About Creating Equipment

In TruFiber, set up equipment that matches what you use to manufacture your parts. Start by creating probes, rollers, and heads, then create a machine that uses these elements. You can also set up axis systems to be used as the home and tool change points for your machine. Once you have set up everything up, you should not need to change it unless you change the equipment at your facility.

Machine Creation Process

Follow this workflow to create equipment and the machine that it will be associated with. The idea is to create the building blocks used by the machine before creating the machine itself.

  1. Create the basic equipment that will be used, such as rollers and probes.
  2. Create a machine head.
  3. Optional: Add rollers and probes to the machine head.
  4. Create a machine.
  5. Create axis systems for the machine.
  6. Add heads, rollers, and probes to the machine.

Inventor File Types

Each element of a machine, including the machine itself, consists of an Inventor part or assembly file. You can use either type for all parts, but Autodesk recommends following these guidelines.

Part

Best for: probes and simple rollers. Use for items that do not require constraints, relationships, or complex geometry.

Assembly

Best for: machines, heads, and complex rollers. Use for items that might require multiple geometries or constraints between different components; for example an axle in a bearing. A machine simulation would require moving parts and is better suited to assembly. A head is also generally better as an assembly. If you need to add geometry to an item, it is easier to do with an assembly. With a part document you would have to create a multi-body part, and multi-body parts might not support some requirements; for example, movement.

Ribbon Behavior for Creating Equipment

If you have no documents open in Inventor, the TruFiber ribbon includes in-place options for creating assembly or part versions of your equipment.

Select the file type you want from the drop-down list.

If you have any documents open in Inventor, use the Inventor menu to create a new part or assembly, then click the appropriate button on the TruFiber ribbon.

This is the method that is described in the procedures in this help.

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