is we're doing at the time when we place it and that's what the tip and/or trick is going to be here as well as a few extra things thrown into the mix just to make it a bit more workable and everything that we're doing here can be can actually be done manually but what Broz right yeah you want to be a pro you want to be a baller you want to do it properly you want to use a bit of automation you want to be that guy that's a smart ass and we're gonna do it that way so let's get crackin right so this part that we've got on screen here it is literally it is just a normal extrusion right you can you could model up the exact same thing just by drawing a circle and extruding it right that's all this is it's a sketch it's a fancy sketch granted but it's a fancy sketch extruded by like 400 mil something like that to create a length of material that's all this is right now it's a normal part there's no hocus pocus or voodoo gone into this at all it's just a normal part and that's where I'm starting from here so the length of the extrusion if we edit that feature the length is just 400 mil right it's just a number typed in to get the length and that's where we're gonna start so we're gonna go up the parameters and what we need to do just to make this this is like prep work that we're doing here so to get the prep work started we're going to go at the bottom of the parameters box and we're going to add a custom numeric parameter right so this is going to be a parameter which controls the length of the board so we're going to call this length that's that's just let's just not get cocky let's just keep it at length right oh and only know that vault and then the length value this can be anything right it can be anything this is what we're working on here is the eye part master is the eye part template call it queen bee right it's the queen bee of the eye part and it's gonna spit out different variations of itself at different lengths but this is queen bee so whatever the length is in here kind of doesn't matter but if you want to be OCD folder you can maybe put in like a meter and then that might be what you buy them in right there might be bought in 1 meter length so you can set the default value to be a meter if you want to and then what you do is you got the extrusion and then edit the feature and then for the length instead of just having a number in there you can just type in length and then I'll change it to be a meter and just to make sure that works you can go back into parameters little FX button on the toolbar the top and then if you change the value of length you should see it update in the background so that length parameter is now the length of the part read oh we can go back into there the next thing we need to do is tick this little box here for export right that's the export parameter button you want to do that and that exposes the parameter later on for it to be used in other areas which we are gonna do we're gonna we're gonna use that so we need to that needs to be a thing okay okay the next thing we're going to do is convert this to an ipod we're gonna do it now so we're gonna go tools at the top and then we're gonna go and we're gonna manage and we're gonna select create iPod right creating the iPod is gonna be a little bit different from what you would normally do on a basic iPod on a basic iPart you'd have multiple different members right multiple different variations so if there was five possible lengths that this board could be you'd have five members or five rows in here with the length it a thousand twelve hundred thirteen hundred whatever the lengths are gonna be but because we're gonna have a custom cut length we're just gonna have one member in the iPod table and we're going to manage that accordingly so the first column is the member name this is what the file name of each eye part is going to be that Queen Bee spits out so when we place this board into an assembly invent is gonna say what size you want to be and then it's going to create a physical file out of that part out that size at the time you create it and it needs to have a file name and needs to be unique because you can't have multiple files of the same file name that just leads to bad times and much SADS all around you just don't want that to happen so for the member name we're going to just say right assume in the part number right and I've made of a part number for this the part number for this part is TFI - one two three four five that's the part number and the part number is quite important here because you don't want to have a different part number for every board because it doesn't matter what length it comes in at and what length that's cut out it's the same part number it's the same PC buying in that part and then you just cut in it cutting it down doesn't change the part number obviously so we're just leaving we're leaving the part number that so for the file name this is up to you but I'm gonna I'm gonna create the file name based on the part number again just makes managing it a little bit easier so for the member name we're gonna have tier 5 - 1 2 3 4 5 and then we're gonna have - 0 the reason for that is each time we use this iPod it's gonna create a new it's gonna create a new derivative that's going to create a new file for each cut length in the same folder so you can't spit out the same file name over and over again it's gonna just windows just adds a 1 on the end of it all 1 2 3 4 5 so if we put dash 0 our multiple files are gonna be - so you're a 1-0 2-0 3 so we'll get like an incremental number for all the different you'll see it happening when I do it you'll see that 1 but we're just gonna leave that as - 0 for the file name the next column is the part number we're just going to leave that at TF I - 1 2 3 4 5 like I said it is going to be the same part number for every single one that we create so that's going to be a constant and then the magic comes in this column for the length we're gonna right click on the column header and then we're going to make it a custom parameter column and then that changes the cell color to blue the reason it does that is it it's just highlight and it's just like a color chart to say right this is a custom parameter column the user can specify this value whenever they place the iPod into an assembly in the feature so that's that done and that's all you really need to do in the iPod table so you click OK and then that converts the part into an iPod you've got the table in the the table link the icon thing and the browser on the left-hand side if you expand out you'll see you've got one variation TFI - 1 2 3 4 5 - 0 which is a file name that we said we should have we're just gonna leave it at that okay we're gonna click Save and then the final thing we're gonna do before we start where's couple more things that we're going to do we're going to go into the properties of the iPod so we're gonna right click on the browser header we're gonna go i properties and got a project right this again is entirely optional but like I said if you want to be a pro if you want to be a smartass and you want to look like you're an absolute genius of this kind of stuff these are the type of things which just set you above everyone else for the description every single every single variation of this board that gets spun out it's going to create you could you could end up with hundreds of child versions of this queen-bee ipar right they should in theory all have the same description because it is the same thing it's just cut to a different length so the description should be universal so the description of this part is it is a plastic çb courier board right that's a you can type in where you buy it from if you want it's going to be constant throughout all the different variations that we create but what you might want to do is have some differentiator in each one of the the variants for the cut length if you open up a certain one of these boards you might want to say well what size that I cut this one too so what you can do I for example in the stock number you can say right I want the I want the length of the board to be shown in an eye property and I don't want to do it manually I want it to automatically type in itself what the length of the board is so if the stock number what you can do is put an expression in by typing in equals and then type in cut this bit here is entirely optional right cut to this is just free text so cut to length of and then what you do is open Chevron's and then you type in our custom parameter name which was length right and then close Chevron so equals cut to a length of length and then what it'll do is it'll look at the parameter that controls the length of the board and it'll put that number in between these Chevron's if it doesn't show you the Chevron's but it just puts it in there click apply and there you go cut the length of one thousand millimeters you can change the unit if you want to we'll do that in a second but that's it done so we're gonna click close on that and then we're going to go to tools then we're going to a document settings now the units add I think yeah this is where you would change the the value of thicknesses we change the value of the units right I might be wrong we're gonna have zero decimal place we're gonna go back to properties and project and then we can just update the parameter no it wasn't that value oh I think it's in the parameters area or actually I think I might be in here custom custom parameter custom property format and then take off trailing zeros and leaving zeros done and let's see if that's took that off boom there you go that's where you do it right so you do it the documents ends anyway right let's go to the the last thing that we're going to do before start using this property we're gonna about a document settings and then I'm going to go to build materials now the bomb structure right I still haven't done a video on a bomb structure I'm gonna do that soon it doesn't make any difference whatsoever really an inventor whether you do this or not but it's just for it's just to keep OCD happy change the bomb structure to purchase because in theory you do buy this in unless you're the company that physically makes these which you don't you'll just buy them in so you just change out to purchase but really mad and not until you start chucking it somewhere like vault professional or a you know a PLM system something like that it doesn't really matter what this is set to and then this is important the base quantity at the moment it's set to each which is fine each is fine for things like valves or you know elbows or widgets and gadgets you buy ten valves you buy ten each of the valves we're not doing that we want to buy a length so we change the base quantity to the length parameters so you can choose I think either one of these but we're gonna just stick with export parameter change at a length and now invent is being told that when it quantifies this part in an assembly calculate the quantity in length in millimeters and then click OK and then click Save and that's it done that is the eye part prepped ready to be used in an assembly so what we're going to do is start a new assembly and this is just it's sort of training course example it's empty in the real world it'll have other parts in here you'll have to constrain it up to other pieces and that's fine that's absolutely fine doesn't make any difference whatsoever but we're gonna just place this part plastic board so that's the queen be master template eye part we're gonna select him here and then place it into this assembly so then when you get this prompt event is going read you can replace your ipod you said you wanted a custom parameter so here you go there's the length type in what you want the length to be so we're gonna type in 441 millimeters that's what this length needs to be cut to two how's the PCB board that we're going to be using and you left click inside the graphics window and then I'll cut the board down to 441 mil length and you're probably thinking or has it'll has it all can we be sure about that it has actually done that well let's just have a check right let's double click the part and let's go to tools and measure distance and that's measure distance from here to here cornier you go for and 41 millings absolutely Bob on the money and then click return so there's the first variant of the iPod that's the first derivative created and what invent has done if we click place again it's created that derivative in the same folder as the queen bee iPod and that is the 441 milk length iPod now you could probably somehow maybe find a way of mapping the length into the final name but that's when I kind of gave up but it's very difficult to do that so I haven't figured that out yet but it's not really that important I don't think I don't think anyway right so we're gonna place as second variants we're gonna select the plastic board and then this variant is gonna be maybe 865 mil that's gonna be the second one we're gonna place him there click OK and then click dismiss there you go there's the 800 and forgot the number millimeters value board placed into the assembly there click place and we've got a second variant see what it's doing it's adding 0 then 0 1 that allows 0 to 0 3 0 4 so as you use and use and use this iPod you're never gonna get spammy horrible duplicate file names which mean nothing they actually do mean something you've got the part number and then just an incremental number next to it so you know that all of these parts are TFI - 1 2 3 4 5 you know what the part number is so for the final part that's just placed 3 we'll call this one 500ml bang on and then place that in there click OK click dismiss and there's the 500 mil board placed in right let's click Save and we're gonna save this assembly it's just enough boards and click OK and now when you create part of this so how do we do that how do we create a parts list and then quantify all of this as one length because we don't buy we don't want to buy or itemize three different boards with three different lengths we want to combine them all together well because of the prep work that we've done but it's gonna happen automatically so we're gonna create drawn and then we're gonna create a create base view of the assembly that we've just made right some boards I am and so what I've just saved drop reviewing there is and then we're going to click annotate at the top create parts list of this assembly so picking up back view and then for the bomb view I'm gonna go for parts only because that's all got and click okay it's gonna say when you enable the bomb view that's fine click Okay on that and then we drop the parts of the stair and there you go that's the quantity it knows to quantify all of these parts together it knows to combine them all based on the partner but they've all got the same part number and then it quantifies the more based on the length so those three boards equals a total of eighteen oh six millimeters which is obviously one point eight zero six meters in length now the next thing you can do if you want to is you can round this number down which is wrong you what you'd always want to round it up but invent is not that clever you can't round it up unfortunately is well not that I know of anyway that short time that I've been messing about with it but if you double-click you're part of this right so move your mouse over the part of this till it goes red double-click it right click on the column header and then go to format the column and then in this apply units formatting on the column format tab you can click that there and then you can change the precision and the units to be whatever you want so you can say right when instead of millimeters because we're in the range of meters now we can say show it the value in neither show the length and meters change the separator to a dot and then for precision you can say one decimal place for example and then click OK and as you can see it was 1806 and millimeters but it's rounded it down at one point eight meters which is obviously wrong because if we bought in 1.8 meters there wouldn't be enough would be six mil short which isn't the end of the world but if that was eighteen thirty millimeters it would still round it down so you do need to be a little bit careful with that it should round it up but it's just it just doesn't have the intelligence to do that or it does give you watching that's that's a thing that that should be really there should be an option there for which way it rounds it up or down but it's as long as you know it as long as you know it if you know that it's running it to the wrong value you can change the decimal place and you can just say well you know what now that's one point eight one so that's that's actually rounded it up because it's obviously above five but even if it's below five it should still round it up because we're talking about cuttings here that's a thing that's a thing I'm not gonna label that point anymore that you know yeah I'm sure you know what I mean and click apply and there you go there's your quantity and then you can balloon it up if you want to or a balloon that view balloon of all his parts select the placements you can have the balloon per part if you want to think so the item one is TFI one in three four five and we need one point eight one meters off it there you go there you go that's that's the thing so I think the next logical question from this would be will okay we need one point eight one but we buy it in two meter lengths can you round it up to be two meters well not an inventor any PDM system probably but an inventor it's just gonna show you the real lengths of it so I don't think you can't round it up like that to what you would buy it in inventors not really designed to do that kind of calculation so that is what it is all right so that's it that's pretty much it I don't think there's anything else I need to cover on this topic you've got your queen VI pot you've got your derivatives which are zero zero one zero two and it's gonna continue to spit those out all one thing I need to just mention because we did do it the description so because we give a constant description to Queen B the description of every one of these parts that we create will always be plastic PCB carrier boards because you want that to be the same if it wasn't the same if if it had the cut length in the description of each part what you'll end up with is like a varies bit of text in there because it does the description varies across each one of the parts so that's that's not happening which is good so if we've got a value-add derivative number one open that up so this is the one which has cut 800 and something length let's call it the I properties of that part and what you should see on the project tab is cut to a length of 865 mil so it's detected the length parameter as per the Queen bi part value you know the chevrons cut to eval Eng thav open Chevron's length close Chevron's so it's picked up the parameter and it's put it in so each part should have a link to what its actual size is so that's a good thing that's worked and that's all I need to show I think that's how you create a custom cut length iPod that you can use over and over again this is actually a real-world example like I said at the start of the video did this for a customer about ten years ago how to figure it out myself that was well before the days of YouTube even existed so um it's one of those ones I've been meaning to show on the channel for a long time but I just couldn't really figure out whether it was still relevant whether things that change but actually not really much has changed in the 10 years since I first did this so that's a good thing anyway hope that was useful if it was please press like on the video in all our sauce stove you know the deals to share around comment subscribe if you haven't already and

Channel: Tech3D

Views: 43,648

Keywords: Autodesk, 3D, Inventor, tips, training, guide, modelling, part, assembly, best practice, Solidworks, AutoCAD, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, iParts, iPart, Cut length, custom, parameter, woodwork, woodworking, steelwork

Id: KSifiDVU7a4

Length: 20min 22sec (1222 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 25 2016