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Fill Pattern in SW - how to limit to blind depth ??

Fill Pattern in SW - how to limit to blind depth ??

Fill Pattern in SW - how to limit to blind depth ??

(OP)
Every other damn feature in SW 2011 has a way (in Property Manager) to define/limit the depth of the feature, but apparently not FILL PATTERN.

I'm trying to add custom perforated sections into an eighth-inch thick aluminum chassis.  The chassis is modeled as one solid piece with several internal walls or electrical shielding dividers.

I want to add a square area, the inside of which should be perforated...basically, these are ventilation holes.

So I create a new sketch on the plane of an outside surface of the metal chassis.  I draw a rectangle.  Then I add a Fill Pattern feature and select the sketched rectangle as the "Fill Boundary".  I also select the two outside chassis surfaces as "Faces to Pattern".  I use the "Create seed cut" option and make a small circle.

Everything works great, the pattern looks perfect.

There's only one problem: The resulting perforation cuts all the way through the chassis and also perforates every internal dividing wall.  I only want the outer two chassis walls to be perforated, however.

Every other feature offers a "up to next" and "blind" depth option.  Why is that not present for FILL PATTERN?   Why am I forced to use "Feature Scope" that requires a solid body, resulting in cuts to every internal part of the (solid body that is my) chassis.

At a loss, would appreciate any input.  TIA

RE: Fill Pattern in SW - how to limit to blind depth ??

Can you post the part (or a similar non-proprietary one) to experiment with?

RE: Fill Pattern in SW - how to limit to blind depth ??

Maybe you could not merge the features into one body so the perforated parts will be separate bodies??

--
Hardie "Crashj" Johnson
SW 2011 SP 4.0
HP Pavillion Elite HPE
W7 Pro, Nvidia Quaddro FX580

 

RE: Fill Pattern in SW - how to limit to blind depth ??

Are using 'Features to Pattern' (vs. 'faces', as you post)?  It's the only one for which I see a 'create seed cut' option.  And it does appear that 'through all' is the only option with that cut.

How I would get blind or otherwise depth-controlled holes would be to make a single hole to the end condition desired, using either a cut or the hole wizard.  Then fill-pattern that feature rather than making the seed cut within the pattern command.

Depending on your needs for this pattern it may make even more sense to use a pattern or decal to represent the perforations without incurring the overhead of a dense fill pattern.

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