Modifying the Hole Table in Autodesk Inventor

“Not that easy, but just a boring hole.”
Kevin Hayashi

In the last Autodesk Inventor course, the subject of modifying the hole tables in the hole dialog box came up.

How did we add this new standard?

It's not something many of use do.

Frankly, that's because many times, it's not really required.  Most of us can lead a long, happy life using the default values and carry on about our business.

But what if you have to work with a difficult material that needs different holes to be used?  You may find it valuable to modify the chart.  For example, a machinist colleague of mine once told me that Inconel is so difficult to tap, that the standard tap chart table is thrown out, and a custom table is used.

It all comes down to the thread.xls chart that maintains Inventor's thread information.  By adding tabs, you can customize your hole charts! 

Just add the new tabs, and change the names!

So for those rare cases, here's a video on how to customize your hole chart inside Inventor.

One more note, I'm trying a new method of creating videos, it's going to take some practice, so bear with me as I try the new process!  I'm hoping that with a little practice and the riding of a learning curve, the videos will be better than ever!

Create New Tabs in Autodesk Inventor's New File Dialog Box

“Organize your life around your dreams - and watch them come true.”
Unknown

Every time I train an Autodesk Inventor class, I mention this particular tidbit.

How to create a new tab in your New File Dialog Box in Inventor.

Where did the Woodshop & KETIV tabs come from?

It comes in handy to help organize templates.  For example, you can move commonly used templates to the front.  Meanwhile, you can move lesser used, but still needed templates to the back.

It's simple, but many times it's those simple tricks that shave a few moments from an often repeated task that show the greatest value.

It's sort of when I got my first car with electric windows.  It wasn't like it was hard to reach over to crank down the window in my old car.  But it was sooo much nicer that I could just press the button instead! 

In short, you create a subfolder in your template directory, and save a file to it.  It's pretty simple.  But here's a video to go with it!

Documenting Sheet Metal Punches on Drawings

“Chicago is a city of contradictions, of private visions haphazardly overlaid and linked together.”
Pat Colander

Now I've returned from Autodesk training in Chicago.  The training was informative, and well executed.  Now to absorb all the information! I'll be sharing some of that knowledge as I apply it to my real world.

For this blog, I wanted to continue the lesson from my last blog post, where we created a sheet metal iFeatiure

In that last blog, Creating Sheet Metal Embosses, we saw how we could create a sheet metal punch.  Now, we'll see how we can reuse that punch, and place it on a drawing.  Once you place it on the drawing, you're able to annotate it, and take advantage of the information you placed on your punch.

Take a look at the video, and see!  We've also added some fancy new "Intros & Outros".  Let us know what you think!

Off to Chi-Town for Training

I don't mind sitting in the back row of an airliner.  Aircraft usually don't back into a crash.

Jonathan Landeros

This weeks technical blog is pushed off a bit due to training in Chicago this week.

It's going to like "drinking from a fire hydrant" as they say, but hopefully I'll come back with my head full of ideas.  Some of them may even be good ones!

Seeing colors in fall is a unique experience.  We only have three fall colors in Ca.  Green, Brown, & on Fire.

Creating Sheet Metal Embosses in Autodesk Inventor

You're better off being a brick layer if you're going to play guitar than a sheet metal worker.
Roger Daltrey

In a few short days, I'll be in front of a room full of people, teaching the sheet metal course for KETIV's Autodesk Manufacturing Academy.

It's fun, but it's also stressful and nerve wracking at the same time.  There's datasets to test, information to accumulate, & presentations to tweak in an all out effort to get everything down.

One of those items I was taking a look at was creating a sheet metal emboss.

The Finished Emboss

It's been a while since I visited this particular item.  It seems to come up, then go away for a while.  But since this particular item has returned, I decided to "make hay while the sun shined", and create a video showing how you can go about creating a punch.

So far, this is the way I've found is easiest, at least for me.  Others may have ways that they've found.  I hope the  video below gives you some inspiration.

For me, wish me luck at AMA!  My next post won't be until after Wednesday, when the event is over!