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Integrated BIM tools, including Revit, AutoCAD, and Civil 3D
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Professional CAD/CAM tools built on Inventor and AutoCAD
Integrated BIM tools, including Revit, AutoCAD, and Civil 3D
Professional CAD/CAM tools built on Inventor and AutoCAD
Any referenced datasets can be downloaded from "Module downloads" in the module overview.
Transcript
00:02
Interference detection and contact sets.
00:06
In this video, we’ll activate contact sets and we’ll use Interference Detection.
00:13
In Fusion 360, we want to carry on with our air cylinder and mount.
00:17
At this point, we're going to explore a few more tools that can help us with mechanical motion.
00:22
The first thing that we want to do is go to Inspect and take a look at Interference.
00:27
We're going to select the bodies in this case, the left and right brackets in the air cylinder body and compute the interference.
00:35
You'll notice on the screen that we have two highlighted areas and these are showing us the interferences between the different components.
00:43
This can be extremely helpful if we need to analyze where components are and how to repair them.
00:51
For example, we might want to use Inspect and Measure to measure the width of the air cylinder.
00:58
We can see that the air cylinder is 0.86" wide.
01:02
But if we measure the distance between the brackets, it's only at 0.75 wide.
01:07
So in order to fix this, we need to move the brackets so that they manage that distance properly and that we don't have this interference.
01:17
The first thing that we're going to do is we're going to hide the pin and focus our attention solely on the brackets.
01:22
We also want to do this before the joint origin was created.
01:26
So I'm going to move back before the joint origin and the timeline and I'm going to select Move, I'm going to select this body.
01:34
And I'm going to make sure that I'm moving the body or the components.
01:37
When I do this, I need to make sure that I move a distance at least equal to 0.11".
01:44
So I'm going to set this at minus 0.125", which should give us plenty of room for the air cylinder to fit between the bracket.
01:53
Now in the timeline, if I roll forward past the creation of my joint origin, it should still be centered between those two brackets,
02:01
because the face selection happened after the move in the timeline.
02:05
Then if we apply the joint because it's based on that joint origin, you should see that it's now centered between the bracket.
02:12
We can validate this by using interference and selecting these three bodies and computing.
02:17
Now no interference is detected.
02:21
Now that we've handled the interference,
02:22
let's view this from the front and begin to rotate the air cylinder and note that it's free to move through those solid brackets.
02:30
In order to make sure that we don't invade solid geometry, we can use another option called assemble and contact sets.
02:38
I'm not going to enable all contact because I want to be aware of other geometry in the design.
02:43
So we're going to simply enable contact sets and manually determine between which bodies.
02:49
I'm going to take a look at my contact sets in the browser,
02:53
and I'm going to right click and create a new contact set between the air cylinder and this left bracket.
02:59
Once I say, OK now, as I begin to rotate the air cylinder,
03:02
as soon as it reaches a position where solid geometry is in contact, it will no longer go through.
03:09
This is helpful to analyze the range of motion you have in your designs.
03:14
You can see that we can rotate until we get to a certain position where the air cylinder begins to contact the bracket.
03:20
This can help you analyze whether or not you have the range of motion needed for your assembly.
03:26
I'm going to revert the position and make one note about contact sets.
03:30
Well contact sets are great for analyzing the geometry between solid objects and whether or not they're interfering,
03:37
it is important that we don't overuse it.
03:40
As we've already seen in a gear assembly,
03:42
it's very easy for us to make revolute joints and use something like a motion link to specify the motion between those gears.
03:51
If we were to use contact sets between all the gears in our assembly,
03:54
the computations needed to calculate that motion would mean that the motion would not be very smooth if it could happen at all.
04:03
So while complex mechanical motion can be simulated using contact sets,
04:08
if you can replicate that with standard joints and motion links, make sure that you do explore that as a first option.
04:16
From here, let's go back to a home view and make sure that we save before moving on.
Video transcript
00:02
Interference detection and contact sets.
00:06
In this video, we’ll activate contact sets and we’ll use Interference Detection.
00:13
In Fusion 360, we want to carry on with our air cylinder and mount.
00:17
At this point, we're going to explore a few more tools that can help us with mechanical motion.
00:22
The first thing that we want to do is go to Inspect and take a look at Interference.
00:27
We're going to select the bodies in this case, the left and right brackets in the air cylinder body and compute the interference.
00:35
You'll notice on the screen that we have two highlighted areas and these are showing us the interferences between the different components.
00:43
This can be extremely helpful if we need to analyze where components are and how to repair them.
00:51
For example, we might want to use Inspect and Measure to measure the width of the air cylinder.
00:58
We can see that the air cylinder is 0.86" wide.
01:02
But if we measure the distance between the brackets, it's only at 0.75 wide.
01:07
So in order to fix this, we need to move the brackets so that they manage that distance properly and that we don't have this interference.
01:17
The first thing that we're going to do is we're going to hide the pin and focus our attention solely on the brackets.
01:22
We also want to do this before the joint origin was created.
01:26
So I'm going to move back before the joint origin and the timeline and I'm going to select Move, I'm going to select this body.
01:34
And I'm going to make sure that I'm moving the body or the components.
01:37
When I do this, I need to make sure that I move a distance at least equal to 0.11".
01:44
So I'm going to set this at minus 0.125", which should give us plenty of room for the air cylinder to fit between the bracket.
01:53
Now in the timeline, if I roll forward past the creation of my joint origin, it should still be centered between those two brackets,
02:01
because the face selection happened after the move in the timeline.
02:05
Then if we apply the joint because it's based on that joint origin, you should see that it's now centered between the bracket.
02:12
We can validate this by using interference and selecting these three bodies and computing.
02:17
Now no interference is detected.
02:21
Now that we've handled the interference,
02:22
let's view this from the front and begin to rotate the air cylinder and note that it's free to move through those solid brackets.
02:30
In order to make sure that we don't invade solid geometry, we can use another option called assemble and contact sets.
02:38
I'm not going to enable all contact because I want to be aware of other geometry in the design.
02:43
So we're going to simply enable contact sets and manually determine between which bodies.
02:49
I'm going to take a look at my contact sets in the browser,
02:53
and I'm going to right click and create a new contact set between the air cylinder and this left bracket.
02:59
Once I say, OK now, as I begin to rotate the air cylinder,
03:02
as soon as it reaches a position where solid geometry is in contact, it will no longer go through.
03:09
This is helpful to analyze the range of motion you have in your designs.
03:14
You can see that we can rotate until we get to a certain position where the air cylinder begins to contact the bracket.
03:20
This can help you analyze whether or not you have the range of motion needed for your assembly.
03:26
I'm going to revert the position and make one note about contact sets.
03:30
Well contact sets are great for analyzing the geometry between solid objects and whether or not they're interfering,
03:37
it is important that we don't overuse it.
03:40
As we've already seen in a gear assembly,
03:42
it's very easy for us to make revolute joints and use something like a motion link to specify the motion between those gears.
03:51
If we were to use contact sets between all the gears in our assembly,
03:54
the computations needed to calculate that motion would mean that the motion would not be very smooth if it could happen at all.
04:03
So while complex mechanical motion can be simulated using contact sets,
04:08
if you can replicate that with standard joints and motion links, make sure that you do explore that as a first option.
04:16
From here, let's go back to a home view and make sure that we save before moving on.
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