With the introduction of Inventor Nesting software in Inventor 2019 software, Autodesk made yet another inroad into one of CAD’s many niche markets. But what place does Inventor Nesting fill, and how is it best used? Can it replace a dedicated nesting package? What kinds of source geometry can be used with Inventor Nesting? Does it have a place even if a full-featured nesting package is already in use? In addition to a dive into the setup and basic operation of Inventor Nesting software, we’ll answer these questions. Come find out what Inventor Nesting can do for you!

You may have thought Inventor Nesting software is just geared toward sheet metal components. Learn how to use Inventor Nesting for other types of components and materials. Even if these designs come from AutoCAD software, other 3D CAD applications, IGES/STEP, or they reside in a DXF file format, this session will cover how to use different file formats in your nesting process. From setting up your raw materials, templates, and nesting studies to exporting the results back to your computer numerical control (CNC) process, this class will clearly demonstrate that Inventor Nesting isn't just about sheet metal. In addition, this class will offer an extra bonus demonstrating how the Inventor Nesting interface can be used to optimize a saw cut list and costing study for your bar stock material

As a manufacturer of any product, you may like to turn your ideas into machined parts using a familiar interface. Manufacturing sheet metal models no longer has to be a difficult and challenging process involving multiple platforms. Using Inventor software as a single system, as part of the Product Design & Manufacturing Collection, you can complete the whole process with Inventor Nesting and Inventor CAM. With Inventor Nesting, you can optimize yield from flat raw material. Nesting studies also can be used to create and then update to reflect any changes to the design to optimize efficiency and reduce costs. After nesting, you can use Inventor CAM to create a computer numerical control (CNC) code that will ultimately turn Inventor designs into excellent finished parts. This class will share best practices for preparing your model, for using nesting to lay out cutting patterns and minimize raw material waste, and for generating a toolpath for machining.

From cataloging tooling to final post processing, this class will walk through the world of Inventor CAM software. We’ll review several real-world examples to see the different machining operations and their options. For anyone from hobbyist to professional, Inventor CAM really is the one-size-fits-all software for your machining needs. We’ll then turn to Inventor Nesting and look at how Inventor quickly creates nested sheets from assemblies, as well as from other 2D profiles. Examples will include sheet metal and woodworking projects. In both workflows, we’ll modify the source files to show that the machining paths and nestings automatically update.

The class will explore all the major commands and options the Inventor software Nesting Utility add-in has to offer, including the following: Nesting entire assemblies or individual Inventor sheet metal parts, extrusions, and sketches; nesting on multiple rectangular sheets of same or varying dimensions or on roll material; optimizing nest efficiency (filler parts, tweak nesting parameters); reading in DXF (drawing exchange format) files and use layer mappings to guide the fabrication process; exploring associativity scenarios between 3D model and the generated nests; exporting nest as DXF or 3D model; generating NC toolpath using Inventor HSM CAM workflows; and exploring nest reports and costing.

This class will cover the fundamental concepts of programming in Inventor HSM, and Fusion 360 HSM, including the milling and turning applications. Attendees should expect to learn core concepts necessary for CNC programming any part as well as general best practices. We will also deliver the basic concepts of the new Inventor sheet metal nesting capabilities that are for the moment a technology preview for Product Design & Manufacturing collection users.

This class will be a case study that looks behind the scenes on improving workflow efficiency in a small job-shop situation. We will review the “before” situation, looking at the workflows that were in place before implementing the Product Design & Manufacturing Collection, and develop an understanding of where improvements could be made. Once that discovery process is complete, we’ll discuss the key areas that are identified for improvement, and then look over some new workflows that will capitalize on the Inventor tools included in the Product Design & Manufacturing Collection to increase efficiency. We will show some real-life examples of jobs that have been run through the shop with the old workflows in place and compare them to the same job run with new workflows to proof out our implementation.

The process starts with PDF files of guitar designs, which are imported into AutoCAD. These are correctly scaled and once the shape of the guitar body is finalised, the new shape is imported into Inventor. The new shape is overlayed onto an AnyCAD model in Inventor and then modified to suit the new design. The electro components are positioned into the guitar body and virtually wired. Some drawing verification is done to ensure that everything is the right size, as the guitar needs to sound right, then renderings are done in Inventor. A nesting study is then run to optimise material usage for a future production run. A CNC study will also be created for future manufacturing runs. The prototype will be built with hand tools. Next I show how to create templates for building the guitar body in AutoCAD. In this instance, 1:1 layouts are printed out and then used to cut solid oak to size. Additional templates for the pockets are also created.

In this interactive class, the audience will steer the workflow to direct the instructors in completing Inventor designs. At different points in the design process you’ll be able to vote on different design steps, driving the design process yourself. At the end of each section, we’ll step back to review the decisions you made and cover the pros and cons of each choice in Inventor. Some of your choices may lead to success; others may lead to the failure of your entire product line. Through this story, you’ll gain confidence for building your own designs and driving your design workflows the best way possible.

Do you want to offer customized products to your customers but save on engineering and CAM-programming time? In this class, you’ll learn how to parametrically build your product models, use Microsoft Excel and Google sheet for easy parameter input, and generate CAM toolpaths with minimal-to-no user interaction with the Inventor CAM and Fusion 360 CAM API. You’ll learn how to overcome the limitations of nesting CNC milling toolpaths on a flat sheet material to have a seamless and time-saving workflow from order to production.

A 2D sheet metal design using Inventor software is easy, scalable, and cheap. After the sheet metal design process is complete, production of the sheet metal design needs to be optimized to reduce cost and time. The same part/assembly designs that are created and stored in Inventor software can be used to drive cutting tools for all types of cutting machines. This session will cover the process of programming cutting tools to cut material in the most efficient manner possible using TruNest Multi-Tool software. The specific topics covered will include: maintaining design intent and revision control through direct link to Inventor software or Vault software; extracting 2D flat-pattern shapes from each sheet metal part automatically; nesting shapes together on each material to get maximum material efficiency using TruNest Multi-Tool software; and postprocessing the nested result for a variety of different styles of cutting machines. The postprocessor optimizes the machine cycle to maximize machine throughput and reduce wear on consumables. This session features TruNest Multi-Tool, Inventor Professional, and Vault Professional. AIA Approved

It is common for most sheet metal fabricators to have an ERP (enterprise resource planning) or MRP (material requirements planning) system, as well as software that addresses their needs for nesting and machine programming. What is not commonplace is for those systems to talk to one another very well. This class will present a case study in which the users are designing in Inventor software, managing their revisions and model data in Vault software, using a cloud-based ERP system to input sales and inventory information, and using TruNest to drive all of the machines connected to their sheet metal fabrication operations. What this class will demonstrate to attendees is a fully integrated sheet metal fabrication workflow, from the design of the product to its manufacture on the shop floor.

This session will discuss how the Autodesk Inventor API can be used to extract key geometric data from CAD models, that is then analysed using well know computational geometric techniques, for the purpose of rapid material selection and optimisation. This information can be used for anything from generating a rapid estimate for raw material costs, down to ready-to-purchase, optimised material selection, for multi-thousand part assemblies, in hours rather than weeks. It will also go on to discuss possible further use of this data, such as rapid machining estimates, nesting, or automated tolerance or surface finish selection in a model-based definition set up.