Creating Custom Hole

[jupdyke]

Hello All,

Once again I am trying to do something a little ambitious. We use a CMM to measure how accurately we can install some parts. To do this we create a conical divot in the part and then place a 3mm sphere stylus inside the cone. Here is a link to what the stylus looks like

http://www.mmsonline.com/cdn/cms/DK_stylus.jpg

I would like to create a new standard hole which would create this conical divot. If I could place a point on the surface and have the hole be normal to the surface that would be perfect. We have some really complex curves and putting several of these conical cuts is a real pain. Also, from a statistical point of view we want them asymmetrically placed so making a pattern doesn't really help either.

Attached is a sketch of the cross section of the conical divot. The idea is that the center of the 3mm sphere will be on the surface. Any ideas of how to do something like that?

Thank you to all the ProE gurus out there.
Josh

 

[looslib]

A 'hole' using a Pro/E hole table file can only have straight walls.
Your best method is to create a defined shape and place it and subtract the shape from your part to create the divot.


"Wildfires are dangerous, hard to control, and economically catastrophic."

Ben Loosli

 

[jvian]

I would create a user defined feature (UDF). We use a very specific hole shape for porting our test fixtures which is easily done as either a "sketched hole" or revolved cut feature. The problem with either method is the fact that we are placing several of these along an offset axis to the center of a cylinder and re-drawing them every time was very time consuming. What I was able to do was define a feature that referenced only an "on-surface csys" where I am now easily able to create a new feature which only requires the input of the mounting surface (in my case the OD of the cylinder) and the predefined csys. The UDF is also family table driven so to put in my oddly located port I am able to create a csys "on the surface" of the cylinder and in the orientation of where I want the feature and then insert the UDF. During the placement of the feature I am prompted for a specific size porting from the family table. This took the modeling time for ten to twenty ports of various sizes on one cylinder from hours to less than an hour.

I would look into the UDF concept as it may be a great option for what you are after. It did take some time to develop but it was well worth it. Sorry if that seems confusing or not what you are after and good luck.

Hope that helps,

- J -