[JasJ002]

I don't know if there is anything in any of the later Inventor models but I know I've done work with cylindrical devices one of three ways. First one is using a workplane tangent to the cylinder (what you don't want to use). You can also utilize a workplane traveling through the center of the cylinder. Or you can start off with a square rod where each side is equivelant to the diamter of the cylinder. Then you create your holes and raised surfaces. Then you cut around the raised surfaces in order to create that cylindrical shape (usually easy with just holes kinda complicated with raised surfaces)