How to Make a Cylinder in Autodesk Inventor

The cylinder is one of the most basic shapes used in construction.

Autodesk Inventor is a professional-grade parametric modeling solution used by professional engineers the world over. You can use Inventor to rapidly create virtual prototypes and to perform analyses of new or existing designs. The cylinder is one of the core three-dimensional shapes used within Inventor to build more complex designs. Parts and structures from gear shifts to hydraulic pistons all start as cylinders. Becoming proficient in the ways to build a cylinder is crucial to working within the Inventor environment.

Instructions

The Extrude Tool

1. Click on "File" and "New" from the drop-down menu that appears. Double-click on "Standard.ipt."

2. Drag your mouse onto the 2-D Sketch Panel and click on "Center Point Circle." Drag the mouse back into the workspace and left-click within it. Slowly pull the mouse toward you to create a circle. When it is of a desired length, left-click again to create it.

3. Drag your mouse to the "Return" button located on the Inventor Standard tool bar and left-click. Move the mouse over the "Extrude" button located within the Part Features menu. Click on "Extrude."

4. Click "OK" in the dialog box that appears.

The Revolve Tool

1. Click on "File" and then "New" from the drop-down menu that appears. Click on "Standard.ipt."

2. Drag the mouse over the "Three Point Rectangle" icon and left-click. Move the mouse back into the workspace.

3. Left-click within the workspace and drag the mouse away from you to plot a rectangle of the desired size. Left-click again to create it.

4. Drag the mouse over the "Return" button located within the Inventor Standard tool bar and left-click. Move the mouse into the Part Features menu and click on "Revolve."

5. Move the mouse over one of your square's vertical lines and left-click. Once the green preview of your cylinder appears, click on "OK."

Tips & Warnings

• The cylinders created in this tutorial have different properties and cannot be used interchangeably. The square-to-cylinder method produces a short, fat cylinder that can bear a great deal of weight. The circle-to-cylinder method produces a typical cylinder.

References

• Autodesk User Group International: Autodesk Inventor Extrude In and Out
• Schroff Development Corp.: Autodesk Inventor R8 - Mastering the Rubicon

Resources

• Autodesk User Group International: The Creative Inventor
• PDFCast: Autodesk InventorTutorial Chapter 1