CADHP2 - Final Project

CADHP2 - Final Project

 

Dual Holrizontal Steam Engine Model

 

Dual Horizontal Steam Engine model. Taken from www.inventorwizard.be

My choice for the final project is to work with a Dual Horizontal Steam Engine Model. This is taken from Inventor Wizard webpage.

In this page are available all the parts and assemblies’ blueprints in pdf format.

Is a very interesting machine with many elements of different complexity for modelling and drawing, therefore with many possibilities for showing my knowledge. This Steam Engine is challenging both in the assembly as well in an animation level.

Day 1

Today I made the project plan where I describe the project. It includes objectives, risk assessments, quality assurance, and the work plan with the activities that make up the project, and the documents list and its schedule.

Project Plan

In addition, a complete list of all the parts of the Steam Engine was made for having more control of the production process.

Also, I began with the modelling of parts.

Day 2 and Day 3

Discussing with the teachers, the project will have some changes to make it more interesting and more challenging.

For extra complexity of the project, I will work with iAssembly factory tool. This allows me to create a realistic scenario where a company has a standard product with several models.

With this in mind, I selected another machine that fits better for the new approach.

This is the new machine: a Dual Horizontal Steam Engine Model, taken also from Inventor Wizard webpage.

I upgraded the project plan and started modelling the new machine including stablishing iParts and its correspondent parameters.

Revised Project Plan

Starting with the original machine, I decided to make to additional variations. The original machine will be named -24 since the piston diameter is 24. The other two variations will be named -50 and -70 according to their piston diameters. There will be other features and dimensions that will change accordingly. 

Working with iPart Author

Day 4

I decided to centre myself on the cylinder assembly to have all parts finish and try out how the iAssembly works.

Making the parts, I realized that it is easier to establish the parameters first and then turn the normal part into an iPart. 

Working in the assembly, I discovered that the iParts cannot be edited in the assembly and you have no access to any features of the iPart. This is a disadvantage when working with patterns and making quick modifications on the parts.

Otherwise, it is simple to assemble the iParts. The next step will be to test the different members of the iAssembly to see if all parts and iParts work correctly together when switching between members.

Day 5

Today I continued working on the Cylinder Assembly, and while testing the different members of the iAssembly many small issues appeared. The biggest challenge has been setting up correctly everything related with patterns.

In addition, standard parts are challenging to handle between members since they behave different from parts and iParts.

I have been using an excel spreadsheet to have control over the different assemblies, parts and parameters used in the model.  When solving small issues this table is very useful, especially since in not possible to see part properties of iParts in iAssembly.

Also was time to make the first status report, from which I conclude that I am on schedule according to the plan but it was necessary to have the Cylinder Assembly very soon. So finally, success!

 

Day 6

Today I started working on the Crosshead Container and the Rocker Shaft subassemblies. I used the complete day for modelling parts based on the original drawings. 

I tried to apply what I had learn from the first assembly, mainly being careful with patterns, not using the mirror tool for features and making the sketches easy to adapt to new dimensions.  

Here are some images of the parts I made today. 

Crosshead assembly parts

Rockshaft assembly parts

Crosshead Container

The plan for tomorrow is to be done with all of these parts, start converting to iParts, and begin making the correspondent subassemblies.  

 

Day 7

Today I continued modelling parts and configuring parameters to establish iParts according to the planned assembly structure. I applied the lessons learned from the first assembly (cylinder assembly) so that the iParts are assembled effortlessly and they work properly when switching between the members. 

Parts modelled according to standard drawings

Day 8

Today I started making the Crosshead Container Assembly. I had no issues putting the different parts together, but I decided to incorporate the Connecting Rod Assembly as a subassembly of the Crosshead Container Assembly as it is usual to place together the components that form a subsystem within the machine.

In addition, I placed together the Rocker Assembly, which required the presence of the Rocker Shaft Assembly, both as iAssemblies.

During this process, it was necessary to convert some parts to iParts, which I had not considered to convert before.

It is very interesting to see how all the parts come together and the machine begins to take form.

As from mentioned above, I have made some small changes on how the assembly structure is organized. Also, I have included a few additional features on a couple of parts. These changes do not alter the design of the machine but I consider them small improvements.  

Parts and subassemblies converted into iParts and iAssemblies

Rocker Assembly

Container Assembly

 Day 9

During the process of making the Containers iAssembly, I realized that since there are no drawings of dimensions for the base of the machine, it would be difficult to correctly estimate all the dimensions. Therefore, the objective changed again. Now the priority was to finishing modelling all the parts. 

Flywheel

Crank

Modelling of individual parts

In the coming days I will focus on completing the original machine so that I can create the model for the base and from there start completing the iAssemblies for all the members.  
 

Day 10

Today I concentrated on assembling the four main subassemblies that make the mechanism work. I manage to make a working assembly for the original size factory member.

It was pleasing that I found no issues while connecting the subassemblies together and rewarding watching all the parts of the mechanism moving correctly together.

It was also time for the second status report.

Day 11

Now is the time for stablishing the rest of the parameters needed to completing all members. This is no easy task. Some of the parameters already stablished do not behave like I expected so is important to look for errors that can be fix, if is not the case the only way out is disposed it and try something new. It takes its time to go part to part and arrange it so that works in the three members. After that, also must be checked that the part fits correctly in the mechanism.

Main Shaft Assembly with original dimensions

Main Shaft Assembly with Cranks for second iAssembly Factory member

Main Shaft Assembly with Cranks for third iAssembly Factory member

 

Day 12

Today I continued working on fine-tuning the model. My main issues again are with patterns and standard parts. Patterns that were made on an iPart cannot be referenced in an Assembly, for example a hole pattern in an iPart cannot be referenced to place the associated bolts in the assembly. So the best solution is to make a new pattern matching the existing one. In addition, the family table of standard parts is not visible in the iAssembly Table. To work around this issue, I have to exclude or include the standard parts on each iAssembly Factory member as needed. Therefore, there is a lot of parameters envolved when for example both the bolt size and the pattern change for the different members.

 

Patterns and Standard Parts changing for each member

Main shaft assembly shown for all 3 iAssembly Factory members

Day 13

Today I finished the mechanic part of the model. Now the four subassemblies that had mechanisms are completed for all three iAssembly Factory members, and working correctly together. These are:

• §  Crosshead Container Assembly
• §  Main Shaft Assembly
• §  Cylinder Assembly
• §  Rocker Assembly

Tomorrow I will focus on the pipes, their dependents and the base structure.

iAssembly Factory members mechanisims completed.

Day 14

Today I started working on the piping and the base subassemblies. My plan is to complete the model for the original size machine since this is the one shown in the drawings. 

Piping subassembly

Base iAssembly

While modelling the assemblies and parts, I found out a few errors and missing dimensions in the drawings. Because of this, I had to use more time than planned to finish the complete machine.

At the end of the day, the model for the original machine is finally 100% complete.

Fully completed model for the original-size machine

Day 15

Today’s work is centred on completing the other two iAssembly factory members. Since as mention before, the base and piping drawings have errors and missing dimensions, I chose to make the modifications based on my interpretation of the design. In addition, for the Base iAssembly I included the use of the frame tool. These two new iAssemblies and the complete iAssembly were made with all the same techniques I used on the first subassemblies. This helped my recover some of the time lost, since I could directly apply the needed technic for each of the features.

Now all the three iAssembly factory members are complete. It is very interesting to see how with a single click the hole model changes to a new size with all the parts and mechanisms working together. I has been a really challenging task to complete the 3D model with full iAssembly functionality to switch betweem members.

However are a couple of issues that have appear in the model:

• Some components, mainly bolts, are not represented in the correct location when switching between members; this is easily solved by moving the mechanism.
• On the Rocker Assembly, a mate constraint works incorrectly at random, making other constraints fail. This is solved by suppressing and then enabling the constraints involved.

 It is rare because these issues do not appear always, they are more like a random event.

I have also made some initial work on the Animation of the model using Inventor Studio. I have tried different tools to get inspiration for the animations I will present, and I have done some test on rendering time to estimate what can be achieved in the days I have left.

 

Complete iAssembly Factory

Day 16

The project’s due date is nearing, so today my focus was on completing milestones that are behind schedule. Next on the plan are the iPart drawings. Since the scope of the project was limited to only a few drawings, I took some time to see which iParts would be most representative of this task. I chose the Cylinder and the Crosshead container. To represent the information for all three iPart members, I used a table with reference dimensions. This is also a strong advantage of using iParts since it reduces significantly the number of documents needed to have a complete drawing set. In this case, two drawings replace 6 drawings made on using conventional parts.

It was also time to submit the third and final Status Report.

Cylinder iPart Drawing

Crosshead iPart Drawing

Day 17

Today I continued with the drawing activity, but now on the Main Assembly drawings. I have decided to make the drawing in four sheets. On the first three sheets, I show each of the iAssembly factory members with its respective Parts List, and on the last sheet, all three members are shown in isometric view to better compare the size difference between them. 

Main Assembly Drawing

Next, I focused on the animation files that I rendered over past day. Due to time, I decided to prepare a single animation setup and render it for the 3 iAssembly factory members.

Rendering Sample

Finally, I began work on the final report. I has been a long day but I have been able to complete several milestones with very good results.

Day 18

Today is the last day for the project. I used most of the time finishing the final report and preparing the files to be submitted. Also, I made quality checks throughout the files. These final days have been very busy for me.

Conclusion

I am very pleased with the results for this final project. It has been very demanding to correctly implement the iPart and iAssembly features. It definitely added complexity to the task since standard solutions not always worked correctly. So I had to often try alternatives using all my knowledge of Inventor. I learned a lot by having to challenge myself to work efficiently to complete the plan’s milestones always having in mind the high quality of work I wanted to deliver.

I hope I get the chance to apply this knowledge soon in the industry. The iPart and iAssembly tools have a direct application in real-life situations, where a line of standard products is handled by a company that makes all its design and documentation process with CAD tools. Being able to switch between one member to another with a single click is a powerful feature, not to mention its impact on reducing the number of related files. However, I guess it does take some commitment to select this solution since there are compromises to be made along the way.

Finally, this marks the final stage of my Technical Design course. It has been a very demanding year, but most of all, I have gained a lot of knowledge and experience. Apart from the learning to use the software itself, the most important skill I gained was managing my time and using the working plan as a tool to keep up with the busy schedule of the course.