trying to make a piston in inventor

[gren737]

hey everyone, i'm an engineer and i've been working with inventor for almost a year and a half now and i still have not managed to figure out how to make a piston work properly in an assembly.
i have drawn the piston in 2 parts but i cannot figure out how to assemble them such that the rod will slide inside the tube....i can use the insert offset tool to sort of simlute it, but i want it to slide in and out like the piston would when i move the rest of my assembly.

anyone have any ideas on this?
btw i'm using inventor 8 now.
anybody who has any advice can find me on IM at gren737

thanks in advance
-sarah

[KyleGilbert45]

By piston i'm assuming you mean piston in a pneumatic cylinder and not a piston in an engine.

Also, I haven't worked with Inventor version 8, but maybe some of these links will help you.

http://www.mymcad.com/iv_tipstricks_answer2011.html

http://www.kacaju.de/docs/ASSEMBLY_M...TH_INVENTO.pdf

[gren737]

yes...air cylinder

and i got it.
i haven't checked out your links yet..but for any of the rest of you trying to do this

use a mate command and grab the axis of each part...not the faces...

-sarah

[ChrisH]

Originally Posted by gren737

yes...air cylinder

and i got it.
i haven't checked out your links yet..but for any of the rest of you trying to do this

use a mate command and grab the axis of each part...not the faces...

-sarah

Another approach would be to make a Tangent constraint between the cylinder and the piston surfaces. Be sure to use the INSIDE tangent. This way you will be able to drag the parts and make them move without having to drive them. The only problem is you won't have collision checking, at least not in 6.0, I can't speak for 8.

It works for me

ChrisH

[matt111]

any luck using the transitional constraint. i have made some simple stuff but i dont know if that is waht u need.