Autodesk Inventor for Woodworkers: Sketching, Keep it simple!

How many lines to you need to create a solid? The answer is One!

If you’ve come from drawing in AutoCAD, it is perfectly natural to have a tendency to put too much geometry into your sketches. In a smaller part, this might not matter. However, if you are using the master part modelling technique you may find that your master part quickly becomes very complicated.

Inventor examines your geometry for loops that it can use to make solids. The more loops Inventor finds the longer it will take to think about what’s going on. Crossing loops will make Inventor pause for longer.

But there is a simpler way. You don’t have to give Inventor a loop to turn into a solid – a Surface will suffice.

How to create a solid from a surface with Autodesk Inventor.

As always, I start by creating some parameters.

Autodesk Inventor Parameters Dialogue

Autodesk Inventor Single sketch line

I have only used one line in my Base sketch!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Autodesk Inventor 'From To' surface extrude

I have used the ‘Surface’ option of the extrude command. In this case I have used the ‘From – to’ option to terminate the surface. This just gives us a little more control.

 

 

 

 

Inventor Thicken surface by 'SubThick'

I have then used the ‘Thicken’ command to create a solid.

 

 

 

 

 

Ta da! The finished panel

Ta Da! Not impressed?

 

 

 

 

 

OK, that is a bit dull. I have continued to used the Thicken command with the ‘New Solid’ option to add Face and Balance Veneers and Edging. This one master part can now be used to create a complete parametric assembly.

A veneered panel modelled in Autodesk Inventor

Check out this little bit of Video showing the Parametric panel in action!

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6 Responses to “Autodesk Inventor for Woodworkers: Sketching, Keep it simple!

  • neil plan
    12 years ago

    “The only disadvantage is that the hole in the derived parts will be seen as a circular cut – not a ‘Hole Feature’, so you won’t be able to call the hole out with the ‘Hole Note’ tool in your drawing.”

    I believe that this statement is not correct; you could add hole notes to hole features in a derived body.

    Thanks for this great website..

  • neil plan
    12 years ago

    “The only disadvantage is that the hole in the derived parts will be seen as a circular cut – not a ‘Hole Feature’, so you won’t be able to call the hole out with the ‘Hole Note’ tool in your drawing.”

    I believe that the above statement is not correct; ‘Hole Note’ command works on derived hole features.

    Thanks for your great website.

  • Paul,
    In your Panel MS.ipt part, how would you place a hole through the entire part, the veneer faces and the core?

    • Hi Jim,

      There are many ways to skin this cat – depending on your needs.

      If your hole is a decorative feature, you could include it in the Master model. The advantage of this is that you can easily blast one hole feature through all three parts at once, and the holes will always remain aligned. The only disadvantage is that the hole in the derived parts will be seen as a circular cut – not a ‘Hole Feature’, so you won’t be able to call the hole out with the ‘Hole Note’ tool in your drawing.

      You could create a sketch point in your master part to centre your hole on, then derive this sketch into each part, then create the hole in each part (using derived parameters to control the size). This is a bit more long winded, but ultimately you get more information built into each part (i.e threading e.t.c). With the more complicated jobs, I prefer building Holes, Fillets & Chamfers e.t.c at the part level to keep my Master model as simple as possible.

      If you have a hole that you DONT want to be available at the part level (i.e. if the hole is going to be added after a part is sent to CNC) then you could create the hole at the Assembly level. You can link the assembly file’s parameter’s back to the Master part to control the position of the hole. Unfortunately projecting a derived sketch point into an Assembly sketch won’t update automatically.

      Finally, if your hole is for a fastener that is available from the content centre, I would use the ‘Bolted Connection Generator’ every time. All the holes and the fastener added in one fell swoop. You can control the position of the hole using a derived sketch or Linked parameters.

      I hope that this answers your question! Thanks for stopping by :)

      Cheers,

      Paul

  • All the while i create the edging after creating the solid wooden part.
    Amazed with this technique..Thanks

    • That’s great Mei.

      I’m glad that you found this technique useful! And thanks for taking the time to leave a comment :)