surfacing fundamentals

[longroadtrip]

Hi

I am relatively new to NX but experienced in Catia v5.

I am wondering about the fundamentals of surfacing in NX. It appears that once you have modified a surface you can not reuse it.

For example if you have a base flat surface with two independent sheet cylinders that pass through the base surface. Once one of the cylinders has been filleted to the base surface, the base surface ceases to exist and cannot be used to fillet to the other cylinder.

In Catia all surfaces are always available, when you modified an existing surface you created a new surface with the modification, so the original surface could be used again and again.

Is it possible in NX to allow the surfaces to be used as they were created even after they have been used/modified, I am using NX10 but have tried this in 8.5 as well

Thanks for your help

 

[jerry1423]

Try to free yourself of surfaces on something simple that you described.
Working with solid bodies is much better.

 

[longroadtrip]

that was just an example for the problem, what I am designing really needs to be in surfaces due to the curved shapes

 

[JohnRBaker]

Please provide at least an image of what it is that you're attemping to model. I'm not sure what you mean by the statement "It appears that once you have modified a surface you can not reuse it." and an example would help.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Digital Factory
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

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

 

[longroadtrip]

here is an example

I have filleted the smaller diameter cylinder to the fill. I want to be able to fillet the large diameter cylinder to the fill as well but it appears I can not as that part of the fill is no longer there.

Is there a way of achieving this or am I using NX wrong?

Again this is a very simplified case.

Rob

 

[Xwheelguy]

I know exactly what you're talking about - I was first an NX user then was exposed to CATIA after using NX - and that whole concept of having the original feature laying around was completely foreign to me and didn't make much sense unless I were planning to use that surface again at a later point in the model, which was handy when that occurred but was overkill in most cases. I felt there should have been some control over that (user option, setting, etc.). Seemed to me like that was duplicating geometry for no apparent reason other than if the surface was needed later - which it usually wasn't.

The original surface is still there, it's just been consumed by the blend/fillets. If you go back to the flat surface (Make Current Feature), then there is your original flat surface. If you require this flat surface for some other purpose, then Extract it. NX is "time" based. When you do something to your features/bodies, what you see onscreen is the end result. There isn't a copy laying around because NX allows you to go back in "time" to see how it existed at that earlier point in "time". If you need a copy of a feature/body, then you can Extract one at an earlier point. There's no need to have copies of EVERYTHING. See the attached file - the features on Layer 1 outline my example. Layer 2 outlines another example using Extract on the Extruded features and another workflow to end up with the same result (but with more steps or features).

I understand it's hard to let go of previous concepts that you've learned or practiced, but trust me, in this case you're going to be better off letting go of CATIA's approach and learning to think in terms of how NX is built to function. Plus your files will be much smaller in size.

NX_vs_v5_example-NX9.prt

Tim Flater
NX Designer
NX 9.0.3.4 Win7 Pro x64 SP1
Intel Xeon 2.53 GHz 6GB RAM
NVIDIA Quadro 4000 2GB

 

[Xwheelguy]

Sorry, was replying as others were posting. It appears that your first example wasn't the same as what you were intending to do, as a Fill can be quite a game changer. My response details the first example only. I am using NX9, so I cannot open your NX10 part.

Tim Flater
NX Designer
NX 9.0.3.4 Win7 Pro x64 SP1
Intel Xeon 2.53 GHz 6GB RAM
NVIDIA Quadro 4000 2GB

 

[TheeCircle]

Looks like you could create the main part as a solid then add an edge blend then shell it?

 

[longroadtrip]

thanks for the answers, again this example is just to establish what is possible / understand the fundamentals of surfacing in NX.

here is my example in 8.5

I have filleted the smaller diameter cylinder to the flat surface. I want to be able to fillet the large diameter cylinder to the flat surface as well but it appears I can not as that part of the flat surface is no longer there to be used.

 

[SDETERS]

look at your trimming options in your Face blend options. I set mine to do not trim blend faces. Once you put in the face blend though I tried to change the trim type and it would not change.

 

[Xwheelguy]

LRT,

Here's two ways to get the same thing - a revision to your original route, with a Trimmed Sheet added. Borrowing your Bounded Plane and no Trimmed Sheet on Layer 10.

surfacing_8.5.prt

Tim Flater
NX Designer
NX 9.0.3.4 Win7 Pro x64 SP1
Intel Xeon 2.53 GHz 6GB RAM
NVIDIA Quadro 4000 2GB

 

[JohnRBaker]

Or you can take the approach I used in the attached example (based on you part) which in the end gives you the same result you would have gotten in V5

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Digital Factory
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

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