Name: ______Period: ______

Intro to Inventor: Puzzle Piece 01

  1. Start Inventor
  2. Start new part file – 3 ways …
  3. From start-up screen
  4. From App menu (upper LH corner): “New” ⇒ “Part”
  5. From “New” menu (below App menu): Choose “Standard.ipt” (note the suffix!)
  6. Start 2D sketch
  7. LH end of “3D Model” ribbon
  8. Click on plane to start; usually choose XY plane which is front view
  9. Click on “Two-Point Rectangle” (but also look at drop down menu for variety available”)
  10. Note the little symbols – those are “constraints: Sides MUST be perpendicular and one corner (and hence all others) are 90°. Bottom line is “grounded”
  11. Move cursor (and hence the yellow dot) around. Note that it turns green when it hits a corner or a midpoint. That can be handy when aligning parts of drawing,
  12. Dimensioning
  13. Click on :”Dimensions”
  14. Then, click on LH side and click-n-drag away from it: the dimension lines emerge and a box appears that lets you edit a dimension. SET SIDE TO 0.75”.
  15. Note that the name of the dimension is “d0”. Now click-and-drag top to get dimension lines & dialog; but now type “d0” instead of 0.75.
  16. Note that all sides are now blue instead of green. That means they are all fully constrained.
  17. Click on “Finish Sketch” on RHS of ribbon.
  18. Create 3D cube:
  19. Click on “Extrude”. The 2D square will automatically be stretched out to make a 3D box.
  20. Edit the depth dimension to equal d0
  21. Play with View Cube and with the Orbits tools to FULLY explore how to re-position the cube. Use all arrows and labels! Then return to the Home position.
  22. Changing the view:
  23. Click on “View” tab
  24. Click on “Visual Syle”
  25. Click on “Shaded with Edges” – improves ability to see edges of objects
  26. Browser
  27. Hover over “Extrusion1” – highlights outline of that feature
  28. Click on “+” sign – shows basis for extrusion (Sketch 1)
  29. Hover over “Sketch1” – highlights sketch
  30. Click on “Sketch1” – shows dialog & dimensions on sketch that allow it to be changed
  31. Click on “Edit Sketch” icon
  32. Change top dimension to “1.0”, hit click “Finsih Sketch” – Extrusion is now changed
  33. Undo that change
  1. Saving
  2. Click on “Save” icon (upper RH corner)
  3. Default path is to “My Documens”
  4. Find “Inventor” folder
  5. Create new folder “Projects”
  6. Inside “Project” create “Project 01” & save part file as “Cube”. Note that a named tab appears at bottom
  7. Create a new part that is 1.5 x 0.75 x 1.5 (LWH)
  8. Go to “My Home” tab
  9. Click on “New Part” etc
  10. Use d0 = 1.5 for W and H, & “d0/2” for W
  11. Notice that extrusions can go either or both ways!
  12. Save as “Center Block”
  13. Assembly
  14. Create new assembly file
  15. Click on “Place”. Place “Center Block” (have to hit escape to place only one!)
  16. Grounding: Need one part in an assembly to be grounded
  17. Right click on “Origin” under “Center Block:1” in Browser
  18. Notice the whole menu of options – THIS WILL BE YOUR FRIEND!
  19. Click on “Grounded” – notice that the option is now checked
  20. Now you can add parts to this one, and it will stay put
  21. NOTICE that a push pin icon now appears on Center Block:1 folder in Browser
  22. Place a cube in the assembly
  23. Add constraints
  24. Right click anywhere in drawing
  25. Choose “Constraint”
  26. Choose “Flush” constraint: two faces will be chosen to be flush with each other
  27. Note that “Selection 1” is already highlighted; click on FRONT of CUBE
  28. “Selection 2” is now highlighted; click on FRONT of block
  29. Click “Apply” – now no matter how you move the cube, it will always have its front flush with the block. The movement is CONSTRAINED. It used to have THREE degrees of freedom, and now it has TWO.
  30. Add “Mate” constraint to mate the two closest faces of cube and block
  31. You may have to use navigation tools to access the faces
  32. Try to move the cube when done – now it inky has ONE dof!
  33. Add flush constraint to bottom faces to make single, fixed assembly
  34. Add another cube to front face of block, in lower RH corner
  35. Save assembly as “Puzzle Piece 01”
  36. Make YOUR pieces if time.
  37. Negative extrusions (subtractive modeling)
  38. Create 1.5 x 1.5 x 2.25 block
  39. Click on any face > Click on Create Sketch icon > Sketch 0.75 square on one corner of block > Finish sketch
  40. Click on Extrude > Choose ”Through All” from drop-down menu > Click on check mark to accept

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