Inventor Part Files

I am now able to create parts on my own from dimensioned isometric views and have created some pretty cool parts.  I have worked with embossing which is basicly adding brail to your piece. A lot of the parts I have created look really sophisticated and hard to draw yet they are really easy once you understand the fillet command.  The fillet command allows you to round an edge which can make the simplest of parts look more complicated.  Also, I learned about the shell command which does just what it sounds like it does.  I used the shell command to hallow out my hair dryer (see image below).  I have learned a lot about the different commands you can use to create different parts. 

Below are some of the parts I have created.

Inventor

I have started working in Inventor.  First I completed some of the online tutorials to help familarize myself with the software updates; though I have used Inventor some before in my other engineering classes, in the previous drafting classes AutoCAD was the design program used mostly to create models in 2D and is the program I have had the most experience with. 

The transition between programs is not too difficult as both programs operate pretty similarly.  Though my heart will always be with AutoCAD, my first love, both programs are design software that allows drafters to create models that can then be manufactured based on the file.  Models can be drawn in Metric or English units, 2D or 3D, and with graphing lines on or off; these are just some of the features these design programs offer.

In AutoCAD the user had to be more knowledgeable as drawing lines color and thickness had to be choosen based on the type of line, for example dimension or section lines.  Though this could be a pain at times, it was very handy when the model being designed was complicated because the line colors could be changed and therefore easier to distinguish between the actual model and construction lines.  Inventor on the other hand designates the line color based on whether the line in constrained (blue) or unconstrained (lime green), below the picture shows a box where two of the lines are blue and two are green, this is because the two blue lines are constrained to the origin (0,0), whereas the two green lines are only connected to other lines and are therefore movable.



In the Inventor Tutorials I have learned sketch constraints and direct manipulation which I have some models to show for my progress.  Each model starts as a single sketch and from there is extruded or build outward, making it a 3D model.  From here another sketch can be made on the part or a plane which can be extruded as well or used for referance for another sketch or hole.  Another feature I have worked with is the fillet command which is used to round edges.

After the Part Tutorials I was proficient enough to complete several models by myself. 

Below are some of the drawings I have completed so far.

^Direct Manipulation Tutorial^

 DWG 4

DWG 5

The Next Class - 3D Modeling

My senior years off to a start with the third course in the Drafting series: 3D Modeling.  It has been a while, as last year I decided to change it up by taking Applications of Engineering, that was definitely a different experience and I am excited to get back to the heart of engineering: drafting. 

I jumped right into the curriculum this year with threads!  I started by calculating the tolerances and allowances of the hole and shaft and then finding the maximum and minimum clearance/interference.  Though this is not hard, it is very tedious because the numbers are to thousands of an inch and easily mixed up.  After working with this some I moved on to threads, learning about the different kinds and their uses, along with other thread properties.  Ever heard of "lefty losie, righty tighty"? I am sure you have. This is true for most screws which have right handed threads, but some screws are made with left handed threads, though, from my understanding left handed threads are mostly used in mechanisms. The toilet handle for example, has a left handed thread so that when the handle is pushed down the screw is not loosened. And this is just SOME of the information I have learned so far, along with this, I have already learned how to draw a Hex Head Bolt with a standard thread and am working on another with an ACME thread.  It was pretty intimidating at first, but I found drawing a thread by hand was much easier than it looked once I knew what I was doing.

So here's my first drafted thread and my second one is on the way--so stay tuned for more exciting informational drafting! 

Oblique Views

The oblique section is so far my favorite section, and one of the easiest. For the most part. :)  Oblique views are similar to isometric views except the front is drawn straight on and objects like circles are not distorted. A cavalier view is a normal oblique view, while a cabinet view (which is pictured above) is a oblique that the front is drawn normally and the width is drawn half size so it looks how it accually would look and does not look distoreted like a cavalier view can seem.
^ The picture above is a snapshot of a cabinet oblique of a guide bearing.

Auxiliary Views

The auxiliary views unit was much easier for me to understand then the last unit I had worked on. I was able to complete this unit fairly quickly without many issues. The most difficult drawing was the last drawing, the Connecting Bar. The top view was seen at an angle in most parts so the drawing had to be drawn like an isometric almost.   It was challenging and felt great to complete. One of my favorite things about drafting is after all your hard work you have something great to show for it.  Drafting is a very rewarding job/task to complete. I look forward to the challenges of the next unit and hope to incorporate all I have learned in this unit in upcoming units.

Unit 2: Section Views

A section view is when you take the object and cut it in half with a cutting-plane line and draw the inside without all the hidden lines. When the section is drawn the parts of the object the cutting-plane cut throw are filled in with hatching to let the viewer know that the object was solid there. 

This unit was EXTREMELY hard for me. Grasping the concept wasn’t that hard but seeing the figure in isometric view and having to draw the inside was very hard for me. To be able to look at the object and get spatially where each part should be was almost impossible for me to grasp.  The bell hub was the last drawing to be completed in this unit. It took me almost a week to complete because I drew it wrong and had to redraw a couple of times, but once the drawing was explained to me I was able to complete the bell hub more accurately.

I learned a lot in this unit though I still need much practice in drawing section views. But I have a firm hold on the concept and will continue working on it and bettering my skills as I go forward in this class, building on prior knowledge and gaining new knowledge every day.  

^Front View and Section View of Bell Hub^

Unit 1: Dimensioning

These first couple of weeks in class I have been working on dimensioning; the different techniques and styles. In this unit I not only worked from my prior knowledge of dimensioning but I increased my knowledge, learning news ways of dimensioning. The two styles we worked on in class are Rectangular Coordinate Dimensioning and Tubular Dimensioning.  Rectangular Coordinate Dimensioning is a system of dimensioning in which the features locations are located dependent on each other, separately or as a whole, from a datum or series of datums (a datum is a point, line, plane, cylinder, or the like, assumed to be exact for the purpose of computation, from which the location or geometric relationship of a  part may be established). This is helpful when dimensioning round holes and other like features. The other style is Tubular Dimensioning, which is a system of dimensioning where the location and size dimensions are organized in a chart rather then on the object, and dimensions are labeled using letters and numbers, and are located based on a zero zero point also labeled on the drawing. The only dimensions applied to the object are the total length, width, and dept. The picture below is a perfect example of this. Tubular dimensioning is useful when dimensioning multiply objects and when there are multiple parts that are the same size but have different locations. In this unit I have learned improved my knowledge of dimensioning through a variety of dimensioning tasks. Not only have I learned a lot but I had fun doing so. I hope to learn just as much, if not more in the upcoming unit.