Hi guys,
Been gettin a few requests to make this. Keep in mind this tut is for putting the rims into 3D, not the drawing of the rims, which is a skill in itself. Most of the time you can guestimate with them, but it pays to be exact most of the time. You need 2 different views of the rim, a front view and a 1/4 section. You also need some knowledge of drafting, for instance, knowledge on how to visualise an object in your head (rim) and draw a 1/4 section from that. Imagine you're slicing a rim down the center to look at the profile of it, then draw that. You can look at mine if you're confused.
So start up inventor and begin a single part (.ipt)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...20Tut/rim1.gif
Anyway, I did the drawing in AutoCAD, but you can just as easily draw it on the fly in inventor while you're making this. If you drew it in ACAD, you might want to position it the same way as me, meaning the center of the front view is at 0,0. It helps later on, you'll see.
So anyway, I put the drawing into Inventor by clicking the button "Insert AutoCAD File"
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...20Tut/rim2.gif
And here's my drawing in Inventor. You can go ahead and delete the front view, its not needed just yet.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...20Tut/rim3.gif
Here's a nice closeup of the cross-section. You need to keep in mind when making it a few things.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...20Tut/rim4.gif
1. How are the spokes going to look? Are they conna flar out a bit at the center? Or is the center going to be pulled back (like mine).
2. Will the spokes connect to the rim at the very edge, overlap the edge, or will they going to be pushed back some. This is VERY important. Be sure you have a definate edge that the spokes connect with the rim on. It will help a LOT later.
3. Whats the outer part gonna look like? Is it gonna be a basic cylinder? Is it gonna have a bead where a tire would go? Is it going to have a lot of depth with it? Will a brake (if you modle it) fit?
4. What about an emblem? Is there going to be a center cap on the rim? If there will be, make sure its on a flat surface because that will help later when seeting up the assembly.
5. Keep a flat surface somewhere on there going horizontal. Preferably at the bottom of the drawing. You'll see what later.
Oh, btw, I have no idea wtf happened at the squiggly spot. no idea, seriously.
If you're drawing this in inventor, don't draw everyhitng at once. You'll lose your drawing after you revolve, so draw just the outer part for now (far right squarish part).
Now after you have made your section, you need to close the loop, as its called din inventor (if you didn't insert an acad file and drew yours instead, skip this). Mouse over a line on the rim until it turns red and right-click. Select "Close Loop" and click on every line (and say yes to the annoying message) until you have closed the whole loop. This can be either the most annoying part or a breeze depending on which version of inventor you have. I use a lot of splines in my sections, and Inventor 5 breaks the splines up into many many many arcs. Just hope you dont have Inventor 5 cause this is a MAJOR PITA. For this straight, square, shape, it shouldn't be that bad, but just wait until you get to the spokes.
After you're done, click on this spot right here (there should be text there but its not showing up for some reason) and select "Features" or something similar (depending on Inventor version).
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...20Tut/rim5.gif
You have all of two options now, revolve and extrude. Select revolve.
Select your section as the profile and a line parallel to it and 9" away as your axis (reference pic of the section to see what I mean, its the small line on teh left of the drawing).
You should end up with something like this if you kept all the settings the same.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...20Tut/rim6.gif
SAVE
Repeat those steps for the spokes. Simply make a new part and follow the steps except revolve the spoke section. You should end up with a dish looking thing. WHAT?! Those don't look like spokes you say. Well, we're going to fix that.
If you drew that flat, horizonatal part in the section, you're in good hands. Have a look at the face it made on the bottom of the solid model here. Right click on it and select "new sketch". Insert or draw your front view now. See why I told you to put the front drawing in the exact center?
Anyway, delete all the extra stuff from it so you end up with a profile. Do some trimming so that you have just the spokes in a closed shape. Go ahead and close the loop (enjoying this yet?).
Select Features again, and choose "extrude" from the list. Use these settings and make sure it looks like this by rotating the view a bit.
Set the extrude as an intersection cut, and make sure its going to cross the solid model by flipping the direction around (or using both like me). Then set the distance to 20 or some number you know is bigger than the height of the spokes. Rotate the view so you can see all 3 dimensions and double check it looks like the pic (mostly so that it crosses the model and the wireframe is blue).
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...20Tut/rim7.gif
If you don't understand what we just did, its pretty simple. We simply have a front view of the spokes that we are making a cut from. Because we have a closed loop of the SPOKES themselves and not the SPACES in between the spokes, we selected INTERSECT, which extrudes the shape, and keeps the intersection it and the existing 3d solid.
May sound confusing but mess around with it and see how it works. Also, if you're intereted in learning more on this, look up "Boolean 3D" on
. Its actually a form of geometry involving basic commands such as intersect, union, and cut.
Anyway, you have your spokes now sitting right there,ready for detailing. Now is when you add bevels, fillets, maybe more cuts, and other stuff. I didn't show them in this one, but you can cut screw holes at the same time as you're cutting the spoke pattern. Have fun with it.
If you made a center cap, do that the same way as you did the rim thru revolving.
Now, save your spokes and start a new assembly.
You will be greeted with a blank blue screen. Click the "Insert Part" button
Find your spokes and double click them. It will automatically put the spokes int eh center, and leave you with them on the end of your cursor in case you want to put more. 1 is fine for now.
Now do the same with your spokes. You don't have to place it near the rim just yet.
Now click the "Add Constraint" (or "constraint" depending on which version of inventor you're using).
Keep the settings as they are, and pick that predetermined egde you drew. This edge is the one that meets the spokes to the outer rim. Select an EDGE, not a FACE. If you choose the FACE you will get screwy results, and an impercise mating of the parts. If you drew yours like mine, you'd select the outer edge of the spokes and the corresponding edge on the rim.
You should get something like this.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...20Tut/rim8.gif
Congratulations! You have just made youre first, sophisticated, non-flat, 3D rim in Inventor. Pat yourself on the back.
Here is a shameless pl- er.. I mean a pic of the finished product.