1. Chapter 6 Creating and Documenting Assemblies

2. Chapter 6 - Objectives
After completing this chapter, you will be able to
Understand the assembly options
Create bottom-up assemblies
Create top-down assemblies
Create subassemblies
Constrain components together using assembly constraints
Edit assembly constraints
Create adaptive parts
Pattern components in an assembly

3. Chapter 6 – Objectives continued
After completing this chapter, you will be able to
Check parts in an assembly for interference
Drive constraints
Create design view representations
Create flexible assemblies
Create positional representations
Create a presentation file
Create individual and automatic balloons
Create a parts list of an assembly

4. Creating Assemblies New Assembly Files .IAM Extension Creation Methods
New icon – What To Do
New – File Menu
New icon – Down Arrow

5. Creating Assemblies Assembly Options
Tools > Application Options > Assembly tab

6. Creating Assemblies Assembly Browser Part Occurrence
Assembly Constraints
Subassembly Occurrence
In R6, you can no longer reorder parts in the browser. The addition of the weldment environment with assembly features required this change.

7. Creating Assemblies Bottom-Up Approach
Components are created in their individual files
Place Component tool
‘P’ hot key

8. Creating Assemblies Top-Down Approach
Create new components while in an assembly
Create Component tool
Create In-Place Component Dialog
Component Name
Template to be used
File Location
Default BOM Structure
Virtual Component
Constraint to selected face
The Middle-Out approach is important. The assembly is a combination of existing parts and new parts created in place. This is the most common workflow.

9. Creating Assemblies Occurrence Copy of existing components
Copy/Paste
Place Component
Drag & Drop
Any change to original updates all occurrences
Save Copy As… to create a copy that is not linked to original

10. Creating Assemblies Occurrence Active Component – Available for edit
Double-click in the graphics area
Double-click file name/icon in the Browser
Right-click in the Browser > Edit

11. Creating Assemblies Occurrence Grounded Component
The Component will not move
All Degrees Of Freedom are removed
When constraining, components move to a Grounded component
Any # of components can be grounded

12. Creating Assemblies Subassembly Creation Create Component
Change file type to Assembly
Promote/Demote
Right-click after selecting a component in the Browser
Promote – moves a component(s) to it’s parent assembly
Demote – moves a component(s) to a subassembly
Restructuring Components
Drag in Browser
Technical Note
Restructuring functionality no longer exists in Autodesk Inventor 6

13. Assembly Constraints Constraints
Create relationships between components
Bolt and a Hole
Reduce the number of Degrees Of Freedom
6 total (3-translational & 3-rotational)
View > Degrees of Freedom
Component Properties > Occurrence tab

14. Assembly Constraints Constraints Placing Constraints Constraint tool
Right-click > Constraint
‘C’ hot key
Place Constraint Dialog

15. Assembly Constraints Constraints Constraint Types – Assembly tab Mate
Plane, Line, or Point
Assembles two components so that the surface normal on the selected planes are opposite each other
Assembles the edges of lines
Assembles two points together
Flush Solution
Aligns two components so the selected planes face the same direction (surface normal point in the same direction)

16. Assembly Constraints Constraints Constraint Types – Assembly tab Angle
Specify the degrees between the selected planes

17. Assembly Constraints Constraints Constraint Types – Assembly tab
Tangent
Defines a tangent relationship between planes, cylinders, spheres, cones, and ruled splines
At least one selected face must be a curve
Inside/Outside Solutions

18. Assembly Constraints Constraints Constraint Types – Assembly tab
Insert
Two circular edges
Centerlines are aligned & mate constraint is applied to the planes defined by the circular edges.
5 DOF are removed with an insert constraint

19. Assembly Constraints Constraints Constraint Types – Motion tab
Animation the motion of gears pulleys, rack and pinions, etc.
You can drive one component and cause others to move accordingly
Motion constraints are secondary constraints
They do not maintain positional relationships between components
Recommended: fully constrain components before applying motion constraints, then suppress the constraints restricting motion

20. Assembly Constraints Constraints Constraint Types – Motion tab
Rotation
Define a component that will rotate in relation to another component
Specify a ratio for the rotation between the two components
Forward & Backward solution types

21. Assembly Constraints Constraints Constraint Types – Motion tab
Rotation-Translation
Define rotation relative to translation of a second component

22. Assembly Constraints Constraints Constraint Types – Transitional tab
Specifies a transitional relationship between a cylindrical part face and a contiguous set of faces on another part

23. Assembly Constraints Constraints Snap ‘n Go
ALT – drag a part to another part
No Place Constraint dialog box
Select correct area on the part to apply the constraint
M or 1
Changes to a mate constraint. Spacebar flips to a flush solution.
A or 2
Changes to an angle constraint. Spacebar flips angle direction.
T or 3
Changes to a tangent constraint. Spacebar flips between inside/outside solutions.
I or 4
Changes to an insert constraint. Spacebar flips insert direction.
R or 5
Changes to a rotation motion constraint. Spacebar flips the rotation direction.
S or 6
Changes to a rotation-translation constraint. Spacebar flips the translation direction
X or 8
Changes to a transitional constraint.

24. Assembly Constraints Moving & Rotating Components Move Component Tool
Drag individual components in any linear direction in the viewing plane
Temporarily suppresses assembly constraints on the component until the assembly is updated (constraints are then re-applied)
Rotate Component Tool
After selected, the 3D rotate symbol appears on the selected component
Similar to the Move Component tool, Rotate Component temporarily suppresses any assembly constraints applied to the component

25. Assembly Constraints Editing Two Methods via the Browser
Double-click the constraint name
Right-click the constraint name and select Edit, Suppress, or Delete
Edit - opens the Edit Constraint dialog box
Suppress – the assy constraint is not applied
Delete – deletes the assy constraint

26. Assembly Constraints Conflicts Alert Box Conflicting Recover
If you try to place or edit an assembly constraint and it cannot be applied, an alert box is displayed explaining the problem.
Conflicting
When assembly constraint conflicts with another one, a small yellow icon with an exclamation point is displayed in the Browser
Recover
Displays the Design Doctor to walk you through the steps to fix the problem

27. Assembly Constraints Conflicts Redundant
Occurs when too many constraints are added.
Constraints are preceded with an information symbol

28. Exercise 6-1
Assembling Parts

29. Designing Parts In-Place
In-Place Creation
Initial Sketch Creation
Face of an existing assembly component
Work Plane
Automatically constrain the sketch plane to the selected face or work plane
Creates a Flush constraint between the sketch and the selected face or plane

30. Designing Parts In-Place
In-Place Creation
After the base feature is created
Create additional features based on geometry from another part in the assembly an adaptive work plane is created.
The adaptive work plane moves as necessary to reflect changes in the component that it is based upon
The sketch moves with the plane
Features based on the sketch adapt to match its new position

31. Exercise 6-2
Designing Parts in the Assembly Context

32. Assembly Browser Tools In-Place Activation
Double-click a subassembly or component occurrence in the Browser to activate it
Right-click > Edit
All components that are not active are shaded in the Browser
Organizational Tip – The assembly browser shows the structure of the assembly. Components are shown in the chronological order in which they were placed. Prior to R6, you had the ability to reposition components within the browser sequence – this ability was removed with the addition of assembly features.
Components can be renamed in the browser. Doing so only changes the browser name of the component. This can be useful if you are required to use obscure file names and want to see more intelligible names in the browser.

33. Assembly Browser Tools Visibility Control
Expand the Browser until the desired component occurrence is visible
Right-click > Visibility
Components selected in the browser highlight in the graphics window. You can select a component in the browser and using the context menu FIND IN GRAPHICS is an option. The converse is also true – selecting a component in the graphics display will allow you to FIND IN BROWSER and doing so will adjust your browser to see the selected part. This can be useful when working with large assemblies.

34. Adaptivity Definition
Allows the size of a part to be determined by setting up a relationship between the part and another part in the assembly
Under-constrained sketches and features can adapt
The adaptivity relationship is acquired by applying constraints between an adaptive sketch or feature and another part
The sketch cannot be fully constrained
A part can only be adaptive in one assembly at a time
Only one occurrence of a part can be adaptive – other occurrences reflect the size of the adaptive part
Example
Diameter of a pin from the size of a hole or vice-versa
Adaptive relationships will increase the time to solve constraints. To improve performance, turn off adaptivity once a component is sized appropriately.

35. Adaptivity
Options
Tools > Application Options > Assembly tab

36. Adaptivity
Example
The rectangular sketch is not dimensioned along its length

37. Adaptivity
Example
The extruded feature is defined as adaptive

38. Adaptivity
Example
Parts are placed, constraints applied between the two plates (flush between the faces on the ends of the plates)

39. Component Visibility Components Visibility On or Off Enabled
Right-click a component and select Visibility from the menu
Enabled
Component is displayed as wire frame and cannot be selected in the graphics window
Right-click a component and select Enabled from the menu

40. Exercise 6-3
Creating Adaptive Parts

41. PATTERN COMPONENTS Pattern Components Rectangular Circular
Based on Feature Pattern
Suppress Elements
Pattern Assemblies
Replace Components

42. Exercise 6-4
Patterning Components

43. Analysis Tools Center of Gravity View > Center of Gravity
Displays Gray when the properties are out of date
Hover the cursor over the origin of the symbol to display the COG coordinates

44. Analysis Tools Interference Checking Tools > Analyze Interference
Define Set #1 – select components that define set 1
Define Set #2 – select components that define set 2

45. Exercise 6-5
Analyzing an Assembly

46. Driving Constraints Drive Constraint tool Simulate motion
Right-click on a constraint in the Browser > Drive Constraint

47. Driving Constraints Drive Constraint tool Dialog Box Start, End, Pause
Play Controls
Record
More Button
Drive Adaptivity
Collision Detection
Increment
Repetitions
AVI Rate

48. Exercise 6-6
Driving Constraints

49. Design View Representations
Save configurations that show the assembly in different states, stores the following
Component visibility (visible or not visible)
Component selection status (enabled or not enabled)
Color settings and style characteristics applied in the assembly
Zoom magnification
Viewing angle

50. Design View Representations
Create New Design View Representation
Make Active
Rename
Lock
Public vs. Private Design Views

51. Flexible Assemblies
Set Flexible property to a subassembly to allow movement independent from other occurrences of the subassembly

52. Positional Representations
Create a motion study of an assembly model
Based on positional representation

53. Positional Representations
Override Settings for an assembly constraint
Suppression
Value

54. Positional Representations
Create Base Views based on Positional Representation

55. Exercise 6-7
Positional Representations

56. Creating Overlay Views
Overlay views document positional representations of an assembly in a single view.

57. Presentation Files File Type .IPN Extension
Exploded Views
Hide specific components
Create animations of assembly and disassembly of components
Work Plane
Associated with the assembly file
Changes made to the assembly are reflected in the presentation

58. Presentation Files Panel Bar Presentation Panel Create View
Creates views of the assembly
Tweak Components
Moves and/or rotates parts in the view
Precise View Rotation
Rotates the view by a specified angle direction using a dialog box
Animation
Creates an animation of the assembly – AVI file can be output

59. Presentation Files Creating Presentation Views
Create a presentation view
Create View tool
Adds a presentation view to the file and the Browser

60. Presentation Files Creating Presentation Views Tweaking Components
Moves or Rotates components a specified distance or angle
Auto Explode
Extends all tweaks the same distance

61. Presentation Files Creating Presentation Views Tweaking Components
Tweak Component Dialog Box
Manual Tweaks

62. Presentation Files Creating Presentation Views Animation Animate Tool
Controls for playback
Record to AVI file

63. Presentation Files Creating Presentation Views Animation
Animate Tool > More button
Changing the Animation Sequence
Move Up / Down
Group / Ungroup

64. Exercise 6-8
Creating Presentation Views

65. Creating Drawing Views (Assemblies & Presentations)
Base View
Base View tool

66. Creating Drawing Views (Assemblies & Presentations)
Balloons
Balloon tools
Balloon - Single Components
Auto balloon – Selected Components

67. Creating Drawing Views (Assemblies & Presentations)
Balloons
Editing
Right-click a balloon > Edit Balloon
Edit Balloon dialog box
Balloon Type
Balloon Value

68. Creating Drawing Views (Assemblies & Presentations)
Edit Balloons
Aligning Balloons Vertically or Horizontally
Select multiple balloons > right-click
Offset Value is set on the Balloon tab (Format > Standards)
Text Style is set on the Balloon tab (Format > Standards)

69. Creating Drawing Views (Assemblies & Presentations)
Parts Lists
Parts List tool
Select a view
Enter options in the Parts List dialog
Click OK

70. Creating Drawing Views (Assemblies & Presentations)
Parts Lists
Editing
Right-click and select Edit Parts List

71. Exercise 6-9
Creating Assembly Drawings

72. Summary To Do This Place a component in an assembly
Click the Place Component tool on the Assembly Panel Bar or on the Assembly toolbar.
Create a component in an assembly
Click the Create Component tool on the Assembly Panel Bar or on the Assembly toolbar.
Place an assembly constraint
Click the Constraint tool on the Assembly Panel Bar or on the Assembly toolbar.
Edit an assembly constraint
Double-click the constraint in the Browser or right-click and select Edit from the menu.
Edit a component in place
Double-click the component in the graphics window or Browser.
Control component visibility
Right-click the component in the graphics window or Browser and select Visibility from the menu.
Check component interference
Click Tools > Analyze Interference.

73. Summary To Do This Move an assembly through a range of motion
Drag an under constrained component.
Create a presentation file
Create a new file with the .ipn extension and click the Create View button.
Create a balloon
Click the Balloon tool on the Drawing Annotation Panel Bar.
Create a parts list
Click the Parts List tool on the Drawing Annotation Panel Bar.

74. Applying Your Skills
Skill Exercise 6-1
Skill Exercise 6-2