Place Fasteners

Place Fasteners

Win64, English

Artem Glushchenko
Automatically places fasteners from the user library or Content Center.

General Usage Instructions

Please watch the video tutorial about Place Fasteners plug-in:

https://youtu.be/CuIwsWbaw4A

Place Fasteners command appears under the "Assemble" ribbon panel of the Assembly environment.

 

Before you can start placing fasteners the application has to be configured.

Run the application, on the "Main window" click "Settings" and select your units of measure: metric or inch. Then select the fastener item you want to modify and click "Edit".

"Customize families" window will be displayed.

There you have two main options for defining fasteners. First is to use Content Center, second is to use your own library files. 

A list of all available Content Center families for selected fastener types is shown at the right side of the window.

The application supports 5 different materials for each fastener type. So there are 5 "Add" buttons at the left side of the window.

Each button corresponds to a particular material number. If you are going to use Content Center fasteners then select a family in the list and press one of the "Add" buttons.

If you want to use your own library files then enable "Use from Excel" checkbox. There you will be displayed with two extra buttons.

Click "Load all data for active item" to load all information about your local library for the selected fastener type.

To access the Excel document go back to "Settings" window and click "Excel setting" button.

In the new window, you can open the Excel document or change the link to another file.

The Excel document consists of a number of pages where each page represents a certain fastener type.

Each page contains 5 column groups for 5 materials.  For bolts or screws, you must provide the information about the thread size, length and file full path. The edge column is optional.

You fill it only when the application fails to select the proper edge for constraining the fastener. To do that go back to "Excel setting" menu and click "Select edge" button.

Then in the Autodesk® Inventor® window select the fastener edge. The application will show you the corresponding edge number which has to be copied to the Excel document.

Now the application will use the edge you selected for constraining the fastener. For washers and nuts you have to provide the thread size and file full path only.

The height and edge columns are optional. Use "Load data for all items" to load all available information from the excel document.

 

When you are done with the app configuration select the type of fasteners set in the main window and the material from the drop-down list. Click one of the next buttons:

"Add One" - inserts one set of items for the selected hole. The user selects first edge (top) and second edge (bottom). The application automatically identifies the thread size and the bolt length. Of course, length can be changed by the user when fasteners are placed.

"Add One By One" - after the first fastener set is placed the user can select other holes and the app will copy the first set and constrain it to these holes until "Done" button is pressed.

"Add Group" - the app places fasteners set for each hole of the same size as the first hole selected by the user on the current face.

"Add MultyGroup" - works the same way as "Add Group" but the user can select multiple faces.

"Add Free"  - the app places fasteners set just in free model space without constraining to the model.

If you want to disable automatic thread size selection just get the size from the drop-down list and enable check box next to it.

Then the fasteners will be placed with the size defined by the user. 

 

"Follow pattern" checkbox allows you to pick existing holes pattern and create "Feature-based pattern" of fasteners.

While placing the app also check the interference between fasteners and the model. If the collision is found then the fastener will change its appearance to the red color.

If you find this check redundant then disable the corresponding checkbox in the "Settings".

Screenshots

Commands

Installation/Uninstallation

Place Fasteners command appears under the "Assemble" ribbon panel of the Assembly environment.

The installer that ran when you downloaded this app/plug-in from Autodesk App Store will start installing the app/plug-in. OR, simply double-click the downloaded installer to install the app/plugin.

You can unload the plugin without uninstalling it by unchecking the "Loaded/Unloaded" check box associated with the plugin in the Inventor Add-In Manager. You may have to restart Inventor to completely unload the application.

To uninstall this plug-in, exit the Autodesk product if you are currently running it, simply rerun the installer, and select the "Uninstall" button. OR, you can uninstall it from 'Control Panel/Programs and Features' (Windows 7/8.1/10/11), just as you would uninstall any other application from your system.

Additional Information

Known Issues

Contact

Author/Company Information

Artem Glushchenko

Support Information

Version History

Version Number Version Description

5.0.0

- Added a possibility to use different materials from a single content center family. Now when you select a family in the list the available materials are shown below. Select the material you need and click "Add". If material is not selected the first family material (default) is applied. - fixed the bug experienced by some users when "Select length" window is never shown. Instead the error message is displayed. - fixed the bug when fasteners component pattern could not be moved to the browser folder

4.0.0

- Inventor 2024 support - Added a possibility to insert the fasteners as an assembly unit. This makes the model lighter and easier to maintain. - Added jam nut and low head socket screw. - Added new fasteners combinations. - Added a possibility to hide fasteners in the selection window which are not defined by user (thus not used). - Fixed several bugs where app does not insert fasteners or does not read the Excel file.

3.0

Inventor 2023 support

2.0

This app version supports placing fasteners from the user library and from Content Center. Fixed bug from previous version causing inventor to show warning "Inconsistent constraints..." while placing a group of fasteners. Improved overall application usability.

1.0

Initial release
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