Updating the Excel table in the drawing

You have inserted an Excel sheet in your drawing from menu Annotate - Table - General

Without closing the drawing file, from Windows Explorer you open, edit the Excel file, close and save it.
In order to update the Excel sheet in the drawing with the changes you have applied without closing and reopening the drawing file, you just need to do the following.
Select the Table in the drawing browser or in the graphic window, right-click, Update.

Source: http://beinginventive.typepad.com/being-inventive/2012/02/updating-the-excel-table-in-the-drawing.html

Autodesk ForceEffect v2.0 now available

In November last year, Autodesk released a new simulation app for the iPad called ForceEffect, you might remember reading my blog post about it.

Last week, ForceEffect v2.0 was released to the Apple iTunes store for download and update with a number of new features added to the app. The new features include:

- iPod Touch\iPhone Support
- On-line Tutorials
- Distributed Load
- Set Weight
- Construction Line
- Autodesk Cloud Support
- Break Element

The #1 customer request was for the addition to add a distributed load evenly across an existing element and the #2 request was support on the iPhone and iPod Touch devices. ForceEffect v2.0 adds both of the #1 and #2 customer requests!!

The on-line tutorials can be accessed directly from within ForceEffect v2.0 and include videos of how to use the app directly within the app itself - so no need to leave the app watch the videos and learn about it.

Having access to Autodesk Cloud documents directly from within ForceEffect v2.0 means you can save your studies to Autodesk Cloud and access them from your laptop or desktop and re-use the data in your design development using tools like Autodesk Inventor or AutoCAD Mechanical. Alternativley, you can open documents you have saved to Autodesk Could into ForceEffect v2.0 to carry out a structural study.

If you've not yet downloaded Autodesk ForceEffect, it's free and downloadable from the Apple iTunes Store:

Click here to get Autodesk ForceEffect....

If already have ForceEffect installed on your iOS device make sure you update from the App Store.

Source: http://autodeskmfg.typepad.com/

Dimension of the internal circle of external threads in views

You have applied an external thread to a cylindrical part.

Then, you create the view of this part displaying and dimensioning the thread, but you want to know how Inventor calculates the dimension of the internal circle of the thread.

The calculation is based on the values in Threads.xls file.

For instance you have applied the ANSI Metric M Profile thread (M50x4, Class 6g) to a cylinder with a diameter D = 50 mm.

In this case the diameter d of the internal circle of the thread in the view is calculated with the formula below.

d = D – [Major Dia Min (column H) – Minor Dia Min (column L)]

That is.

d = 50 mm – [49.465 – 44.642] mm = 45.177 mm

In case you apply a thread and its column L is empty in the Threads.xls file, as, for instance the ANSI Unified Screw Threads and the majority of the Pipe Threads, the diameter d of the internal line of the thread in the view is calculated with the formula below.

d = D – [Major Dia Max (column G) – Minor Dia Max (column K)]

Soruce: http://beinginventive.typepad.com/