Inventor Tutorial – Layout Part Creation – Side Elevation – 4

In the last installment of this Inventor Tutorial for automated Cabinet Design, we damn near finished working our way around the side elevation sketch, but still have the bottom to go. From there, we need to define the rails for this, the main version of the face frame.

The sketching begins with two parallel lines that are each coincident to the line that represents the back of the face frame and the line that represents the inner face of the back panel. Remember that every line in these cabinets either needs a horizontal or vertical constraint with a few exceptions that will be called out, so from this time forward, it’s up to you to not screw up.

Note that we need three dimensions to fully constrain the sketch, we’ll do that now, but we need to create some parameters to do so. Open the Parameter Editor, and add the following Parameters. Remember, no spaces, blah, blah, blah. Add the following three (bottom of the list) parameters…

Now add a line that will represent the top of the bottom rail in the face frame (highlighted in red in the image below)…

 Now add the new parameters thusly…

 You will notice in the status bar that we are one dimension away from being fully constrained. Zoom out so you can see the whole sketch, then right click in the canvas and choose Show All Degrees of Freedom from the overflow menu…

You will now see some red arrows that are showing that the bottom line of the back can move up and down. Zoom in and drag the line around a bit to prove it to yourself…..or you can just take my word for it if you’re not the inquisitive type J

Hide the degrees of freedom the same way you exposed them, this time choosing Hide All Degrees of Freedom. Get the Coincident Constraint tool from the Constrain Panel, and click the back bottom corner of the bottom and the inner corner of the back…

 Look in the lower right corner on the Status Bar. It should read Fully Constrained.

Now for a bit of design intent. The wall cleat is not a part of the cabinet, but it is definitely part of the design. I’m not 100% sure if it will be used for anything other than a visual representation yet, but it should be there…….so we’ll sketch it in, and add two parameters to control its size (1” x 3”)…

…and the sketch is Fully Constrained. Now for a bit more design intent. Get the Split tool from the Modify Panel, and hover it over the back line until you get a preview that shows a split between the cleat you just drew, and the back line…

 Now, with the tool still active, press the scroll wheel and drag your way over to the front, or, use the scroll wheel to zoom out, then back in the right area (bottom of the face frame), and split the bottom of the face frame from the front line…

Now, window select (click and drag a window –don’t worry if you select dimensions as well) the newly severed bottom portions of the front and back lines, and the bottom line –then click on the Construction tool on the Format Panel.

 And the lines become Construction lines. That will wrap up today’s installment of this Inventor Tutorial for Automated Cabinetry Design. I need to do a touch of research on leveling feet to get the position of the adjusting hole correct, and in the next installment, we will finish up with the elevation (I think). See you then,

Later.

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