2009

Table Of Contents
Careful planning and placement of assembly constraints is the key to obtaining
proper assembly motion. Apply as many assembly constraints as needed to
position, or in the case of an adaptive part, size your component. Temporarily
suppress assembly constraints that interfere with assembly motion.
Constraint Drivers
Dragging a small component in a large assembly, or dragging a component
about an axis of rotation can be difficult. Autodesk Inventor provides a unique
tool to drive the value of an assembly constraint. You can specify movement
range and step size, determine movement cycling, and set a pause time between
steps. Mate and angle constraints between faces are common choices for driven
constraints.
Assembly motion can be halted if interference is detected between components.
Refine the increment value and drive the constraint to determine a precise
constraint value where interference occurs. When interference is detected, the
motion stops and the interfering components are highlighted in the browser
and graphics window.
Adaptive parts can be resized to match the varying assembly constraint.
Adaptive features and parts are presented earlier in this manual.
The motion can be recorded as an AVI file using any code available on your
computer.
Drive Constraints
After you constrain a component, you can animate mechanical movement
by changing the value of the constraint. The Drive Constraint tool repositions
a part by stepping through a range of constraint values. You can rotate a
component, for example, by driving an angular constraint from zero to 360
degrees. The Drive Constraint tool is limited to one constraint. You can drive
additional constraints by using the Parameters tool to create algebraic
relationships between constraints.
176 | Chapter 10 Analyzing Assemblies