Category Archives: Automation

Inventor Automation – Sending a Cut List to TigerStop

Posted on by
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

ED – This is a guest post on Inventor Automation is by Richard Gilmore of TigerStop LLC showing how to send automatically generated cutlists (parts lists) to a TigerStop (TigerFence, TigerCrossCut, Etc.) to speed production time and reduce errors. The cutlist shown here was generated by the model in the Shaker Table series of tutorials.

We use downloading software called Workflow Manager to sort the job files (normally by Width and Thickness) and then send the sorted jobs to TigerStop.  A Workflow Manager user would have to run a onetime file configuration on the .csv file to tell the software how to read it.  I will talk with my software folks to see if we can add Autodesk Inventor as a default profile in the software so the user doesn’t have to do the configuration step.  Next the user would go to the File menu and choose Open.  Once the user has chosen the Autodesk Inventor .csv file they will see this screen…

 

Inventor Automation Tutorial Image 01 - Inventor Tutorial for configuring a TigerStop Workflow Manager

  Continue reading →





Inventor iLogic Assembly Automation Tutorial Decoded

Posted on by

Inventor iLogic Code Tutorial image 01 - Image of iLogic CodeThis post is a follow-up to the Assembly Automation Tutorial for Inventor iLogic post where we added the fifty-some odd lines of iLogic code to our Inventor Assembly. Today’s post will attempt to explain that code.

This post was supposed to be published yesterday, but I spent most of the day screwing around with a plugin that will eventually allow me to post Inventor iLogic code with the proper syntax highlighting that can be copy & pasted right from the webpage into your iLogic Code Editor without intermediate programs adding special characters that screw up the code. I’ll be posting a bit more on that in the next post. Until that is up-and-running, I’ll use images…   

 

Inventor iLogic Code Tutorial image 02 - This is the image of the first chunk of iLogic code used in our sample

The first two lines of code (above) are creating variables. The Nut_Offset variable gets its value by  reading the Nut_Offset parameter in the Hanger Bolt:1 part. The second variable, Overall_Size is reading two local parameters (Blue) and multiplying them against each other to get its value.

  Continue reading →





Inventor iLogic Assembly Automation Tutorial

Posted on by
 
 
 
 
 
 

 In this Inventor iLogic tutorial we will insert a small subassembly (the Hanger Bolt) into the main assembly (the Shaker Table), create a bidirectional information flow between the two with iLogic code, and create an interface that will run the assembly as well as report model information.

This Inventor iLogic tutorial builds on the Shaker Table series of tutorials and picks up after the end of the previous post.

In this Inventor iLogic tutorial the first thing we will be doing is making a few changes in the Designing a Shaker Table with Autodesk Inventor.ipt. The first is to how the dimension that has the Bracket_Offset parameter driving it was placed. I decided to use the Bracket_Offset dimension to drive the model via a dimension, but it will need to be placed a bit different. In the Shaker Table part, double click on the Corner Bracket Sketch to make it active. Make sure you have your dimensions showing expressions (right click > Dimension Properties > Document Settings > Modeling Dimension Display > Show Expression), highlight the one that has Bracket_Offset as an equation, and hit delete. We will place it again, but do so in a way that cannot turn inside-out when driven to zero. To begin with, draw what I refer to as an ‘outrigger’ line starting at the inside corner of the leg and moving towards the outer corner. When you see the Parallel glyph to the centerline of the bracket, click to end the line… 

  Continue reading →