Why does Boolean subtract feature take so long to regen (nearly 10 minutes!)

kevin_radtke

I used an Onshape tutorial to create a simple part with a knurl. The Boolean subtract feature takes nearly 10 minutes to regenerate making using this part very frustrating.

When the part is first created the features are regenerated reasonable fast (~100-300 ms) but then the Boolean operation takes a dive. Does anyone know what's going on?

Here's a link to the part studio https://cad.onshape.com/documents/1849581b133a92dd551c87b6/w/4f93878b4f3a7d4a70802221/e/79ac65a4a4be486fb0cbd9dc "Test Knurl"

Cris_Bowers

Anytime you have that many faces on a part like that it's going to take a long time to regen. Unless you actually need the knurl for manufacturing purposes there isn't really a need to show it. The same goes for things like modeling threads on bolts, screws, and the like. There are featurescripts to model cosmetic knurls and threads if you just need some sort of visual representation.

https://cad.onshape.com/documents/64dfdda160870bf1524cd4c6/v/4cb0f5af94d82c0274c6b5bd/e/1454c123caef098823f3109e

Cris_Bowers

Anytime you have that many faces on a part like that it's going to take a long time to regen. Unless you actually need the knurl for manufacturing purposes there isn't really a need to show it. The same goes for things like modeling threads on bolts, screws, and the like. There are featurescripts to model cosmetic knurls and threads if you just need some sort of visual representation.

https://cad.onshape.com/documents/64dfdda160870bf1524cd4c6/v/4cb0f5af94d82c0274c6b5bd/e/1454c123caef098823f3109e

owen_sparks

If you really really need the knurling then when you're working on the document providing you're mindful of not breaking downstream references you can suppress the boolean and only turn it on when you're wanting to export a final part.  Taking this further if you have multiple features like this you could set a pair of configurations, say "high detail" and "draft" and set the draft config to suppress all features that don't add to the core geometry of the design.

Owen S.

kevin_radtke

Thank you for the replies. @Cris_Bowers I agree a cosmetic knurl would work just fine in my application, I will search for an appropriate featurescript.

When I came across the knurl tutorial video it looked fairly straightforward and did produce the desired result I was looking for (cosmetic knurl for the drawing) and at first it caused no problem, but the performance has taken a dive to the point where it is now an unusable part and often doesn't regen due to "a problem was encountered" message. I just wondered if I did something wrong or what caused the change in performance.

Thanks again!

Cris_Bowers

@kevin_radtke the link in my reply was to a cosmetic knurl featurescript

cody_armstrong

@kevin_radtke As others have mentioned creating knurl features creates many faces that take a potentially long time to generate. In some cases creating a feature like this is necessary (like 3d printing) but most of the time it is not. If you must model the knurl the approach @owen_sparks recommended of suppressing that boolean when it is not needed is best.

kevin_radtke

Thanks @Cris_Bowers the cosmetic knurl is exactly what I wanted to achieve in this case.