Sheetmetal emboss tool, 2007--no edit?
Sheetmetal emboss tool, 2007--no edit?
(OP)
Perhaps I'm missing something here, but I've got to make a simple length change to my sheetmetal emboss feature and cannot figure it out. I've tried editing the forming tool in the library and have even hacked the sketch in my sheetmetal part (no small trick, by the way) and even now I can literally see a shortened sketch in the emboss feature while the feature mysteriously maintains the feature at its original longer length. WHAT!?!
Am I missing the secret hand-shake to get the dimensional edit I need? I've tried CTRL-Q to force a rebuild--no dice.
Am I missing the secret hand-shake to get the dimensional edit I need? I've tried CTRL-Q to force a rebuild--no dice.
Jeff Mowry
www.industrialdesignhaus.com
A people who value security over freedom will soon find they have neither.






RE: Sheetmetal emboss tool, 2007--no edit?
I usually create the size I need by modifying one of the standards and saving as its own feature, or just creating it from scratch.
Modifying a standard forming tool, once placed, sometimes has strange results ... or as you have found, no results. I have better luck by not modifying the sketch, but by changing the feature dimensions.
RE: Sheetmetal emboss tool, 2007--no edit?
So I tried editing the forming tool. Nothing. I tried editing the sketch in the sheetmetal part, and it really didn't want me doing that (I figured out some "hacks" to force my edits), and it then formed the emboss with complete disregard to the sketch (remained the same). Weird!
One thing I found quite disturbing is that this feature is totally non-parametric. Meaning, I could not right-click the feature and select Edit Feature--I could only edit the worthless sketch. This is a bug--if not explicitly, then at least implicit to the otherwise rational logic of the rest of the application.
Jeff Mowry
www.industrialdesignhaus.com
A people who value security over freedom will soon find they have neither.
RE: Sheetmetal emboss tool, 2007--no edit?
And yes it is strange that the original sketch remains unchanged.
RE: Sheetmetal emboss tool, 2007--no edit?
Thanks for checking that out with 2008. Perhaps I should try it out again in v2009 before building features on it to see if there's any way to trust the feature.
Jeff Mowry
www.industrialdesignhaus.com
A people who value security over freedom will soon find they have neither.
RE: Sheetmetal emboss tool, 2007--no edit?
RE: Sheetmetal emboss tool, 2007--no edit?
Oh, well. I'll bet they change that in upcoming releases--it's a real black eye for anyone who uses it, so I'd imagine SW has had an ear full from users already.
Jeff Mowry
www.industrialdesignhaus.com
A people who value security over freedom will soon find they have neither.
RE: Sheetmetal emboss tool, 2007--no edit?
I try to leave my forming tool usage to the end so there are as few things that could be effected as possible.
RE: Sheetmetal emboss tool, 2007--no edit?
It would be nice if we had a Replace option for a library feature as we do with parts in an assembly. In this way we could "Replace all instances" with the new selection and expedite making the changes. (Enhancement request perhaps?)
That being said, however, how big a deal is this? A form tool represents a dedicated piece of tooling. We use them here, but our library feature accurately depicts what our dedicated tool produces. Once inserted we have no need to change it. We have only made modifications to a copy of one of these form tools when we bought a different one to add to our library.
Jeff, I suggest looking more deeply into the features that make up the form tool you are having issues with. If I recall correctly I had the same frustration in changing a sketch that did not change the feature, a louver. It turned out the sketch was an "extra" one provided for seeing the stamp profile for programming the part (this is needed for sending the file to our punch programming software which works from DXF files). The aggravating thing was that this sketch could have (should have) been tied to the feature-forming sketch using Convert Entities. I also had a problem with file location. Whatever I changed and saved was not being referenced in my library. When I took care of these two issues life was much better for me! :)
- - -Updraft
RE: Sheetmetal emboss tool, 2007--no edit?
My problem lies in the development of parts--so they're edited several times before final release to tooling. I don't anticipate changing the tooling after release, either, but between now and then the client changed parameters, etc. and we need to roll with them. So it's ridiculous to have a non-parametric feature for this sort of thing (which is the heart of design vs. the heart of production).
What bothers me most is that my model understands where the library feature is, yet that makes no difference--all associativity is severed. Can I kludge together a work-around? Of course--SolidWorks is great for that--lots of ways to get around road blocks. However, it's simply not worth it, making this feature worthless for my use.
Since associativity is severed between library forming tool and part file, the embedded sketch ought to now drive the feature--but it doesn't. That's short-sighted. How hard would it be to drive a feature with a sketch like ALL other features in SolidWorks?
So in this instance, I've got tapped and through holes in a rib I'm punching into the part with the forming tool. I'm also driving geometry in other parts based on these hole locations, so obliterating them by trashing this feature causes wasted time--dumb. The holes cannot be made before the feature, so they're made after the feature and lost with a forced edit. In this case, I recreated the form from the forming tool in conventional ways--just in case I need to edit this again. Double-click a dimension to change it and I'm done--no hassles. This is how the forming tool and library ought to work. I use a library form to create my feature, and if the associativity to that library feature is severed (which it is, by default), then my local sketch drives the feature. Piece of cake. Use a feature, tweak it for individual part use, be done.
Jeff Mowry
www.industrialdesignhaus.com
A people who value security over freedom will soon find they have neither.