Inventor Review Training
Contents
Inventor Level 1 - Topics ......................................................................................................................................... 3
File Path/Project Importance .............................................................................................................................. 3
File Types ......................................................................................................................................................... 3
Application Options Settings ............................................................................................................................... 3
Color Options.................................................................................................................................................. 3
User Interface .................................................................................................................................................. 3
Universal Coordinate System .............................................................................................................................. 3
X-Y Plane Default ............................................................................................................................................. 3
Units ................................................................................................................................................................ 3
Review 2D Sketch Tools ...................................................................................................................................... 3
Basic Constraints and Dimensioning ................................................................................................................... 4
Parameters ...................................................................................................................................................... 4
Dimensioning................................................................................................................................................... 4
2D Constraints ................................................................................................................................................. 4
Work points, planes and axis .............................................................................................................................. 4
Additive and Subtractive Extrusion ..................................................................................................................... 4
Basic 3D Features – hole, fillet, chamfer, thread ................................................................................................ 4
Creating a drawing (IDW) .................................................................................................................................... 4
Multi-View Drawings ....................................................................................................................................... 4
Deleting black border on colored parts .......................................................................................................... 5
i-properties.......................................................................................................................................................... 5
Ipart ................................................................................................................................................................. 5
Basic assemblies .................................................................................................................................................. 5
Constraints ...................................................................................................................................................... 5
Degrees of Freedom ........................................................................................................................................ 5
Sharing Files ........................................................................................................................................................ 5
Inventor Level 2 – Topics......................................................................................................................................... 6
Explore revolve, sweep, loft and coil functions .................................................................................................. 6
PLTW Inventor Review Training 10/11/2014 by P. Goldman
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Useful features including: project geometry, slice graphics, wire frame ........................................................... 6
Physical Properties .............................................................................................................................................. 6
Assembly constraints .......................................................................................................................................... 6
Custom Derived Assembly .............................................................................................................................. 6
Exploded views .................................................................................................................................................... 6
Camera Angles in Presentation file ................................................................................................................. 6
High Quality Video – Inventor Studio.............................................................................................................. 6
Creating a drawing of exploded assembly and parts list .................................................................................... 7
PLTW Inventor Review Training 10/11/2014 by P. Goldman
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Inventor Level 1 - Topics
File Path/Project Importance
Start a new project for each activity. Don’t move files in windows, use save as or save-copy-as in Inventor.
File Types
IPT – Inventor Part File (indiv. Component)
IAM – Inventor Assembly (combinations of parts, constrained together)
IDW – Inventor Drawing (multiview drawing of an individual part or assembly, also used for balloon
drawings)
IPN – Inventor Presentation (used to create exploded views of assembly files)
Application Options Settings
Most found using the options button after choosing Inventor button (“I” in top, left corner).
Color Options
“I” -> options button -> color tab. Use “presentation” view for white background.
User Interface
Under View tab, user interface is useful to add the browser bar and other tools that students may
accidentally disable
Universal Coordinate System
X-Y Plane Default
Tools ->Application Options -> Part -> Sketch on new part creation on x-y Plane (Apply)
Sketch -> Display Gridlines
Units
Tools ->Document Settings -> Units -> can pick inches or cm as default (Apply)
Review 2D Sketch Tools
Remember that whatever you draw in sketch mode should be dimensioned before it is extruded.
Some 2D sketch commands have other versions of the command nested beneath them. Use the arrow key on
the side of the command to find other options.
Activity 5.2 provides a good start of 2D drawing tools in Inventor.
2D drawing tools: line, circle, arc, rectangle, spline, equation curve, ellipse, point, fillet (chamfer), polygon, text
and Project Geometry (good for mapping parts of another sketch onto current sketch)
2D Pattern tools: Rectangular pattern, circular pattern, mirror
PLTW Inventor Review Training 10/11/2014 by P. Goldman
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2D Modification tools: move, copy, rotate, trim, extend, split, scale, stretch, offset
Basic Constraints and Dimensioning
Parameters
Manage tab -> Parameters -> create one named “block” and give size as 0.75. Use this parameter to
dimension all puzzle part drawings. Can scale sizes for different blocks in the future. Changing the
parameter and watching it scale is a good way to check that a part has been fully dimensioned.
Dimensioning
Dimensioning should be done in sketch mode. It can be a specific value, a parameter or a formula
using other dimensions. Dimensions are placed as distances or angles depending on what is selected.
2D Constraints
In constrain group under the Sketch tab. These constraints force geometric behaviors on parts of your
sketch.
Right click in the sketch and choose “show all constraints” and they will be revealed (F8). Right click
again and choose “hide all constraints” to hide them (F9). Once a constraint is shown, you can right
click on it to delete it.
2D constraints – coincident, collinear, concentric, fixed point, parallel, perpendicular, horizontal,
vertical, tangent, smooth, symmetric, and equal.
Work points, planes and axis
These are incredibly useful and take some practice to get right. Pay attention to the origin when you
start your drawing and it will help setting up other planes later.
Remember to uncheck visibility at the end so your parts look nice.
If you are using the decal command and the decal comes out backwards, right click on the workplane
and pick “flip normal” to change the direction of the image
Additive and Subtractive Extrusion
You can use the “extrude” command to add material or to cut and remove material. You can select the
direction or do the action bidirectionally.
Basic 3D Features – hole, fillet, chamfer, thread
Activity 5.5 provides a good overview of 3D tools in Inventor
Creating a drawing (IDW)
Multi-View Drawings
Change front using the Change view orientation button when picking the base view. Turn on the
hidden line view. Check the Front, Top , RHS hidden line count. Once have view you want, use the
green check finish view to pick the “front” view.
PLTW Inventor Review Training 10/11/2014 by P. Goldman
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Place a new sheet rather than starting a new drawing (idw) for each part of an assembly. That way, the
drawings will all be in 1 *.idw file and can print as a group with the pages numbered sequentially
Edit view on the isometric to change to shaded. Shows much nicer in the drawing file.
Dimensioning – pull away from part, each dashed location shows standard placement.
Deleting black border on colored parts
In IDW, select assembly in the browser and expand. Hover over the assembly and R-click to select
edges, pick an edge on the drawing and r-click to uncheck visibility. Good for your cover page.
i-properties
Ipart
Create a part that you want to make other sizes of. Under the Manage tab, use the “create i-part
button”. Pick your parameter on the original part that you want to vary. Add that to the right column.
This will add it to the table below. Right click and insert new rows with different values of that
parameter.
To use the parts, start a new assembly and place the first part. A dialog button will pop up and you can
use the table tab to change the parameter by picking the other rows with the different sizes. Click to
place each one before changing. Dismiss when done. Assemble as normal.
Basic assemblies
Constraints
In IPT, right click and pick show all constraints. Can select and delete.
For locked point, right click on point, show all constraints. Hover over each one to highlight which
coincident it applies to and then can delete it to move point from shape.
While drawing, hold cntrl key and no auto-constraints will happen.
Degrees of Freedom
In assembly, View -> Degrees of Freedom will show all ways an object can move. Best to only
assemble/constrain one new part at a time.
Sharing Files
Make a new folder in Windows.
Browse to find your target assembly.
Hover over the assembly, Right Click -> “Pack & Go”,
Pick new folder as the destination, “Search” (check skip libraries etc to reduce count), “Start”, “Done”.
PLTW Inventor Review Training 10/11/2014 by P. Goldman
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Can compress/zip the new folder to send to others.
Inventor Level 2 – Topics
Explore revolve, sweep, loft and coil functions
Useful features including: project geometry, slice graphics, wire frame
Physical Properties
You can analyze the physical properties (mass, volume, moment, center of gravity) of a part file using
the “iproperties” choice from the Inventor button. Go to the physical tab. Pick a material and update.
Assembly constraints
Custom Derived Assembly
1. Make complex part you want to nest
2. Make larger part for case/nest (can be rectangle)
3. Assemble complex part and case the way you want it to make the hole (doesn’t have to be fully
constrained)
4. Start a NEW part file and “finish sketch”
5. Pick “derived component” from the create category in the 3d model tab, Select your assembly file
and then change the green plus to a red minus in the list for the complex part hole
6. In the new part browser, break link with base component so that you don’t need extra
part/assembly files
7. Shell the new part and remove all faces (if you want) to have a thickness molded to your complex
object.
Exploded views
Camera Angles in Presentation file
In the presentation file *.ipn, change the browser setting from assembly view to sequence view. Right
click in the browser for each seq. you want to change and pick “edit”, at end, SAVE camera (set doesn’t
always work). You can save an animation as an *avi file that can be embedded in a powerpoint
presentation. You must have the *ppt and *.avi file in the directory where you will be using them
when you insert the video. If you move the *.avi or *.ppt file later, the link will be broken when you
present.
High Quality Video – Inventor Studio
You can create a higher quality video using Inventor Studio. This is found under the Environments tab
when you have an open assembly. Start the animation by activating the animation timeline and
expand it. Right click on any constraint in the browser bar and pick animate constraint. Change the
time and location as needed. When all of your movements are completed, pick Render Animation to
create the movie. This will take a long time, but will produce a high quality video
PLTW Inventor Review Training 10/11/2014 by P. Goldman
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Creating a drawing of exploded assembly and parts list
Place your constrained assembly in a presentation file and “tweak components” to separate the parts.
You can disable the trails to make it look neater.
Place the *.ipn file of the disassembled part in a new drawing file (*.idw). Add a parts list and then
balloons to each component. You can edit the parts list to remove columns and update part
description information.
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