Autodesk Inventor project

ajclay · Feb 1, 2012

I have a beginners understanding of Inventor. I can draw and do simple assemblies.

I've got a project that has a sheet of screen or welded wire screen in it.

Is there some kind of shortcut in making a wire screen panel? Like "Chicken wire" or screen with rectangle holes in it made of .062 wire?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks, Aj

DDoug · Feb 1, 2012

Well, I stumble thru it on a daily basis.

Here's my plan.

In sketch, draw the rectangle of the outline of the sheet.
Get out of sketch, extrude it to maybe .030-.060 thick.

Open a new sketch on the face of the sheet, draw one little
square or round (the opening you want), and using the
pattern function, pattern the cut-outs as the grid you want.

Out of sketch, extrude function, remove material, select sketch.

adammil1 · Feb 1, 2012

The another other option would be to create a .062" rod and pattern it in an assembly or even in a part file. Then go and set up a plane and pattern one in the oppisite direction. That would of course give you the most accurate representation of .062" screen.

However with all of this in mind the next question is do you even need to model the elements of a 0.062" screen at all? If your model is mainly for your own use, and you are not going to be calculating mass properties or doing some sort of FEA or any other reason here or there, if all you are looking to do is show that you have a screen X by Y, it may be possible to simply make a single rectangle X by Y by .062" and than set up a shape transparancy so that you have the representation of the screen in place but don't hog the memory? Since I don't know what type of computer you have or how big of an assembly you will be working with this may/may not be an issue. However a large rectangular box is sure to take up far less memory than modeling each hole, or stran of wire in a screen.

You would have to play around a little but it may be a flat surface with a decal, or some sort of texture would do all that you need?

len_1962 · Feb 1, 2012

remember wire screen, hardware cloth, wire fencing is woven so you would have to do lets say a sinewave path and a sweep of a circle to model it correctly. In SW they have a bitmap of wire screen so you don't have to waste your time for things that are bought standerd items, maybe Inventor has the samething.

crij · Feb 1, 2012

Solution

AJ,

Just draw the rectangle the screen will cover and extrude it a few thousands thick. In the left panel select the extrude item that highlights the screen panel. At the top of the screen above the menus you will see a grey box that usually says `As Body', pick it and scroll down, you will find (4) different Expanded Metal patterns, and further down Perforated Metal.

Expanded Metal 1: Diamond Expanded metal, 0.104 long x 0.039 wide holes, 0.027 wire
Expanded Metal 2: Square holes, rotate 45 degrees, 0.106 wide, 0.041 wire
Expanded Metal 3: Woven Screen, 0.052 sq hole, 0.032 flat wire look
Expanded Metal 4: Woven Screen, 0.066 sq hole, 0.040 round wire look, intersections looks flattened

Perforated Metal: round holes, 0.052 dia

On all the above the open holes act as windows, you will see what is behind them.

Keep the extrusion as thin as possible as the edge thickness will also have the pattern applied, but will probably not align.

Not sure how to adjust the scale.

Hope that helps,
Rich C.

DDoug · Feb 1, 2012

crij said:
AJ,

Just draw the rectangle the screen will cover and extrude it a few thousands thick. In the left panel select the extrude item that highlights the screen panel. At the top of the screen above the menus you will see a grey box that usually says `As Body', pick it and scroll down, you will find (4) different Expanded Metal patterns, and further down

Damn Rich, I like it.

Learned something new again.

Thank you.

Click to expand...

adammil1 · Feb 1, 2012

digger doug said:
crij said:

AJ,

Just draw the rectangle the screen will cover and extrude it a few thousands thick. In the left panel select the extrude item that highlights the screen panel. At the top of the screen above the menus you will see a grey box that usually says `As Body', pick it and scroll down, you will find (4) different Expanded Metal patterns, and further down

Damn Rich, I like it.

Learned something new again.

Thank you.

Click to expand...

That is cool, I just tried doing it and that is cool, I had thought it would just be a surface texture, but it actually yields see through sections too! That is definitely the way to go over creating a billion little holes that would likely hog memory.

Click to expand...

Search

Largest Manufacturing Technology Community on the Web

Search

Autodesk Inventor project

ajclay

Aluminum

DDoug

Diamond

adammil1

Titanium

len_1962

Stainless

crij

Cast Iron

DDoug

Diamond

adammil1

Titanium

Similar threads