NX Sheet Mtl- Is it possible to "instance feature" along "xc&quot

[apekim]

I have a sheet metal part which contains a wall parallel to the XZ plane of the c-sys. I have a hole located through the material. I would like to generate a rectangular array of holes on this wall.

After selecting "instance feature"/"rectangular array"/"(the hole feature)", the "enter parameters" box appears. The only direction options are "number along XC" and "number along YC". Any value greater than 1 for the yc direction would result in failure because the pattern would be off the body.

Is there a way to select the x and y direction vectors (similar to the "pattern face" functionality)?

Thx, Mike

 

[JohnRBaker]

No, not when using Instance Feature (this is being addressed in NX 8.0).

However, since you mentioned 'Pattern Face', have you tried using that instead to get the results you're looking for?

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Design Solutions
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA

http://www.siemens.com/plm

http://www.plmworld.org/museum/

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[jerry1423]

I did notice when you edit the instance there is an icon "datum axis", which allows you to change the axis, but it doesn't mention if it's the x or y axis.

Maybe put the instance down, with numbers that don't fall off the part, then edit it to suit your needs.

I am on NX6

 

[apekim]

John, Thanks for the reply.

Using pattern face seems like a work around. I really want to just generate a rect array of the hole...not the resultant surface of the hole. It would be great if Siemens would incorp the same selection options (select x and y for directions) for the rect array as the pattern face. Should also be able to select the c-sys planes to define the x and y directions.

Thx,
Mike

 

[JohnRBaker]

I agree with you, which is why 'Patterning' is being re-architected for NX 8.0. However, there is NOTHING wrong with using Pattern Face since in the end, it's the destination that counts, not the route you took to get there.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Design Solutions
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA

http://www.siemens.com/plm

http://www.plmworld.org/museum/

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[BOPdesigner]

You can change the orinetation of your WCS so that the direction of XC and YC point where you want for your array, create the instance array, and then change the WCS back to where it was.

 

[JohnRBaker]

Yes, but while that might work for static situations, the 'Feature Array' will not be associative to anything, unlike 'Pattern Face' which is.

So if you've added these holes to a Flange, don't change the Flange angle as the 'Feature Array' will fail to update. However, if you use 'Pattern Face' it works just fine.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Design Solutions
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA

http://www.siemens.com/plm

http://www.plmworld.org/museum/

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.