Nutcracker

Step 1

Before starting be sure to review the Simple Machines Glossary Page .

Next complete the Simple Machine activities. Hit Start to begin.

1. Run Pro/DESKTOP
2. If the Tip of the Day window appears, click Cancel.
3. Click on New File.
4. Maximize the design window.

   

5. The modelling window is showing a workplane (green rectangle) with bold green arrows at the origin (0,0).
6. By default Pro/DESKTOP works in millimeters. Although most of the world uses the metric system of measurement, for this project you will work in inches.

   Changing units to inches

7. Open the Tools pull down menu.
8. Click on Options
9. Select the Units tab in the dialogue window.

   

10. Change both Model distances and Paper distances to Inches.
11. Click on and you are ready to start drawing.

    Creating Solids

12. We'll create the solid model from a 2D sketch.

    Sketching Tools

    • Straight line
    • Circle
    • Rectangle
    • Ellipse
    • Arc or Fillet
    • Spline

    Sketching

13. The green lines on the screen show where the base workplane is.

    

14. Select the tool.
15. Draw a rectangle on the workplane by clicking and dragging with the mouse.
16. Did you notice the workplane resized to surround the rectangle you drew?
17. Don't worry about the size of the rectangle for the moment.
18. Without realizing it Pro/DESKTOP is creating hidden constraints as you draw. The rectangle has perpendicular constraints in each corner and parallel constraints on opposite sides. These constraints can be deleted if needed in future designs.
19. Let's view the constraints.
20. Click on the Select Constraints tool.

    

21. The constraints show as small marks in the corners and along the lines. You may recognize them from math class. You will now change the size of the rectangle by adding sketch dimension constraints.

    Changing the view

22. Changing the view of the model as it develops is an important skill to learn.
23. The View pull-down menu contains a number of options.
24. Go ahead and try some of these:
    • Autoscale (a really useful tool if you get lost in the view commands!)
    • Autoscale selection
    • Zoom in (you will need to drag on screen to set the new screen area. Start in the center of what you want to view).
    • Half scale.
    • Manipulate
    You can access all of these commands using the icon menus located in the upper right area of the screen.

    View onto the workplane

25. Most of the view commands can be accessed with shortcut keys. You will now change the view to Onto workplane
26. Hold down the Shift key.
27. Press W on the keyboard.
28. Release the Shift key.
29. The screen is now viewing down on the workplane.

    

    You may now need to expand (or reduce) your drawing to fill the screen. Use the Autoscale tool. (Remember it can also be found in the View pull-down menu or use the shortcut keys Shift + A).

30. Select Add sketch dimension constraint tool from the right side of the screen (bottom icon).
31. Click on the left-hand line and holding the mouse button, drag away to the left to position the length of the selected line which is 4 and repeat for the bottom line leaving a 4 X 4 square.

    

32. If you have difficulty applying the correct dimension don't fret. Just double-click on the incorrect dimension, insert 4 and close the dialogue box.

    Solid Shape

33. Right click on Reposition the Axes and position the Green arrows on the intersection of the left vertical and lower horizontal lines of your profile. You will want to hit Ctrl + F to Fix the left vertical line of the profile.
34. You may use any geometric shape for the nutcracker solid. In this case we'll use the modified octagon as the solid shape. You will be using construction lines to reference the shape.
35. Select the straight line tool using the following coordinates insert 4 diagonal lines inside the square. Start in the upper right hand corner of the square (4,3), lower right = (3,0), lower left = (1,0) and finally upper left = (1,4). You can easily check your dimensions using horizontal and vertical construction lines. Delete all intersecting lines leaving you with an eight sided polygon.
36. Here's the profile ready for extrusion.

    

    Extrude

37. To extrude the profile click on the Extrude tool and the Extrude dialogue box will open. Insert 1 in the Extrusion distance window and hit OK

    

38. Good work. Dynamically rotate your solid using the arrow keys to view the depth of the extrusion.

    

39. We'll now project a hole through the solid. Hit Shift and W on the keyboard to view the work plane.
40. Click on the Select face tool and click on the face of the solid. It will turn red indicating that the face has been selected. Name the new sketch face and we're ready to set the hole.
41. Next select the Circle tool and draw a circle on the solid face. We'll set the diameter of the circle to 1.875

    

42. Select the Project profile tool and set the following parameters outlined in red in the dialogue box.

    

43. Hit and here's the hole.

    

44. We'll need another hole in the top of the nutcracker to accept the threaded incline plane. First we'll click on the Select face tool and click on the top of the solid. It will turn red indicating that the face has been selected. Name the new sketch hole 2 and we're ready to set the hole.

    

45. Select the Insert hole tool and the dialogue box will open. Set all parameters as shown below and hit .

    

46. Next we'll chamfer the edges and finish the solid. Click the Select Edges tool and select each edge of the nutcracker solid.
47. Select the Chamfer tool and set the distance to .125 as indicated below.

    

48. Dynamically rotate your solid and check to see that all edges have been chamfered.

    

49. GREAT WORK!
50. Next we'll work on the threaded rod and handle,