How do I Replicate this key to all the slots?

planMODELmikro

https://cad.onshape.com/documents/8e59da0e45e3f7cd909b0561/w/84a0650dc76abf58217757e5/e/a8b3fe015bbd699990b3acaa

owen_sparks

Check out the "replicate" feature in the assembly.

The icon looks like a lego brick.

Help webpage:- https://cad.onshape.com/help/Content/replicate.htm?Highlight=replicate 

Also I believe you want a slider mate not a revolute.  (Unless I'm missing something the shape prevents rotation.)

Cheers, Owen S.

john_mcclary

It didn't like replicate.. 
it gave 300+ parts stacked on each other and with broken mates.

I would recommend using a pattern and suppress the unneeded parts.
Otherwise mate each one individually if you need independent movement.

See here: https://cad.onshape.com/documents/fc2f07ba7a6df0cdbc5d0e47/w/22b5629c76a1885adf9dd297/e/9427772e006b299b170eb9a9

planMODELmikro

John, How did you know it gave 300 parts? I didnt see that.

john_mcclary

I tried to replicate and Onshape got confused with the truncated fillets etc. It basically glitched from the topology and gave me over 300 parts all with broken mates.  It also took a couple of minutes to calculate. So I would avoid it with your geometry

planMODELmikro

Owen, I changed Cylindrical to Slider.

planMODELmikro

John, when I try to Replicate, I dont see anything happen. I did have it take a couple minutes in the past like you said, when I had it mated a litle diferent, but not now with its current geometry; I wonder how you got it to do that, when nothing hapens for me. I dont know how you know it has to do with fillets etc. either or a number.

john_mcclary

I was assuming the fillets were part of the replicate error.
because there are some instances where the hex cut out is not completely within the top face (see  image below)

If you want the hex pieces to float independent, then you will need to replicate or manually mate.
Replicate is nothing more than a quicker way to copy a part and one mate to some geometry.
The result of manually mating will be the same in the end. It is all a mater of effort.

A pattern as I have shown will make all the parts move in unison, and is far simpler to edit if you add/remove hexes, or change the face geometry by adding or removing fillets later on.

planMODELmikro

OH, maybe if I change that fillet to not overlap...  Nope, that didnt help.

john_mcclary

at this point it comes down to "The juice isn't worth the squeeze", or "tripping over dollars to pick up pennies"

If you are just trying to get replicate to work, then you are wasting your time.

We are taking the long way around to get the short-cut to work.

When they could all be mated manually in minutes

planMODELmikro

I dont even know if my design philosophy should be starting inside out or outside in first!

john_mcclary

I don't understand what you mean by that.

But when it comes to mates. it makes no difference how you model. Or what part is drawn first.

The mate connector will try and divide up the faces/edges of each part as you see it in the assembly. Then it gives you an option to select one of thoes reference points.

If you make a change to the geometry, and it deletes the geometry you referenced. Then your mate will break.

So it is best to completely finish your model before assembling it. (As much as possible to keep up with design deadlines etc.)
Otherwise you may end up fixing mates over and over.

When you have fillets upsetting the face you are mating to as shown in the image above. That is concidered a very volitile face to mate to.
A small change in anf fillet radius, or the hex size could break many of your mates.

At that point, you may want to mate to a layout sketch instead of the final geometry.

planMODELmikro

Oh, now I know where you got 300 from: 6*50some.
How can I see the 2 sketches to mate?

john_mcclary

You will need to "insert" the honeycomb sketch into the assembly and mate it (group mate most likely) to the honeycomb part. 



then mate each hexagon part to the center point of each hexagon in the sketch

planMODELmikro

Thats good for having more options to mate.
I chose the circle to mate; But Replicate doesnt work at all. Shouldnt that more likely work?

john_mcclary

I don't think replicate will work with a layout sketch.. at least I haven't had luck with it.

But this will give a nice large target to mate to, which is unlikely to change with model updates. So it is by far the best practice in your situation.

It helps if you copy/paste a hand full of parts at a time, then mate them all up pressing shift+enter before confirming the mate.

Here is a quick video showing how quickly this is. Replicate would be nice, but unfortunately you will need to do this manually.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9NYsmNSnR4