Assembly CAD Design Using Position Tolerance in Geometric Dimensioning & Tolerancing

A systematic approach using Autodesk Inventor to design assembly drawings with geometric dimensioning & tolerancing (GD&T) is presented. Through the use of position tolerance in GD&T and the parameter data file in Autodesk Inventor, this approach can effectively generate the assembly drawing when specified with maximum material condition (MMC). Four steps are proposed to accomplish the task: (1) creation of three-dimensional (3-D) initial template files, (2) generation of hierarchical folders to locate the template file, (3) modification of the parameter data file in the template and (4) dimensioning and generation of the assembly drawing. Results show that, by following this approach, students or designers can effectively generate the assembly drawing. Authors: Cheng Y. Lin, Anthony W. Dean (Old Dominion University)