I have recently posted a blog talking about saving money in manufacturing using the i CHECK IT tool, while reviewing more checks that the product offers I reverted back to my days as a designer and the common mistakes I had made. One of the biggest mistakes was probably one of the simplest you would think and that was ordering the wrong size stock (material) to produce a component (part). I know every design some where along the way the wrong material had been ordered and that is really never realized until its to late. Know I can quickly check for this error and save time and money on every project.
Sometimes there are geometric situations that can be visualized in a 2D sense even though the real objects in question are of course 3D. Similarly, many times FEA problems can be solved with a 2D model to achieve the same basic results as a more complex 3D representation. The 2D model is easier to construct, and generally takes only 10% of the time to solve as a 3D model. Autodesk Algor can utilize 2D mesh elements to help simplify problems down to their most basic elements so that we can obtain results much faster.
Here is an example of a fluid flow study (CFD) that has been conducted in Algor to determine the flow characteristics through a porous media. This type of problem would be much more complex to solve as a 3D model, and the 2D representation still works great to see what is happening with the fluid flow.
It’s not new, but it’s a great tool that is often overlooked! Throw away the idea of needing Construction Lines that have to be erased or trimmed out! With Otrack, everything can be created from existing points/combinations of points on the geometry already in the drawing!
Do you regularly start sketching and find you have drawn something too small or too large? Inventor 2011 can help with that.
Documents Settings - Initial View Extents
Inventor 2011 now has an “Inititial View Extents” option in the document settings for models. This is most useful if set to an appropriate value and then saved as your template file. It will automatically size your model screen area to the View Extents so that you will be in the ballpark when starting to model your most common components.
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