Guest Post by Paul Munford of the ‘CAD Setter Out’ Blog
The ‘End of Part Marker’, or ‘EOP’ sits at the end of Inventor’s feature browser to let us know that there are no more features.
But that isn’t all it does! The End of Part Marker can be used as a productivity tool in its own right. Here are five great tips for making use of the EOP.
Five EOP Productivity Tips.
There are five ways to use the EOP:
- You can step through the feature tree to see how the part was created.
- You can use the EOP to place features at the correct place in the tree.
- You can use the EOP to help repair broken features.
- You can delete all the features below the EOP.
- You can roll the EOP up to make the part file smaller.
Stepping through the tree
This technique is pretty simple. Grab the EOP and drag it all the way to the top of the browser. Now drag it down, one feature at a time. You will see the inner workings of the part revealed before you!
This is great if you are working your way through someone else’s part and you want to see how it was put together.
Placing features at the right spot
Any new feature that you create will automatically be placed just above the EOP. Just roll the EOP up to the point that you want to insert your new feature and go for it.
New in Inventor 2013, you can now right click on any feature and chose ‘Move EOP [To Here]’ to slide the EOP up under your chosen feature.
You can also right click on the EOP itself and choose ‘Move EOP to Top’ or ‘Move EOP to End’ to send the EOP to either end of the tree.
Repair broken features
Occasionally you might change a feature at the beginning of the model tree which causes errors as features further up the tree fail to build (we’ve all done it!)
A good tactic is to roll the EOP up to underneath the first failed feature before you fix it. Now roll the EOP down one feature at a time. Nine times out of ten the rest of the failed features will now build successfully.
Delete all the features below the EOP
If there are features under the End of Part marker, you will find that you can delete them all in an instant simply by right clicking on the End of Part Marker and choosing ‘Delete all features below EOP’.
Shrinking part file size
Rolling the End of Part Marker up to the top of the feature browser will make the size of the part file much smaller.
This is a great tip if you need to send a part file via Email or if you want to upload a part to a forum.
I hope that you found these tips useful, and that they help you work more productively.
About the CAD Setter Out.
Paul Munford is a Joinery draughtsman (a ‘Setter Out’) for Beck Interiors; a UK based international Interior Fit out contactor which specializes in Museum Interiors.
Paul uses AutoCAD and Autodesk Inventor to create manufacturing ‘Workshop’ drawings day in – day out.
Paul also writes for the ‘CAD Setter Out’ Blog, concentrating on Autodesk Inventor tips tricks & tutorials for Architectural Fabricators.