Assign Items to Multiple Files With The Same Part Number

If you are trying to Assign Items to files that share the same Part Number you may have noticed a peculiar behaviour. Consider the following Assembly...

Improving Time to perform a Vault Server Backup

There have been reports that automatic Vault Server backups (Windows Scheduled Tasks) are taking several hours longer after moving Vault Server to a Windows Server 2008 operating system. However the performance when backing up through the ADMS console is much better!

Background: In Windows Server 2008 Microsoft has changed the behaviour of tasks and there is also a change of the priority of each process. In Windows Server 2003 a scheduled Windows task is created with Priority "Normal". However in Windows Server 2008 the priority of the tasks is "7" which is below "Normal" Priority.

The solution is to make sure that the scheduled Windows task is running with a higher Priority.

The Priority can not be set on a task directly but there is a workaround:

• Go to Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Task Scheduler
• Find the task which is executing the Vault Server backup
• On Action Menu go to Export... > Save the file as *.xml
• Open the .xml file in Notepad
• Find the line <Priority>7</Priority>
• Change the value of the Priority from 7 to a higher value like 4 or 5
• Save the .xml file
• Delete the Scheduled Task for the Vault Server Backup
• In the Actions Menu go to Import Task and choose your modified .xml File

Your task will now run with a higher Priority and speed up the Vault Server backup time.

This is an extract from the Cracking the Vault, Manufacturing Community Blog

Mix up your AutoCAD Ribbon Panels

The whole AutoCAD interface is highly customisable, but mostly requires users to delve into the CUI (Custom User Interface) to make changes. An easy, quick change that everyone can use is to move Panels off the Ribbon when you need certain tools or even move Panels onto a Ribbon TAB where you use them more often (more of a drag and drop affair).

• Simply click on the dark bar along the bottom of any Panel, then drag down onto the workspace. This will detach the Panel and create a Floating Toolbar.

Quicker AutoCAD Selection with Fastselect

There are a lot of different selection methods in AutoCAD, but a powerful tool which often gets overlooked is Fastselect (FS).

This tool enables you to select a piece of geometry and then automatically pick all geometry touching it.

• To do this type fs at the command line, then select a piece of geometry as prompted, by default this will be the geometry immediately connected to the selected piece.

Autodesk Customer Success - Gaoh Energy

Gaoh Energy, an ambitious start-up focused on a range of renewable energy sectors, is using Digital Prototyping software from Autodesk, Inc., to help deliver innovative solutions into the onshore and offshore wind markets and the tidal energy sector.

Gaoh Energy joined the Autodesk Clean Tech Partner Program, which provides software for emerging clean tech companies in North America, Europe, Japan and Singapore, on the recommendation of Autodesk reseller, Micro Concepts, which provides its IT support. Since joining the program, in November 2010, the company has been using AutoCAD and increasingly making use of the Autodesk Product Design Suite, including Autodesk Inventor and Autodesk Showcase. It uses the Autodesk software in particular to provide design and engineering solutions to clients developing wind farms and demonstration sites.

Autodesk Customer Success - Kocurek

Kocurek Excavators Ltd has been awarded the Manufacturer's Innovation award at the annual Demolition Awards in Amsterdam.

The company saw off stiff competition from the likes of Liebherr, Trevi Benne and Montovanibenne to have its HDI Beast named as the industry's greatest innovation of the year.

David Kocurek (left) and Brian Carroll (right) receive their award from IDE president, John Woodward (centre).

Sheet Metal Flat Pattern Export

After creating a Sheet Metal Flat Pattern you are likely to want this sending to a supplier or CNC machine in DXF, DWG format. You could create a Drawing and do a Save Copy As (AutoCAD DWG or DXF), however you can export a Flat Pattern straight from the Model file in SAT, DXF or DWG.

To do this open your Sheet Metal part, which has a Flat Pattern, then right click on the top level of the Flat Pattern > Save Copy As. Set the required format (SAT, DXF, DWG), location and name. For a SAT file you can specify the Version. For DXF, DWG you will be prompted with various settings you can adjust to get the required output, see screenshot below.

Tip: If you need to export a DXF without the Bend Lines, you can turn off the Layer in the DXF Export Options dialogue (Layer TAB). However some applications will still bring in the Bend Lines, for these situations you can create a Post Process xml which deletes the Layers for the Bend Lines.

Project to Surface

From time to time you might want to create something more complex than a Solid with a perpendicular Cut feature. A useful, but often overlooked tool in Inventor is the 3D Sketch, which contains some useful features, such as Project to Surface.

This feature allows you to project a 2D Sketch to a Face/Surface, allowing you to place sketches exactly on a face to use as a Sweep path, Split Line, Loft Rail etc. See the steps below to get yourself started with 3D Sketches.

• Create your Model and 2D Sketch geometry