×
INTELLIGENT WORK FORUMS
FOR ENGINEERING PROFESSIONALS

Log In

Come Join Us!

Are you an
Engineering professional?
Join Eng-Tips Forums!
  • Talk With Other Members
  • Be Notified Of Responses
    To Your Posts
  • Keyword Search
  • One-Click Access To Your
    Favorite Forums
  • Automated Signatures
    On Your Posts
  • Best Of All, It's Free!
  • Students Click Here

*Eng-Tips's functionality depends on members receiving e-mail. By joining you are opting in to receive e-mail.

Posting Guidelines

Promoting, selling, recruiting, coursework and thesis posting is forbidden.

Students Click Here

Jobs

Any way of making a perforated part less heavy?

Any way of making a perforated part less heavy?

Any way of making a perforated part less heavy?

(OP)
Hi, I have a 90/80 cm, 2 mm thick plate that has 112 irregular double holes (i.e. 224 holes) in a specific pattern. I made the holes' pattern in the sketch, I think this is the "lightest" way. The file is still very heavy and reacts very slowly. Is there a better way to do the pattern? Would a feature pattern be lighter? Is there a trick I don't know?

RE: Any way of making a perforated part less heavy?

A feature / fill pattern may help, but I normally create another config with no holes in it for use in the assembly and only use the config with holes for ref in the drawing.

Woolly

RE: Any way of making a perforated part less heavy?

Did you use the Geometry Pattern option when creating the pattern?

cheers

RE: Any way of making a perforated part less heavy?

(OP)
I used the linear sketch pattern in the sketch itself. Where and what is the geometry pattern option?

RE: Any way of making a perforated part less heavy?

The Geometry Pattern function is available when you pattern a feature or do a fill pattern.  Check the help for Geometry Pattern.

Dan

www.eltronresearch.com

RE: Any way of making a perforated part less heavy?

I missed that you used a sketch pattern. I find feature patterns to be easier to edit.

cheers

RE: Any way of making a perforated part less heavy?

Please tell me I'm not the only one who read the subject of the post and thought, "Umm, make the holes bigger?"

Sorry...

RE: Any way of making a perforated part less heavy?

No handleman, you aren't alone...sep I said, add more holes. lol

Matt
CAD Engineer/ECN Analyst
Silicon Valley, CA
sw.fcsuper.com
Co-moderator of Solidworks Yahoo! Group

RE: Any way of making a perforated part less heavy?

In SolidWorks 2008, you can create a cosmetic pattern on a planar face.  This does not create the geometry, but rather a representation of the geometry. This should be much faster.  I would advocate creating 2 configs.  Have one config for the actual geometry correct version.  In the second config, supress the feature pattern and create a cosmetic pattern.  Each config could be used for different purposes, depending on needs (correct weight, performance in assemblies, etc...).

Pete

RE: Any way of making a perforated part less heavy?

atama,

Pete and Wooly's advice to use two configurations is about the only effective option.  The regeneration time is not so much a function of the size of the part, but its complexity.  Even that is not so much a function of the math to generate the geometry, but all the surfaces that are created.  Using the Geometry Pattern option, if it works, rarely saves on the regeneration time.  Saving a part with all the holes as a parasolid and then importing back into SWX demonstrates this easily.  The part is a dumb solid, but due to all the holes is slow to regenerate.  This is an area that benefits from a good graphics card.

There really is no work-around except to reduce the part complexity by using a simplified, i.e., no holes or only holes in certain places, configuration.

- - -Updraft

Red Flag This Post

Please let us know here why this post is inappropriate. Reasons such as off-topic, duplicates, flames, illegal, vulgar, or students posting their homework.

Red Flag Submitted

Thank you for helping keep Eng-Tips Forums free from inappropriate posts.
The Eng-Tips staff will check this out and take appropriate action.

Reply To This Thread

Posting in the Eng-Tips forums is a member-only feature.

Click Here to join Eng-Tips and talk with other members!


Resources