What's Old is New Again. Multi-Bodies and Frame Generator in Autodesk Inventor

“Invention, strictly speaking, is little more than a new combination of those images which have been previously gathered and deposited in the memory; nothing can come of nothing”

Joshua Reynolds (British Painter, 1723-1792)

Sometimes, inspiration really does hit you out of the blue.

A little while ago, I was working with the new multi-body functionality inside of Inventor (see blog post HERE).

Then the inspiration hit me. I can use solids as a skeleton in Frame Generator, what happens if I us the split tool to split the skeleton?

No way to find out but to try it, right?

So I built a frame using Frame Generator, with a solid for a skeleton. The frame members that I've placed run the entire length of the skeleton.

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I want to break them up into two sections (let's say that it's for ease of manufacture). How can I do that?

This is where that split tool can come in handy. Used the split tool to split the body into two.

I go ahead and edit the skeleton (in this case, the blue box). I'm using a workplane in this case, although I could use an extruded surface as well.

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With a workplane placed on the skelton, I can go to my Split tool, and split the solid that represents my skeleton into two pieces.

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Once I hit 'OK', and the body is split into two separate bodies.

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With the bodies split, I finish editing this part and return to the assembly level. The members will adjust to follow one of the bodies. (Note, that you may need to remove existing end treatments before they do this).

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Now you can add new members, using two lengths to fill this section. You can also add any welds or gussets you may need. Here I've added the red and green members (among others), as well as the black gusset).

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The time to alter the design was pretty small (around 15 minutes). If I zoom in closely, you can even see where I added welds to the frame using the welding environment.

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That's it! I hope this helps!

Also, for more information on Frame Generator, particularly customizing Frame Generator, check out Rob Cohee's video HERE! And check out some of his other videos too. They're entertaining and informative!

Also, check out the Tips and Tricks section on the KETIV website HERE. We at KETIV a pretty excited about it!