Datasheet

Waguespack c01.tex V2 - 08/30/2008 1:44pm Page 6
6 CHAPTER 1 INVENTOR DESIGN PHILOSOPHY
In this section, we’ll cover the tool panels in an assembly file, and after a few moments of use, you
should begin to understand the efficiency in the Inventor approach to toolbars.
To begin, locate the assembly file with which you will be working. With Inventor 2009 open,
ensure that you have no files open in the current session. Next select the File menu and then click
Projects. This opens the Projects dialog box from which you can select the Samples project that
Autodesk has provided for you as part of the installation of Inventor 2009. To set this project as
the active one, click the Apply button toward the bottom of the dialog box. Once the project is
active, you will see a check mark next to the project name. Now that the Samples project is set to
be the current one, you can click Done and then close the Projects dialog box. (You’ll find a more
detailed explanation of working with and setting up projects in Chapter 2.)
To open the assembly, go to the File menu and click Open. To ensure that you are looking at all
the files in the Samples project (and only the files in this project), click Workspace. Next browse for
the file called Stapler.iam. This file will be located at \Samples\Models\Assemblies\Stapler.
When opening your current assembly file (Stapler.iam), the first tool panel that you will see
on the left side of your screen will be the Assembly panel because you are in assembly mode. You’ll
notice that in your Model browser, all items are shown in a white background, with no portion of
the Model browser grayed out. You are currently in the top level of the assembly, meaning that
the uppermost level of the assembly is currently active.
Double-click the subassembly called Bottom (to do this, you simply click twice quickly on the
grounded assembly icon next to the word Bottom). Note that it is best practice to get into the habit
of double-clicking the icon next to the component name, rather than the name itself, because the
latter may initialize an edit of the name depending upon the speed of your clicks. Double-clicking
the icon will activate the subassembly for editing in place, within the Stapler assembly. Once this
subassembly is activated, all other portions within the Model browser will be grayed out.
With the Bottom subassembly activated, you will notice the Assembly panel is still visible.
Next double-click the part icon for Bottom-Back. This activates the single part for editing. You will
notice that the tool panel has now changed to Part Features. The tool panel change reflects that
you are now editing a single part file, with part features tools ready for selection.