Hi All

Here's some of my recent work utilizing iLogic in Inventor to streamline my design workflow. The attached screenshot shows my "smartdrawer". I plan to be making some videos in the near future, but I've got some hoops to go through before getting to that. (In my first attempts at video production, I've come to realize that I have something in common with the victims of street fights - I just don't know when to shut up! As soon as I figure out how to tame my verbosity, I'll begin posting videos).

As the added text in the screen shot states, this multi solid body part can be reconfigured to become 95% of the drawers we install in our casework. All that's required (95% of the time) is to toggle one parameter between odd or even (the dovetail pattern for each of these selections has a different orientation), select a height from the appropriate (odd or even) list (in 1/2" increments from 2" to 18-1/2"), enter a width, enter a depth, and toggle between undermount slides or not.

Of course, there are more variable adjustments possible, and I can also use this part as the basis for creating "strange" configurations.

There are two iLogic rules; one for the suppression/expression of odd/even dovetail features, and another for the suppression/expression of the undermount slides features.

Back in my (recent) Autocad days, this drawer component would have been modeled as a single primitive uneditable/unreconfigurablesolid (without chamfers or dovetails); and a new solid was created for each dimension change required by the design intent. Naturally, I dreaded change orders when drawers were involved. Although this took me some time to create (in no small part because of my lack of experience with Inventor); from now on, I'll be outfitting entire rooms with drawers in no time. And those drawers will be precise prototypes of the actual product.

What do you think?

Regards,
Peter

PS I tried 2x, but it appears my file attachment didn't take ... ?

Seems to work on this side. I just browsed to the file, then clicked 'Add the file', added the comment “Testing with Abe…”, then chose the Place inline option (formerly the Browse button). Is your 'Browse' button changing to 'Place inline' after you click "Add the file?"




Mark

I just tried again, both as the original jpg and as converted to PDF. the system goes through all the motions and doesn't announce any errors, but there's no result. ?? maybe some permissions in admin for the site?

The permissions seem fine. I increased the maximum file size a bit as it seemed too low, maybe that was the problem. I also set the max width to 480 pix, but will need to test what that actually does ---there was no max width set by default, just that max file size. If you still have no luck, send it to me in an email and I’ll post it while I look into the problem.

OK, here is a link to the image that Peter sent via email. It looks like ImageMagick was lost in the server move, and will need to be reinstalled tonight.

http://opendesignproject.org/Images/smartdrawer.jpg

P.S. I tried posting the image as it should work, and for me, it posted it full size in this tiny window! FUBAR!

Mark

This should work now ---at least on this end.

Nice work Peter! I like the way you meticulously name every feature. Very important, but you would be surprised by how many old-timers feel it is a waste of time, and only name a few features they feel are important.

Again, nice work!

Thank you. The meticulous naming thing was something you drove home in your tutorials; and it served me well, bumbling around as I did in creating the damn thing. I need to go back and look at what I did (I should have taken notes during the doing) for I'd like to formalize the process into a standard; perhaps a syntax/format for each element (solid body, base feature, sketch, etc.). Already I have a number of files which are tidy, to a greater or lesser degree, in and of themselves, but different from each other. Do you know of any literature on the subject?

Thanks also for your instruction on skeletal modeling (as in the iDoor), which is the approach I took to the problem. In the course of creating the file I was wondering of what other approaches I could have taken (like iParts for example) and if they'd be more appropriate. Any thoughts on that?

I hope to get around to making a video showing the thing in action. I'll send that along if and when I get to it.

Hmmmm. iParts. I’m wondering what the problems were with them, and whether those problems are still around. I would have to revisit the subject, but I’m thinking it had to do with iParts being geared towards small feature-set stock items, and that the tables get enormous when trying to describe something very custom. I know depths and heights are relatively fixed, but for custom built-ins, the widths need to be variable. I’ll have to look into it when I do a drawer tutorial.

The drawers and pullouts on the iCabinet are dovetailed and infinitely variable in width within the cabinet’s parameters. An iPart would need to do the same. I’ll look into both and compare…..as soon as I get the code complete for the demotion of parts after make components that is:

http://tinyurl.com/2dwxc32

Mark