What could be potential issues with Intelligent Fasteners (IFX addon)

[Ben8]

Hi,

we are looking to implement a custom fastener library using IFX in our department. It will require customisation of all fasteners, forming new file names and assigning custom parameters.

On the positive side, I think I can find all of the required types of fasteners in default IFX library, which makes building a custom one much easier. I have tested it for a couple of weeks with building a couple of custom fasteners and it went almost flawless. 

Now the question is - what unforseen challenges may arrise during development and using it? As any other system, there is something always to learn which is difficult / impossible to forecast, but would be great to know before we spend effort developing the custom library and start building assemblies with them.

Just to demonstrate my point - a reference example for issues with Solidworks Toolbox would be:

- Solidworks doesn't always import the excel files correctly to build the configurations

- Solidworks toolbox database occationally starts misbihaving and the fastener instances loose references in Toolbox database, thus loosing the size information (you open the assembly one day and all fasteners are suddently M36)

- Special procedure has to be followed at a year upgrade to update the database and the instances

- etc....

None of these Solidworks issues can be really detected before you start to use it heavily. I wonder if there is something similar to know about IFX? If people who actually implemented custom libraries for multi-user teams and used IFX with Windchill for a while could share experience - that would be awesome.

We are on Creo 9 with Windchill, with full IFX licence (IFX would be managed via Windchill)

Thank you in advance!

[BenLoosli]

One of my questions is: Is the IFX created parts in a family table or individual parts created from a standard template/generic part?

We use AFX and it creates individual parts for every item used in the assembly.

[MartinHanak]

Hi,

I hope @OliverGräbner can add some comments...

[OliverGräbner]

Hi Martin,

thank's for mention me.

I think I cannot help here. I can give support in configuration and setup and so on.

But in this case the question is how to use IFX in real live production.

@Ben8 If you need more information regaring setup and configuration, you can contact me of course.

Nevertheless I have some points to consider before setup your custom library:

• Figure out which fasteners you really need upfront.
• Use high-quality templates for all of your fasteners
• Which parameters are required in your company?
• Use the 'Instance Creator' to generate all your fasteners, validate them and upload to Windchill in one step.
• Use catalogs to ensure correct combination of e.g. standards and/or materials.

I hope that some customers will have more to say about the use of IFX in productive use.

[Ben8]

@OliverGräbner  could you please help me with configuring the pop-up explanations for the fasteners within IFX?

I am building my own fasteners by modifying the "mm" library. I am trying to have a pop-up explanation note for my custom fasteners (marked in green in this img):

I'm getting the feeling that they are controlled through the "mnu" files but I can't find proper documentation how exactly they work and i've just spent some time trying to figure out myself without any luck.

All I find on the web is this document:

https://dl.buw-soft.de/ifx/guides/IFX30_customization.pdf

but it seems like the folder & file structure for IFX is now a bit different to what the document outlines, and I can't figure out the current system.

Could you please explain how to do achieve this exactly? I suspect I need the following information:

- how to name the *.mnu file

- where to store this *mnu file (which subfolder of the "ifx" folder)

- how to update the contents of *mnu file to point to my custom fastener name

Lastly, I think the IFX Windchill connection only manages the *prt and *dat files. Any advice how to best manage fastener icons and the mnu files with Windchill?

Many thanks!

EDIT:

I got it working by modifying the "ifx_translation.txt" file in this location:

....\CREO9\Creo 9.0.3.0\Common Files\ifx\text\usascii\

I added the *.Label and *.HelpText values and it seems to be working fine.

I would still however like to find out what's the use of *.mnu files and how to manage these non *prt/.dat files with Windchill, if possible.

Thank you!

[OliverGräbner]

Hi,

great to hear that you managed the tooltip by yourself.

Yes, the document 'IFX30_customization.pdf' is not up to date.

We have changed the library structure in IFX 4.0 to a new mechanism.

The *.mnu files are no longer supported by IFX.

Regading managing the non *.prt' files in Windchill.

You can upload:

• Catalog Files (*.txt)
• Fastener Data Files (*.dat)

It is not possible to upload the icons.

On first access to an *.txt or *.dat file in your creo session, the file will be downloaded from Windchill and stored on your local machine.

Here are some links for  more details:

To Upload Library Files (ptc.com)

To Download and Update Library Files (ptc.com)

Solved: Windchill IFX download - PTC Community

[Ben8]

Thank you  this is helpful

Any chance you have a corresponding document similar to the  'IFX30_customization.pdf' but that applies to current IFX version? I know majority is kind of covered in Creo help files, but a detailed manual like that would still be very helpful.

On a different note, I ran into another issue and after a few hours of diggiing i sorted it, so posting it here just if it may be helpful for others.

I was trying to make parameters of generated IFX instances get Designated (the setting "Designated" of the string parameter set to True) . I'd like to do it so that parameters get mapped to WC attributes. I am successfully creating the new STRING parameters by having them defined in *.dat files, but they don't get Designated. I have tried pre-creating and saving these parameters in the source part *.prt that the instances get generated. The way I actually got it work was by enabling IFX config startup file ifx_start_mdl.cfg:
After i used the following, it started to work as expected:

CREATE_PARAMETER MATERIAL STRING ABC DESIGNATE

https://support.ptc.com/help/creo/creo_pma/r10.0/russian/index.html#page/assembly/intelligent_fastener/ifx_start_mdl.html

[YY110032788]

Hi @Ben8 

The application's concern is the connecting of the Intelligent Fasteners to the PN and PLM - modeling is a minor issue.
Each corporation has its own set of numbers.
Each PLM has its idiosyncrasies.

[BenLoosli]

You have to buy the full IFX license to customize the files for your company's requirements.

This is why we went with straight family tables for our fasteners and some other common items.

[Ben8]

Thank you everybody for the responses. Responding to your comments:

BenLoosli:

IFX created parts in a family table or individual parts created from a standard template/generic part?

I am going to create them from standard IFX parts, but adding more sizes, new parameters, etc. I will probably not need to add nor remove any model  features

OliverGräbner:

• Figure out which fasteners you really need upfront.
• Use high-quality templates for all of your fasteners
• Which parameters are required in your company?
• Use the 'Instance Creator' to generate all your fasteners, validate them and upload to Windchill in one step.
• Use catalogs to ensure correct combination of e.g. standards and/or materials.

Yes, im aware of all above. Ive ran some trials to build a few fasteners, aside from a bit lack of documentation it went just fine. I am interested in longer - term stability / performance issues that I can't test before the team starts to use them heavily, but by that point it would be too late. @OliverGräbner let me know just in case you had any feedback from clients that are worth knowing about. I'm aware that this is against your interest as a member of creator's team, but honest feedback about the product is always appreciated 🙂 

BenLoosli:

You have to buy the full IFX license to customize the files for your company's requirements.

Yes, we already have full IFX licence anyway so no issues there.

Thanks again, if anybody will have further suggestions - more that interested to hear them!