Inventor tips and tricks: #2 sketching
Published Thu 28 Jan 2010
Steve Bedder shares his top tips on sketching in Inventor
1) Angle dimension
To obtain a radial angle dimension in a 2D sketch, use the dimension tool and select the three points in the order as shown above. You will then end up with the required radial angle dimension.
2) No Constraints
When creating 2D sketches within a part, Inventor will automatically add geometric constraints to the sketch geometry. This will make sure that your sketch geometry is parallel, perpendicular, horizontal, tangent etc. However, if you don’t want to have a constraint automatically added, just hold down the CTRL key and place your sketch geometry.
3) Tangent Sketch
If you need to draw a line tangential to an arc/circle in a 2D sketch, use the line command and when you click with the left mouse button to start the line on the arc, keep it pressed down and move the end point of the line to where you want it to finish. You should notice that the start and end point of the line will always stay tangential. You will see this by the tangent constraint icon that is shown next to the 2D geometry.
