W4I BOM Standalone

 At times you may want to save, open and even merge BOM information using the BOM specification tool. Normally this is accessed via the CAD interface but there is another way.

Locate the executable C:\Program Files\Woodwork for Inventor 2019 v10\Woodwork4Inventor.BOM.exe

Create a shortcut on your desktop.

Once you run this app, you should see the BOM Specification dialogue appear as below.

It’s possible to create a snapshot view of your BOM using the save BOM function.

It will create a file with a .wbom extension which Can also be used to launch the BOM specification.

This will show an identical view of the BOM complete with the ability to export to Excel.

Up and running with Woodwork for Inventor v10

This quick start blog post has been long overdue. Looking to upgrade Woodwork for Inventor v9 to v10? If you are running with Inventor 2019 then you are good to go. Version 2020 coming soon when sp1 is released. Check out what the developers say here

You may wish to make a backup copy of your current woodwork for Inventor installation usually located in C:\Users\Public\Documents\Woodwork for Inventor. However you may have custom locations for these files including your database. Because we aren’t jumping just yet to Inventor 2020 we won’t need to migrate any inventor material libraries.

Log into your woodwork for Inventor customer account and download the full installation Woodwork_for_Inventor_v10.0_2019.exe 

Run Woodwork_for_Inventor_v10.0_2019.exe as administrator and follow the dialogue prompts.

Select Next.

Accept the licence agreement.

Select your location, this is the default C:\Program Files\Woodwork for Inventor 2019 v10

Choose Full Installation. Other options include not installing samples & not installing samples and component library.

Select the database location folder C:\W4INV 2019 Design.

Select Next

Choose your desired units, Metric in my case.

Now select Finish. You can now fire up Inventor 2019 and you will see a migration take place.

After this migration you will see your migrated database within C:\Users\Public\Documents\Woodwork for Inventor\2019\v10\ folder. However, if like me you have previously migrated from a previous release when going from v8 to v9, you will notice the word migrated added twice. i.e. Woodwork.migrated.migrated.db. Therefore you may wish to rename this file. Remember to set the database location if you do.

Now you can select “I want to activate software online” and complete the online form.

You can close Inventor and restart and you will have an active licence. Should you be migrating from an older release you will need to convert your old database into the newly adopted Json platform.

An example for converting to Json was covered https://livingontheedgeband.wordpress.com/2018/05/

What’s New Woodwork for Inventor v8

This new version of Woodwork for Inventor v8 (available for Inventor 2015, 2016, 2017 & 2018) is an exciting release and well worth the wait. So let’s start with what I can honestly say will revolutionise the way you think about creating and using a template carcass in your assemblies.

Forget your parameter linking, icopy, adaptive shenanigans! It’s time to use the new Woodwork for Inventor iBOX tool! it sounds small, but believe me it packs a punch, when you hear what it can do. In fact, It’s already got me thinking how easy we could utilise Revit model layouts. More about that later.

Another area that has seen some long awaited attention is to be able to generate a nest of panels in the CAM version. Nice job guys, this certainly keeps everything tight and integrated in the package. So let’s dive in….

Summary of What’s new

Dress Up Function NEW – Panel Mitre
Materials NEW – Replace material tool for model & BOM replace in specification
Drawings NEW – Can use DWG in AutoPlot, Hole Tables enhanced, Automatic visualisation of hole parameters in a drawing and changing the hole table form.
Visualisation of the information created by the Woodwork for Inventor add-on in the drawings created by the user.
Parts NEW – 3D hole annotation
Assembly NEW – iBox & enhanced Attach command
CAM NEW – Preliminary Nesting & Improved automatic clamping detection

Panel Mitre

An extension to the Skeleton Dress up capability, we can now mitre panels together in addition to the normal trim. All ready for further jointing methods such as adding biscuits.

Replace material tool in the model

Simply change all used materials in the model with a different material within the apply material dialogue box. This great addition makes swapping out materials a whole lot easier.

Pre-set material over-size

While creating a material, the user now has the option to pre-set the workpiece over-sizing. With this feature you do not need to assign an over-size as a separate command afterwards because it is applied when the material is assigned.

Improved material and colour replacement in the BOM specification

The user can now link each type of material to Excel tables. This improves the application and provision of data replaced in MS Excel tables for each material type and facilitates navigation in MS Excel table entries.

Automatic visualisation of hole parameters in a drawing

The automatic plotting of drawings now allows the users to request automatic export of hole position parameters into the part drawing.

Changing the hole table form

The user can create his own hole table templates in the Woodwork for Inventor drawing template based on which of these tables will be generated in the drawing. This ensures that the form of the hole table being generated are better suited to the user’s needs.

Attach tool enhancement

When attaching iPart configured hardware using the attach tool, you will now be prompted to enter the ipart configuration on placement.

iBOX Components

You can now author iBOX assemblies to use in concept layouts. Either create your own inside Inventor or you can leverage the solids created from other 3D packages such as Autodesk Revit.

This example could be a parametric concept layout of a Tea Point or Kitchen. We can define simple volumes that outline where cupboards would go, drawer positions and door spaces.

By using insert ibox tool , you can quickly place your template cabinet and it will automatically size itself to the space indicated.

Follow the prompts and select the sold first then top, front and right faces.

Job done! It’s easy and each unit will be unique to amend further using the embedded iLogic.

So this got me thinking, what if we imported a kitchen layout from Autodesk Revit? I used the standard Architecture model in this example. Quite simply yes you can, you get the bounding box of the unit as well as drawer fronts. I did some restructuring of parts in the Inventor browser to make some sub assemblies and general folders to group together parts.

Add your carcass (Woodwork for Inventor  comes with a selection of ready built cabinet templates so used the sample iBox models here but you can create your own). However, these models had 100mm plinth details and the Revit model cabinets terminated at the finished floor level. I moved the bottom face of each Revit imported body using Inventor’s direct edit tool -100mm and after an iBox refresh  all cabinets updated. So it doesn’t matter where your layout comes from. If inventor can import it then you can save a lot of time taking your concept to manufacturing.

I’ll cover this workflow in more detail in a future blog post.

CAM – Nesting

You can create CNC technologies for all parts which are suitable for the CNC nesting router machine, and later combine them and create a common nesting program for cutting parts from a single sheet of material. In this environment, individual CNC part technologies can be moved, turned, transferred to a different sheet, etc.

Improved automatic clamping detection

The clamping detection algorithm in the automatic CNC technologies has been improved. The user can now indicate more criteria that influence the automatic clamping option. For example, the user can set basic reference planes for all parts of the product, taking into account their orientation within the product. It is possible to set assessment weight for all the criteria, in this way adjusting their impact on the clamping selection. This adds more accuracy to the automatic creation of CNC programs performed by the Woodwork for Inventor add-on.

Applying Veneer Inlay after Inventor Split

A couple of customers have pointed out a subtle change to the woodwork for Inventor Material Apply assignment, so thought I’d share this short tip.

You have used Autodesk Inventor’s Split tool to create a mitre frame within the face of the panel as below. However, when you apply a contrasting veneer it applies to all top faces even though you select one segment.

When v7 of Woodwork for Inventor was launched it included a new tool called “Tangent surfaces selection mode”. This button is enabled by default.

By applying the veneer VF03 the result is not as desired and looks like the following:

The answer is simple. Enable the “Single surface selection mode” and you can apply the veneer to individual faces.

You now get the desired result below.

When running the BOM Specification it’s not really obvious that you have selected a different veneer but when you output to your Excel Cutting list you can see the veneer sheets individually allocated.

If you apply a veneer to the internal face you will also get this veneer piece included as below.

Experiment and you can build up some excellent Veneer schedules.

Enjoy..

 

Change Order Operation

You are using Woodwork for Inventor CAM’s Auto CNC Technology Tool and you wish to re-order your operation so that you can prescribe the optimum order.

Expand and select any operation in the browser.

Right click and select Reorder operations and the dialogue will appear.

You can now select any operation and by using the order arrows simply choose your optimum order.

You are now ready to Output your technology.

BOM Specification Navigation

When navigating through the Woodwork for Inventor BOM Specification you can highlight parts in your Inventor browser by highlighting the component in the BOM Specification, select mouse right click and after selecting “Select in Inventor”, the corresponding component is highlighted.

The other option available is “Open in Inventor” which allows you to quickly open parts or Assemblies from the BOM Specification.

Five Reasons why Woodwork for Inventor assists joinery companies today

In this Blog post I explain the five reasons you should be using Woodwork for Inventor in your Workflow.

Let’s AutoPlot

In this Blog post I thought it was time we took a look at some tips around the drawing environment of Woodwork for Inventor.

Anyone who has used Autodesk Inventor will know that you can save a drawing to DXF. However, this only works when using .DWG templates and we use .IDW which we want to automate on save.

What is DXF? Autodesk wrote the standard. way back in December 1982 when they launched AutoCAD and needed data interoperability between other systems including AutoCAD and called it Drawing eXchange Format otherwise know as DXF. It’s a vector based output used by many 2D CAD systems today and the original plan was to allow for Import as well. In the last decade we have seen the availability of 3D DXF.

So let’s take the scenario:

You have a built 3D model and you require a set of DXF files to be created.

1. Scale = 1:1
2. One panel = One DXF file
3. Annotation such as dimensions, edge banding annotation removed
4. Profile has to be the workpiece size and part size
5. Holes & cut-cuts must be included

Select AutoPlot from the Woodwork Ribbon.

Choose the template required as the basis for the AutoPlot. We are going to choose Each Component to separate File.idw.

At any point you can save your changes which will be written to your template. I would recommend saving with a suffix of DXF to the file name so you can keep your original template file.

Set the views tab to have scale 1:1, plan view for part. As we really want the DXF file in this instance the Inventor drawings won’t be used so it won’t matter if you leave the view set to rendered.

On the Labels & Sheet templates I’ve set all symbols to Do Not Plot. The template tabs are also blank because the title blocks and borders have been deleted. It’s optional if you want to leave the title block which would have material info contained.

Uncheck place table automatically and place hole notes among all views.

Select the Export To tab and DXF options. You can preselect where to save your DXF files if required.

For the Range Box & Covers tab make sure both part size and work piece size are set. Un-select place veneer, edge band and paint curves.

Delete the title blocks and borders

Save your template by giving it another name. Now simply execute the Auto Plot and you will get multi file Inventor Drawings with a DXF.

You can verify using AutoCAD if required.

 

 

 

 

Material Match with Material Picker

You have setup a panel with adjusted veneer direction and custom edge band definition and you can’t remember the applied material settings to match the rest of the model.

Use the material picker tool to get you out of trouble.

Select the Assign Material tool from the Woodwork for Inventor ribbon.

Panel marked ‘a’ is the preferred option and panel marked ‘b’ needs to change.

Set the Board type first and select the Material Picker.

Select the target board highlighted in red to set the material assignment.

Now Select Apply.

Panel ‘b’ now becomes panel ‘a’.

TIP. When resetting the board it will strip any Edge Band or Veneer Covers etc so you need to repeat to match the Edge Band on the front face in this example.

Copying Assemblies

You have an assembly completed and it’s destined to be a master template. It’s the same only different!

We’ve all done it. Used windows explorer to copy a folder with some Inventor models, tried to rename them and when we open the assembly Inventor is griping “resolve referenced part”.

Well there are several ways of approaching this; you could use Pack and Go, Inventor Design Assistant or even go the full Monty with Autodesk Vault. Well, Woodwork for Inventor comes with it’s own simple but highly effective in built assembly copying tool called Assembly Copier.

Use in context of the assembly Window.

Or, can be launched from the Windows Desktop

Allows to rename & update properties a copy to new location with a single click.

Let’s copy this Vanity unit.

The Assembly Copier ignores library parts automatically if they are stored in the woodwork for Inventor Library.

You can rename, choose new file location ect. Here I have prefixed my template with Project 1 after using the replace for My.

TIP. You can now select the New File Name column and whilst you have the first mouse button selected simply release over Part Number column and a prompt will appear to allow you to copy the new filename to part number.

Initiate the copy

You will now see a report.

Execute the copy.

You can make your changes and launch your new design directly in the Inventor graphics window perform your changes and save.

Here is a comparison vs Vault Copy Design and iLogic Design Copy / Design Assistant

Have fun!!