Autodesk Inventor Inventor Routed Systems - 2009 Getting Started
Autodesk Inventor Routed Systems 2009
Getting Started
January 2008Part No. 462A1-050000-PM01A
©
2008 Autodesk, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Except as otherwise permitted by Autodesk, Inc., this publication, or parts thereof, may not be
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FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE REGARDING THESE MATERIALS.
Published by:
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Contents
Tubes and Pipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Chapter 1 Getting Started with Tube & Pipe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
About Tube & Pipe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Tube & Pipe Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Tube & Pipe Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Tube & Pipe Browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Working in Autodesk Inventor Installations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Understanding Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Backing Up Tutorial Data Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Workflow for Tube and Pipe Assemblies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Setting Up Projects For Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Defining the Master Runs Assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Create Master Runs Assemblies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Add Individual Runs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Specify Global Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Chapter 2 Route Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
About Rigid Routes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Auto Route Cycling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Parametric Regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
About Flexible Hose Routes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Route Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
iii
Rigid Route Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Hose Route Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3D Orthogonal Route Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Tool Elements for Pipe Routing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Tool Elements for Tube Routing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Change Tool Displays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Define Angular Position and Rotation Snap . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Define 45-degree Angles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Define Bent Tubes Angles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Using Point Snap to Define Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Enter Precise Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Route Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Basic Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Bend Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Dimension Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Parallel and Perpendicular Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Other Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Chapter 3 Setting Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
About Tube and Pipe Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Access Tube and Pipe Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
View and Select Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Setting Style Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
General Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Rules Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Working with Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Create Rigid Pipe with Fittings Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Tubing with Bends Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Flexible Hose Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Create Flexible Hose Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Change Styles for Existing Routes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Change Active Styles for New Routes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Adding Styles to Assembly Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Chapter 4 Creating Rigid Routes and Runs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
General Workflow for Rigid Routes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Creating Auto Route Regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Manually Creating Parametric Regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Automatically Dimension Route Sketches . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Create Segments With Precise Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Define Parallel and Perpendicular Segments . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Snap Route Points to Existing Geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Place Constraints On Route Sketches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Create Bends Between Existing Pipe Segments . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Create Pipe Routes With Custom Bends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
iv | Contents
Create Bent Tube Routes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Realign 3D Orthogonal Route Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Control Dimension Visibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Populated Routes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Chapter 5 Creating and Editing Flexible Hose Routes . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Workflow for Flexible Hose Routes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Creating Flexible Hose Routes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Create Hose Routes with Both Fittings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Change Nominal Diameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Create Hose Routes With One Fitting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Editing Flexible Hose Routes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Hose Nodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Hose Length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Start Fitting and End Fitting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Bend Radius Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Delete Flexible Hose Routes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Practice Your Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Chapter 6 Editing Rigid Routes and Runs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
About Editing Rigid Routes and Runs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Auto Regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Parametric Regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Editing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Route Panel Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Tube & Pipe Panel Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Context Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Controlling Individual Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Route Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Add to Finished Routes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Insert Intermediate Route Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Delete Route Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Auto Regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Move Auto Route Segments Approximately . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Move Auto Route Segments Accurately . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Removing Unwanted Segments or Route Points . . . . . . . . . 122
Convert Auto Region to Parametric Sketch . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Fittings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Place Fittings in the Active Project Workspace . . . . . . . . . . 129
Insert Library Parts Using AutoDrop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Adjust Fitting Position and Orientation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Restore Default Fittings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Replace Existing Fittings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Contents | v
Delete Fitting Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Connect Fittings and Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Editing Bent Tube Routes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Changing Bend Radius . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Moving Coupling Nodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Deleting Routes and Runs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Chapter 7 Using Content Center Libraries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
About Content Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
About Content Center Libraries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Managing and Libraries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Configuring Libraries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Placing Tube and Pipe Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Chapter 8 Authoring and Publishing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
About Authoring and Publishing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Authoring Tube and Pipe Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Access Tube & Pipe Authoring Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Author Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Prepare iParts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Author iParts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Practice Your Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Publishing to Content Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Set Up the Library and Subcategories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Publish Authored Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Creating Styles Using Published Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Chapter 9 Documenting Routes and Runs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
About Documenting Routes and Runs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
General Workflow for Documenting Pipe Runs . . . . . . . . . . 182
Using Drawing Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Preparing Design View Representations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Creating Drawing Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Create Base Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
Create Projected Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Create Detail Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Practice Your Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Recovering Route Centerlines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Dimensioning Drawing Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
Creating and Exporting Bills of Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
Enable the Parts Only View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Add Base QTY and Stock Number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Create and Export Bill of Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Creating Parts Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
vi | Contents
Annotating Drawings with Piping Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
Cable and Harness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Chapter 10 Getting Started with Cable and Harness . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
About Cable and Harness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Understanding Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Backing Up Tutorial Data Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Setting Up Projects For Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Working in Autodesk Inventor Installations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
About Electrical Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Workflow for Electrical Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Creating Electrical Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Place Pins and Define Pin-level Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Set Part Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Add RefDes Placeholders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Practice Your Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
Modifying Pinned Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Delete Pins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Adding Custom Properties to Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
Placing Electrical Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
Chapter 11 Working With Harness Assemblies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
About Working in Harness Assemblies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Cable and Harness Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
Creating Harness Assemblies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Workflow for Harness Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Using the Cable and Harness Browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
Setting Properties for Harness Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Customize Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
Set Occurrence Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
Assign Occurrence Reference Designators . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
Chapter 12 Using the Cable and Harness Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
About the Cable and Harness Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Locating the Cable and Harness Library File . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Displaying the Library Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
Adding Library Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
Create New Library Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
Modifying Library Wire and Cable Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
Copy Library Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
Edit Library Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
Delete Library Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
Add Properties to Library Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
Contents | vii
Importing and Exporting Library Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
Import Into the Cable and Harness Library . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
Export Library Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Practicing Your Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
Chapter 13 Working with Wires and Cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
About Wires and Cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Setting Modeling and Curvature Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
Inserting Wires and Cables Manually . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Insert Wires Manually . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Insert Cables Manually . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
Moving Wires and Cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
Moving Wires . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
Moving Cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
Deleting Wires and Cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
Deleting Wires . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
Removing Cables and Cable Wires . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
Replacing Wires . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
Assigning Virtual Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
Importing Harness Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
Configuration File Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
Comma Separated Value Data File Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
XML File Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
Review Harness Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
Import Harness Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
Adding Shape to Wires and Cable Wires . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
Add Wire Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
Redefine and Move Wire Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
Delete Wire Work Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
Setting Occurrence Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
Wire Occurrence Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
Cable Occurrence Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
Override Library-level Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
Restore Library-Level Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
Changing Wire and Cable Displays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
Chapter 14 Working with Segments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
About Segments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
Define Segments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
Selecting Work Points for Segments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
Plan Segment Start Points and Endpoints . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
Apply Offset Distances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
Creating Segments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
Add Segment Branches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
Manipulating Segments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
viii | Contents
Redefine or Move Segment Work Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
Insert Segment Work Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
Delete Harness Segment Work Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
Delete Harness Segments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
Setting Segment Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
Setting Diameter Behavior in Segments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
Changing Displays of Segments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
Setting Segment Defaults . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
Chapter 15 Routing Wires and Cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
About Routing and Unrouting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
Defining Manual Routes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294
Defining Semi-automatic Routes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
Route Wires . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
Defining Automatic Routes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
View Wire and Cable Paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
Unrouting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
Unroute Wires . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
Unroute Cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
Unroute All Wires or Cables from All Segments . . . . . . . . . . 301
Practice Your Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
Chapter 16 Working with Splices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
About Splices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
Recommended Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
Creating Splices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304
Insert a Splice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
Modifying Splices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
Splice Wires or Add Wires to the Splice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
Redefine the Splice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
Splice Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
Access Properties for Splices and Splice Pins . . . . . . . . . . . 311
Control Length for Splices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
Delete Splices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312
Practice Your Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312
Chapter 17 Working with Ribbon Cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
About Ribbon Cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
Defining Raw Ribbon Cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314
Placing Connectors from Content Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
Creating Ribbon Cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
Adjust Ribbon Cable Orientation and Shape . . . . . . . . . . . 321
Chapter 18 Generating Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
Contents | ix
About Generating Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
Workflow for Harness Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
Using the Report Generator Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
Formatting Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
Use Sample Configuration Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
Edit Configuration Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
Generating Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
Create Part and Wire Bills of Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
Create Wire Run List Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336
Create Custom Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337
Chapter 19 Working Nailboards and Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
About Nailboards and Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
Nailboard Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342
Nailboard Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342
The Nailboard Browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
Creating a Nailboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
Set Display Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
Manipulating the Harness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346
Move the Harness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346
Arrange the Harness Segments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
Arrange the Wire Stubs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
Arrange the Label . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
Changing Nailboard Displays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
Change Segment and Wire Line Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
Change Fan State and Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352
Annotating the Nailboard Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354
Dimension the Nailboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354
Add Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355
Add Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358
Placing Connector Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359
Create an Assembly Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361
Printing Nailboards and Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362
Practice your skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
IDF Translator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365
Chapter 20 Using the IDF Translator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
About the IDF Translator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
Exchanging Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368
Understanding Import IDF Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370
General Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370
Select document type to create . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370
Select items to import . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
x | Contents
Item color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
Importing IDF Board Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
Using IDF Board Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379
Contents | xi
xii
Tubes and Pipes
Part 1 of this manual presents the getting started information for Tube and Pipe in Autodesk
Inventor™ Routed Systems. This add-in to the Autodesk Inventor assembly environment
provides the capability to create complete tube and pipe systems in mechanical assembly
designs.
®
1
2
Getting Started with Tube & Pipe
This chapter provides basic information to help you get started using Tube & Pipe in Autodesk
Inventor™ Routed Systems and the exercises in this manual.
It also provides information about the tube and pipe environment, how to get started with
a tube and pipe assembly, and how to use tube and pipe data.
1
About Tube & Pipe
Tube & Pipe provides features for setting tube and pipe styles, adding runs and
routes to mechanical assemblies or product designs, adding initial fittings to
create route branches, and populating selected routes. When a tube and pipe
assembly is complete, the tube and pipe information can be represented in
drawings and presentations, and output to different data formats.
®
Tube & Pipe Features
With the tube and pipe tools you can:
■ Create tube and pipe assembly files.
■ Define, view, modify, copy, delete, and share tube and pipe styles that
conform to industry standards.
■ Create tube, pipe, or hose routes using automatic solutions the system
calculates based on the style criteria.
■ Create derived routes and edit the underlying base sketch.
3
■ Use sketched tools to create parametric regions in rigid piping and bent
tubing routes.
■ Utilize the existing geometry and drawn construction lines to navigate the
rigid piping and bent tubing routes.
■ Defer updates on automatic routing for the tube and pipe runs assembly,
pipe run, and individual routes.
■ Modify both routes and runs by placing dimensions and geometric
constraints.
■ Access and use the Content Center to place conduit parts and fittings in
tube and pipe assemblies. Fittings can be used to initiate route branches.
■ Author custom tube and pipe iParts and standard parts for publishing to
the Content Center Library.
■ Populate selected routes with library components.
■ Suppress memory-costly tube and pipe components in Level of Detail
representations, especially in large tube and pipe assemblies.
■ Place non-adaptive occurrences of master runs assemblies, runs, hose
assemblies, and routes and make them adaptive for reuse.
■ Swap in the needed master runs assembly member in the tube and pipe
interchangeability set when a tube and pipe iAssembly factory is created.
■ Recover the route centerlines in tube and pipe drawings.
■ Use the bill of materials to document routes and runs.
■ Move pipe runs rigidly and edit hose routes in positional representations.
■ Save tube and pipe data to ISOGEN .pcf files or ASCII bend tables.
■ Use the browser to edit tube and pipe runs and to change visibility for
routes, runs, and components.
Tube & Pipe Environment
Tube & Pipe provides the familiar Autodesk Inventor assembly environment
in addition to design tools for adding routes and runs.
When you open an assembly in Autodesk Inventor Tube & Pipe, a tool appears
on the Assembly panel bar for adding piping runs to your design. Once you
4 | Chapter 1 Getting Started with Tube & Pipe
add your first run, the tools specific to creating tube and pipe runs in an
assembly are displayed.
The following image shows the application window that is displayed once a
piping run is added to a new assembly file. Tube & Pipe-specific tools are added
to the standard toolbar, Model browser, and panel bars are enabled.
The features added by the Tube & Pipe environment include:
Tube & Pipe Runs
panel bar
Tube & Pipe panel
bar
Tube & Pipe Hose
panel bar
Tube & Pipe Route
panel bar
Browser toolbar
Model browser
The tool set for the master runs assembly environment.
Enables you to add new individual runs to the master
runs assembly, define tube and pipe styles, set Gravity,
and output the ISOGEN data.
Use the panel bar title to switch between the Tube &
Pipe Runs and Assembly panel bars.
The tool set for the master runs assembly environment.
Enables you to add new individual runs to the master
runs assembly, define tube and pipe styles, and output
the ISOGEN data.
Use the panel bar title to switch between the Tube &
Pipe, Tube & Pipe Runs, and Assembly panel bars.
The tool set for the hose assembly environment when
the flexible hosing style uses the subassembly structure
to contain the hose route. It does not provide Tube &
Pipe specific tools.
Use the panel bar title to switch between the Tube &
Pipe Hose, Tube & Pipe, Tube & Pipe Runs, and Assembly panel bars.
The tool set when the tube, pipe, or hose route environment is active. There are several ways to enter the
route environment, such as creating new routes in a
pipe run, double-clicking an existing route, and rightclicking a route and selecting Edit.
Enables switching between the Model browser, Content
Center Favorites, and Representations.
Contains the content of the tube and pipe assembly
in a hierarchy, along with the main Tube & Pipe Runs
subassembly. The main run acts as a container for all
routes and runs and the components created or placed
in the routed system.
Tube & Pipe Environment | 5
Standard toolbar
Part Features panel
bar
Tube & Pipe Browser
All tube and pipe components added to an assembly are contained in the
main runs subassembly. The components include individual runs and their
associated routes, fittings, segments, and route points.
Each run contains an Origin folder, one or more routes, and any segments or
fittings that are populated or manually inserted.
Routes contain the designated route points. To become familiar with the
various components in the browser, open a sample tube and pipe assembly.
Use the Tube & Pipe Browser
1 Open the sample tube and pipe assembly, Accumulator. By default, it is
located at: Windows®XP C:\Program
Files\Autodesk\Inventor<version>\Samples\Models\Tube & Pipe\Accumulator.
Windows®Vista
C:\Users\Public\Documents\Autodesk\Inventor<version>\Samples\Models\Tube
& Pipe\Cooling Tower
Contains several Tube & Pipe-specific tools in addition
to the standard Autodesk Inventor tools, such as the
Display/Update Settings tool and the Active Style list.
Use Tools ➤ Customize ➤ Toolbars to enable the
additional Tube & Pipe and Tube & Pipe Runs toolbar.
Contains the Tube & Pipe Authoring tool to author
tube and pipe iParts and normal parts for publishing
to the Content Center.
™
2 Activate and expand the master runs assembly Tube & Pipe Runs and
Pipe Run 1.
Pipe Run 1 contains components for a bent tubing style run.
6 | Chapter 1 Getting Started with Tube & Pipe
3 Expand Hose Run 1 to view components for a flexible hose style run.
4 Continue to expand folders in the hierarchy until you are familiar with
the contents, and then close the assembly.
5 To view components for a rigid pipe run, open the sample, Cooling Tower.
By default, it is located at: Windows XP C:\Program
Files\Autodesk\Inventor<version>\Samples\Models\Tube & Pipe\Cooling
Tower.
Windows Vista
C:\Users\Public\Documents\Autodesk\Inventor<version>\Samples\Models\Tube
& Pipe\Cooling Tower
6 Expand the folders in the hierarchy until you are familiar with the
contents, and then close the assembly.
Working in Autodesk Inventor Installations
If Autodesk Inventor Tube & Pipe is not installed on the system viewing the
tube and pipe data, the master runs assembly and all that it contains is
read-only. This means that the outline of the tube and pipe component is
visible through Autodesk Inventor, but the component cannot be edited, and
new tube and pipe components cannot be added.
When the Tube & Pipe add-in is not installed, the tasks you can perform with
the tube and pipe data include:
■ Open a Tube & Pipe Runs subassembly.
■ Determine interferences with tube and pipe components in populated
routes by selecting the entire tube and pipe runs subassembly in the
browser.
Working in Autodesk Inventor Installations | 7
■ View the outline of tube and pipe run data within the context of an open
assembly file.
■ Turn visibility off to completely hide the Tube & Pipe Runs component
in the graphics window.
■ Create detailed drawings of populated routes within any file.
Understanding Prerequisites
It is assumed that you have a working knowledge of the Autodesk Inventor
interface and tools. If you do not, use the integrated Design Support System
(DSS) for access to online documentation and tutorials, and complete the
exercises in the Autodesk Inventor Getting Started manual.
At a minimum, you should understand how to:
■ Use the assembly, part modeling, sketch, and drawing environments, and
browsers.
■ Edit a component in place.
■ Create, constrain, and manipulate work points and work features.
■ Set color styles.
■ Use Content Center.
Be more productive with Autodesk® software. Get trained at an Autodesk
Authorized Training Center (ATC®) with hands-on, instructor-led classes to
help you get the most from your Autodesk products. Enhance your productivity
with proven training from over 1,400 ATC sites in more than 75 countries.
For more information about training centers, contact atc.program@autodesk.com
or visit the online ATC locator at www.autodesk.com/atc.
It is also recommended that you have a working knowledge of Microsoft
Windows® XP, or Windows Vista™, and a working knowledge of concepts for
routing tube and pipe through mechanical assembly designs.
Backing Up Tutorial Data Files
For each exercise in this section, you use files that contain the example
geometry or parts for that task. These files are included in the Tutorial Files
8 | Chapter 1 Getting Started with Tube & Pipe
®
directory for the application. For Tube & Pipe, the files are located in the
installation path of Autodesk Inventor Tube & Pipe, by default, Windows XP
C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Inventor <version>\Tutorial Files\Tube & Pipe.
Windows Vista C:\Users\Public\Documents\ Autodesk\Inventor <version>\Tutorial
Files\Tube & Pipe.
Before you begin the exercises, back up the files so the originals are always
available. You can revert to these files if you make any mistakes during the
exercises, or if you would like to repeat an exercise.
Back up the tutorial files
1 Go to the Tube & Pipe directory and create a new folder called
Exercise_Backup.
2 From within the Tutorial Files directory, copy the exercise data into your
new folder.
Now you can use the files in the Tutorial Files directory as you work through
the exercises in this book. Keep any files you create for an exercise in the
Tutorial Files directory to avoid the possibility of file resolution problems.
Workflow for Tube and Pipe Assemblies
The first step in creating a tube and pipe system is to open an assembly file.
The assembly file can be empty or contain an assembly model. You can then
create the first pipe run and begin adding bent tubing, rigid piping, and flexible
hose routes.
Workflow: Create a tube and pipe runs assembly
1 Set up the project environment such as project type, workspace, and
permissions to the style library. Content Center configuration is also
especially important.
2 Optionally, customize your own master runs assembly template.
3 Within a normal Inventor assembly, create a master runs assembly.
4 Use the Tube & Pipe Styles tool to set style options.
5 Select a tube, pipe, or hose style, and then create a new route using
automatic solutions and parametric regions to guide your selections.
6 Adjust the route to design changes.
Workflow for Tube and Pipe Assemblies | 9
7 Populate the route or insert additional fittings into the tube and pipe
assembly or directly onto a route. Fittings can be used to initiate new
routes.
8 Add additional routes and runs.
9 Make final adjustments to each route and run. Change the active style
or add, remove, reposition, and replace fittings, route points, and
segments.
10 Populate selected route(s).
11 Optionally:
■ To reuse the master runs assembly, runs, routes, or flexible hose
assemblies, place secondary occurrences and use the Make Adaptive
tool to transition them to new primary occurrences.
■ Create Level of Detail representations to save memory if you are
working with a large assembly.
■ Create drawing views based on specific representations and
configurations, create and export bill of material tables for routes and
runs, and annotate drawings using parts lists, piping styles, and so
on.
■ Save the file in a different format such as ISOGEN or bend table to
import to other drawing applications.
Setting Up Projects For Exercises
For the exercises, browse to and select the project file in the Tutorial Files
directory.
Set up the project for Tube & Pipe exercises
1 Click File ➤ Projects.
2 Use the Configure Content Center Libraries tool to configure
libraries. Ensure that you have logged in to your Autodesk data
management server and the needed libraries are ready on the server.
3 Select the AirSystemAssy.ipj as the active project.
10 | Chapter 1 Getting Started with Tube & Pipe
4 Optionally, in the Edit Project pane, right-click Use Styles Library, and
then select Yes or Read Only.
5 Optionally, expand the Folder Options, right-click Content Center Files,
select Edit, and then enter CC.
The CC folder is under the root path of the project work space. You can
specify any other location you need to store the Content Center library
content. You can also use the default Content Center Files location.
6 When you have completed all settings for the project, click Save.
7 Ensure the project is active. If it is not, double-click the project.
8 Click Done.
NOTE For detailed instructions on how to manage and configure Content Center,
start Autodesk Inventor and click Help ➤ Help Topics. On the Inventor home
page, expand the Getting Started Manual link and select Managing Your Data.
Defining the Master Runs Assembly
When an assembly file is first opened, the assembly environment is displayed
and you can begin adding pipe runs. For the first pipe run added, the system
creates the master runs assembly along with an individual run. The master
runs assembly is a container for all pipe runs added to the assembly. The
number of runs you include depends on your design and manufacturing
documentation needs.
Each run can include one or more individual routes. All routes in a run can
use the same or different styles. With the capability to assign unique styles,
it is possible to have all three route types, each with different size diameters
in a single run. Routes can start and end on assembly model geometry or an
initial fitting dropped on the route to create a branch or fork.
Create Master Runs Assemblies
To create the master runs assembly, you click the Create Pipe Run tool on the
Assembly panel bar. On the Create Tube & Pipe Run dialog box that appears
you provide a unique name and location for the master runs assembly and
individual run respectively. By default, the files are saved to the workspace of
the active project.
Defining the Master Runs Assembly | 11
The Tube & Pipe Runs assembly is added to the browser along with other
placed components and is arranged in the order it was added to the assembly.
In the following exercise, you open an existing assembly and prepare to add
tubing and piping in the context of that assembly. You also become familiar
with the components included in the tube and pipe design environment
including the Tube & Pipe Runs panel bar, Tube & Pipe panel bar, Model
browser, and standard toolbar.
Create a tube and pipe assembly
1 Click File ➤ Open.
2 Open the AirSystemAssy.iam assembly.
3 On the Assembly panel bar, click the Create Pipe Run tool.
4 On the Create Tube & Pipe Run dialog box, enter AirSystem1 as the name
for the first run and accept the other defaults. Verify the default path in
the project workspace.
12 | Chapter 1 Getting Started with Tube & Pipe
5 Click OK.
The individual run is automatically added and activated so you can begin
defining a route and adding components.
6 Examine the available tools on the Tube & Pipe panel bar, as shown in
the following image. Pause the cursor over the tools to view the tooltip.
7 Examine the standard toolbar to see the New Route tool, the
Display/Update Settings tool for tube and pipe defer updates, and the
Active Style list.
New Route tool
Create Master Runs Assemblies | 13
Display/Update Settings tool
Active Style list
8 Click Help ➤ Help Topics to access Help, and then click the Contents
tab to display the table of contents if it is not already displayed.
9 Click User’s Guides and then Tube and Pipe to display and examine the
Tube and Pipe Help topics.
10 Close the Help window.
14 | Chapter 1 Getting Started with Tube & Pipe
11 Activate the top-level assembly and save the file.
NOTE It is recommended that you save the top assembly regularly. Tube and Pipe
components are not stored in your project workspace until the top assembly is
saved.
Add Individual Runs
Each time you use the Create Pipe Run tool after the Tube & Pipe Runs
assembly is created, an individual run is added to this container run. Individual
runs are arranged in the order they are added to the tube and pipe assembly.
You can name and locate each run file as it is added.
The following image shows the default settings when you create the second
run:
Specify Global Settings
With the top assembly active, right-click Tube & Pipe Runs in the Model
browser and use the Tube & Pipe Settings dialog box to specify the global
document and application settings for the master runs assembly.
Add Individual Runs | 15
Defer All Tube & Pipe Updates
Defer all tube and pipe updates when you are editing normal parts in a standard
Autodesk Inventor assembly or editing positional representations.
After the Defer All Tube & Pipe Updates check box is selected, most commands
specific to Tube & Pipe are disabled. The tube and pipe runs assembly is not
visible. Neither the tube and pipe runs assembly nor the associated parts in
drawings automatically update. You cannot create new pipe routes and runs
in the tube and pipe runs assembly.
When the Defer All Tube & Pipe Updates check box is cleared, you can defer
updates for individual runs and individual routes. For detailed instructions,
see Controlling Individual Settings on page 115 in Chapter 6.
Specify the setting for defer all tube and pipe updates
1 Activate the top assembly.
2 Right-click Tube & Pipe Runs, and select Tube & Pipe Settings.
3 On the Tube & Pipe Settings dialog box, ensure the Defer All Tube & Pipe
Updates check box is cleared.
You can view automatic responses to edits on the tube and pipe assembly.
4 Click OK.
Use of Bill of Materials
The drawing manager uses the current bill of materials (BOM) to create tube
and pipe drawings. When you migrate R9 or earlier tube and pipe drawings,
you can specify whether to continue using the R9 BOM (default) or to use the
current BOM.
The BOMs mainly differ in how they store the raw material description for
library parts:
■ In the current BOM, the raw material description for conduit parts is stored
in the new stock number property. All BOM items with the same part
number are automatically merged in parts lists. If the part number is blank,
parts do not merge.
■ In the R9 BOM, the raw material description for conduit parts was stored
in the part number property. You had control over the merging of rows
16 | Chapter 1 Getting Started with Tube & Pipe
in the parts list. Even if two pipes had the same part number, you could
choose not to merge them.
In the exercises that follow you use the current version of Autodesk Inventor
Tube and Pipe to create tube and pipe assemblies, so the Use R9 Bill of Materials
check box is cleared by default.
NOTE For more information about how to migrate legacy tube and pipe drawings
to the current version, see the Autodesk Inventor Tube and Pipe Help, Tube and
pipe bill of materials book in the table of contents.
Prompt for Conduit File Names
When conduit parts are saved to your project workspace the first time, the
default file names are used, with a suffix of a 13-digit number that is generated
randomly based on your system time. The conduit file naming convention
can be customized when you enable the Prompt for Conduit File Names option.
Specify the prompt for conduit file names
1 Activate the top assembly or master runs assembly.
2 In the Model browser, right-click the Tube & Pipe Runs and select Tube
& Pipe Settings.
3 On the Tube & Pipe Settings dialog box, Application Settings pane, to
accept the default conduit part file names, clear the Prompt for Conduit
File Names check box. Otherwise, select the check box.
4 In the exercises that follow you do not need to customize the conduit
file names, clear the check box.
5 Click OK.
Specify Global Settings | 17
18
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