HELP WITH AUTOMATING PART

Discussion created by MITCHELL MULLEN on Mar 18, 2008
Latest reply on Mar 20, 2008 by Mauricio Martinez-Saez

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THE ATTACHED FILE IS A HAND SKETCH I CREATED FOR AN AUTOMATED PART I NEED. ITS HIGHT IS IRRELAVENT. ITS MAX LENGTH IS 108". THE MIN LENGTH IS 36". ALONG THE LENGTH OF THE PART I NEED 13" SLOTS ON 18" CENTERS AS SHOWN IN THE ATTACHED FILE. AS THE PARTS GETS SMALLER THE NUMBER OF 18" SECTIONS DECREASE THIS IS THE EASY PART. TO FILL THE REMAINDER OF THE PART THAT CANNOT SUPPORT A FULL 18" SECTION I HAVE PUT IN A SET OF SMALLER SLOTS. SOMETIMES ONE SOME TIMES TWO DEPENDING ON HOW MUCH SPACE IS LEFT OVER. NOTE THE PART LENGTHS NOTED ON THE DRAWING ARE THE LENGTHS WHERE THE SLOT CONFIGURATIONS CHANGE THE ACTUAL PART CAN BE ANY LENGTH WITHIN THE 72" RANGE UP TO .0000". IM LOOKING FOR A SIMPLE, EFFECTIVE, "SMART" WAY TO AUTOMATE THESE SLOTS ON MY PART. IVE LOOKED AT EQUASIONS, TABLES, AND PATTERNS AND HAVE NOT FOUND A GOOD SOLUTION. IF ANYONE HAS ANY SOLUTIONS TO MY PROBLEM PLEASE CONTACT ME AT MMULLEN@IDFI.COM THANK YOU.

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TEST PART A.jpg383.5 KB

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Richard Pitts Mar 19, 2008 11:33 AM

Mitchell,

Check this part out. It does something like what you want. The design table is creative.

Richard

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SLOT PART.zip641.6 KB

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Mauricio Martinez-Saez Mar 20, 2008 4:44 PM

Mitchell,

The sample post by Richard can be a solution, however there may be a simpler way depending on what you exactly need to do. Let me know the following:

Do you need to have slots 13" long at 18" centers anf then fill the rest of the part with smaller slots of a fix size? for any particular reason, or it will be possible for you to have slots sized in reference to a "target" size as required to fill the entire lenght of the part and equally distributed on the lenght of the part? If you can do this then it can be done just with a sketch and a couple of equations.

What is the objective of this? If it is to reduce weigth of a structural member then the slots can be any size as long as the remaining material and the size of the slot provide the required structural integrity, providing that the slots are cut using a process that can produce different sizes (laser, plasma or Turret-punch), but maybe you need a fix geometry of the slots because you are cutting them with a particular toll...

If you let me know this info, I can send you a sample part that will be 100% parametric (the slots will automatically adjust size and position and be as close as possible to a "target" dimensions as you specify a different length of the part), without using a Design Table with a "fix" dimensions table.

One problem of using a design table on a part is that since a part is intent to be inside an assembly, in order to update the design table and rebuild the part this will need to be done from inside the part and not at the assembly level, while if done using a sketch and equations the automation of the part can be done from the top level of the assembly, using a "Parameters" skeleton sketch which can be driven by a design table at the top level or by manual input done in several ways (always at the top level assembly)

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Richard Pitts Mar 19, 2008 11:33 AM
Mitchell,

Check this part out. It does something like what you want. The design table is creative.

Richard
Attachments
- SLOT PART.zip641.6 KB
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Mauricio Martinez-Saez Mar 20, 2008 4:44 PM
Mitchell,

The sample post by Richard can be a solution, however there may be a simpler way depending on what you exactly need to do. Let me know the following:

Do you need to have slots 13" long at 18" centers anf then fill the rest of the part with smaller slots of a fix size? for any particular reason, or it will be possible for you to have slots sized in reference to a "target" size as required to fill the entire lenght of the part and equally distributed on the lenght of the part? If you can do this then it can be done just with a sketch and a couple of equations.

What is the objective of this? If it is to reduce weigth of a structural member then the slots can be any size as long as the remaining material and the size of the slot provide the required structural integrity, providing that the slots are cut using a process that can produce different sizes (laser, plasma or Turret-punch), but maybe you need a fix geometry of the slots because you are cutting them with a particular toll...

If you let me know this info, I can send you a sample part that will be 100% parametric (the slots will automatically adjust size and position and be as close as possible to a "target" dimensions as you specify a different length of the part), without using a Design Table with a "fix" dimensions table.

One problem of using a design table on a part is that since a part is intent to be inside an assembly, in order to update the design table and rebuild the part this will need to be done from inside the part and not at the assembly level, while if done using a sketch and equations the automation of the part can be done from the top level of the assembly, using a "Parameters" skeleton sketch which can be driven by a design table at the top level or by manual input done in several ways (always at the top level assembly)
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HELP WITH AUTOMATING PART

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