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Inventor Parts Tutorial
Inventor Parts Tutorial
Open Autodesk Inventor: Start-> All Programs -> Autodesk -> Autodesk Inventor 2010 (or
latest version)
Welcome Screen
Tutorials
File types
Projects
o Projects make file management in your computer or among a group of collaborators
easy, as assemblies of many parts work better when all parts are linked and
common.
o Starting a new project:
1. Select Projects from the Welcome Screen Ribbon, or under Manage when
clicking on the yellow I in the top left of the screen
2. Click on New and follow the given directions.
3. Choose New Vault Project if this will be a shared project, or New Single
User Project if these files will only reside on your computer.
4. Enter the name and location of the project and click Finish
5. IMPORTANT: double click on the file you want to be working on and a
check will appear beside that project. You can only switch projects when all
files are closed.
Applications Options
o Colors change the colors to ease your eyes ( I suggest millennium)
o Sketch-Display
I suggest you only show your axes, and minor gridlines
o NOTE: you may have to hid your Windows taskbar to find the apply button.
Customize
o I highly recommend that for extended use you set your keyboard shortcuts to
make modeling much faster, you can also see the set shortcut for a given
function/tool/button when hovering over that button with your mouse.
o Use this to change your toolbars if needed.
Part Tutorials
http://www.maelabs.ucsd.edu/mae3/Assignments/CAD/Inventor_Parts_Dimensions.pdf
Base Plate
1. Sketch the part using the tools in the Sketching Toolbar similar to AutoCAD
1.1. Draw the basic shape. For clarity, at least one point should coincide with the origin.
1.2. Lines are drawn by clicking on the start and endpoint as in AutoCAD
Viewing Cube
Viewing Ribbon
Viewing
Now that we have our 3D part, lets make sure that we can properly view our part to
manipulate and edit it.
In the View ribbon panel, and in the opaque viewing toolbar on the right there are several
different viewing options including:
Pan: Move left and right with the screen. Also can be done by pressing on your scroll
button and dragging.
Zoom All: Show every feature/part in one window.
Orbit: Rotates around a part. Click and drag along the viewing circle or on any of the
cross hairs to rotate only about that plane.
View Face: looks directly at a face. It is very important to be looking at a face when
you are sketching to make sure that vertical and horizontal likes are actually so.
You can also use the viewing cube (see picture above) by:
Modeling Toolbar
The modeling toolbar shows the steps and components that you have done to make this part,
and can be used to edit previous steps when modifying your part.
Double click on a sketch in the model tree to edit it, or right click on the modeling feature it
belongs to and select Edit Sketch.
Right click on a modeling feature and choose Edit Feature to edit previous functions.
When you are finished with your part you should check the modeling toolbar to make sure
that there are no unconsumed sketches, sketches that have not been used to extrude, revolve,
or otherwise build your part.
If the modeling bar disappears or is not visible go to: View
the browser box is checked.
Consumed Sketch
Unconsumed Sketch
Project Geometry
Projected Line
Construction
5.5. Draw a diagonal construction line between the corners of the part so that you can find,
and snap to the center of the rectangle.
5.5.1.Draw a line, then select that line and click on the construction line button, or click
the button before drawing the line. Make sure to untoggle the construction button to
draw a real line. Select a construction line and click the
5.5.2.Construction lines are used only for reference and will not effect an extrusion,
revolution etc.
5.6. Draw a circle in the center
5.6.1.Hover your mouse over the middle of the construction line until the cursor turns
green, indicating that midpoint has been found.
5.6.2.Click once to set that midpoint as the center of your circle, and then click again to
set the diameter.
5.6.3.Give the circle its proper dimension (1.75 diameter) by selecting the dimension
tool, clicking on the circumference, clicking again to place the dimension and
double clicking on the dimension to edit it.
5.7. Click Exit Sketch
5.8. Extrude out the circle.
5.8.1. Click the extrude button
5.8.2. Click inside the circle to cut out.
5.8.3. Select Cut
5.8.4. Under extents select All
5.8.5. Click OK
Note: This circle could have been placed by
inserting a dimension between the circle
and the top and side walls, however
drawing our construction lines allows our
part to adapt to changes in the design
Bearing Part
**Make sure that you pay attention to the dimensions: R = radius, = diameter
1. Make a new Part File by using the yellow I button, or the small open dropdown to its right.
2. Create Basic Sketch
2.1. Draw a large circle and dimension it to a diameter of 2.5
2.2. Draw a small circle on each side of the large circle and dimension their diameter to 1.5
2.2.1. Draw a construction line as with the base plate step 5.5, from the center of each of
the small circles to the center of the large circle.
2.2.2. Constrain the two constructions to be horizontal and equal, and then dimension
one of the lines to be 1.75 long.
2.3. Draw a large diamond around all 3 circles
2.3.1. Constrain each of these lines to be tangent to both the circles that they touch.
2.4. Trim off excess lines
2.4.1. Click on the Trim button.
2.4.2. Hover over the line segment to trim (the segment will turn red and dashed)
2.4.3. Clicking on the parts of the circle you wish to remove
2.4.3.1.
Hovering over the lines will show what will be cut
2.4.3.2. Partially trimmed to fully trimmed drawing below
Plane
Feature
YZ Plane
Final Note:
There are infinite ways to draw each part. I have tried to show you the fastest and most
professional method. When drawing a new part, try to find the quickest, easiest method possible
that requires the least amount of dimensions/parameters, and make sure that every line in every
sketch is fully constrained.