Suppressing features when variables are within a certain range?

sam_parsons

Is it possible to suppress features when a variable enters a specified range?

For example, I have a drawer front which is bespoke, that fixes to the front of drawer boxes with standard heights. I'd like to be able to set up a configuration where the standard height of the drawer box is automatically chosen based on the height of the drawer front that is specified in a configuration variable.

Thanks in advance!

mahir

I didn't say it was impossible - just a bit tedious. Here's the equation I used in my example. It selects #Box_Height based on the following categories of #Front_Height (x): x>=300mm, 200mm<=x<300mm, x<200mm. This is only 3 height categories, but you can see what I mean by tedious. 

(#Front_Height>=300mm)?250mm:((#Front_Height>=200mm)?150mm:50mm)

Even then, this won't suppress/unsuppress any features. I don't believe this is possible on the fly. The formula above will give you a #Box_Height variable you can work with to build the box. I believe this is a more robust method anyway vs creating a bunch of imported box features and then selectively suppressing all but one. You'll just need to extract the dimensions of the standard box sizes and feed them into the formula.

Alternatively, if you want to delve into the world of programming custom featurescript (way more complicated), you might be able to turn your cabinet into one big featurescript using configuration instantiation.
https://forum.onshape.com/discussion/12514/conditional-feature-suppression

mahir

A link would help. It's not exactly clear what you're trying to accomplish. I think what you want is to have a continuously variable drawer front height height that then drives a standard/discrete/quantized  drawer box height. I don't think you need to control feature suppression. What you need is to dictate the box height dimension/variable based on the front height dimension/variable. That sound right?

mahir

Here's an example of selecting discrete variable values based on a separate input variable. It uses nested ternary operators to select #Box_Height based on #Front_Height.

Depending on how your standard box sizes organized, you might be able to use a more direct formula like how #Box_Height2 is calculated. For example, if X is your front height, and you want your box height Y to be a multiple of 50mm, you could use Y = int(X/50mm)*50mm.

https://cad.onshape.com/documents/57acdfaae4b005c413ed9b6f/w/3fd585a46d3af1b3ba413c53/e/cb34679fd045218a798582d8

sam_parsons

Thanks for the quick response!

Apologies, here is a link:
https://cad.onshape.com/documents/827347648cc8ee130e3caf17/w/eabb548268798a41ec33b4f4/e/9b43f1bbee329773af3fae23?configuration=Bottom_Height%3D0.1%2Bmeter%3BDepth%3D0.6%2Bmeter%3BHeight%3D0.8%2Bmeter%3BInlay%3Dfalse%3BList_HJzAp8nt84tFXD%3DDefault%3BList_Jwj8U3v2PStPC7%3DDefault%3BList_Mnb6Gfld2lbfp8%3Dx0%3BList_gSQFZ0I93ExOCv%3DDefault%3BList_wl2AoVC9mDbK3X%3DDefault%3BList_yMwnONRN8V1Hui%3DDefault%3BWidth%3D0.6%2Bmeter

Actually, the drawer box isn't modelled, as it's provided by a different supplier. The info from the drawer box that's needed is the position of the screw holes for fitting the front to the box. These screw holes have different positions and configurations based on the standard height of the drawer box, i.e. If the drawer box is 105mm, there are two holes 32mm apart, if the drawer box is 145mm high then there are three holes 32mm and 64mm apart respectively.

Hopefully from the link you can see that I have created a part studio for the screw holes based on the possible configurations of the drawer box screw holes and created a boolean tool to subtract from the drawer front.

I was hoping to be able to tell the derived drawer box boolean tool have configuration X (where certain holes are suppressed and distance between holes changes) if the height of drawer front is between X and Ymm, i.e, If Drawer Front Height is between 105mm and 144mm, make Drawer Box Hole Config = K.

tim_hess427

If you're trying to control the configuration of some holes, you might be able to do some configurations of a sketch pattern, then extrude the hole sketch. With a sketch pattern, you can control the number of "instances" and the spacing between them independently. 

I can't find it at the moment, but I remember seeing a webinar with advanced sketching tips that covered this topic pretty well. 

mahir

Yes, configurations are an easy way to create permutations of dimensions, including hole spacing, count, and size. Configurations can also control suppression state of features. I got thrown off thinking you wanted a custom continuously variable front height. But it sounds like there are specific sets of dimensions you're interested in creating, which lends itself more to configurations. Here is an example of various types of parameters that can be controlled via configurations.

https://cad.onshape.com/documents/57acdfaae4b005c413ed9b6f/w/3fd585a46d3af1b3ba413c53/e/b02ec721136c6121c1a02cc1

sam_parsons

Thanks again guys.

I understand how useful configurations are, there are already lots in the document. What I'm really trying to do, is make the config list input of the derived drawer box boolean tool, dependent on the config variable input of the drawer front. Does that make more sense with the image?

tim_hess427

I believe there is a featurescript that allows you to measure something and it puts the measurement into a variable (I can't remember the name, though). Maybe that could be a missing link? 

Also, you can put conditionals inside of a formula for a dimension or variable. Take a look at this post: https://forum.onshape.com/discussion/comment/31990

mahir

He doesn't need to make it a variable, because there is already a configured variable #Height. So it sounds like we've come back to my original problem statement - selecting a discrete box height based on a continuous front height. You can use a formula that selects a particular drawer based on nested ternary/if statements. Although, I have to ask do you really need a custom height? If you can get away with selecting from a list of height values, then the solution becomes relatively simple using configurations. For each option, even if it's every 1mm, you can set the proper box size. Is it super important to be able to set the height to 423.9mm? Would every 10mm be sufficient? That makes the problem much simpler. 

sam_parsons

I'm afraid I do need a custom height, as the height is a function of the height of the cabinet and the space that the door has to fit into (might be 2-5 drawers in a cabinet: drawer front height = cabinet height/2 , or , cabinet height/3 , etc).

mahir said:

You can use a formula that selects a particular drawer based on nested ternary/if statements.

How would I go about doing this then?

mahir

@sam_parsons, take a look at the first lick I posted (copied below). #Box_Height uses nested if/ternary operators. This can work, but I believe it's klugey and more complicated than necessary. I understand you need a custom height, but what I was asking is how fine an adjustment on that height do you need? What is the largest height increment you're willing to live with? For example, if you're ok being able to select from a list front heights that increment every 10mm, then you can just create those specific height options as a configured list. Then for each height option you can specify spreadsheet-style the specific box height you want to use. This method is more direct and easier to edit/tweak after the fact. 

https://cad.onshape.com/documents/57acdfaae4b005c413ed9b6f/w/3fd585a46d3af1b3ba413c53/e/cb34679fd045218a798582d8

sam_parsons

@mahir, thanks again, but the drawer front height really does need to a variable, because this part studio is derived into other part studios and the height is defined by a function of the height of another model (the cabinet body).

I understand what you are suggesting, and I'm reading between the lines here and concluding that there is no direct way to switch to a specific row of a config table based on a variable, i.e. if 105 > h > 148, then switch to drawer box height 'M'?

And if not... is there any likelihood of this becoming possible at any point in the future? 

mahir

I didn't say it was impossible - just a bit tedious. Here's the equation I used in my example. It selects #Box_Height based on the following categories of #Front_Height (x): x>=300mm, 200mm<=x<300mm, x<200mm. This is only 3 height categories, but you can see what I mean by tedious. 

(#Front_Height>=300mm)?250mm:((#Front_Height>=200mm)?150mm:50mm)

Even then, this won't suppress/unsuppress any features. I don't believe this is possible on the fly. The formula above will give you a #Box_Height variable you can work with to build the box. I believe this is a more robust method anyway vs creating a bunch of imported box features and then selectively suppressing all but one. You'll just need to extract the dimensions of the standard box sizes and feed them into the formula.

Alternatively, if you want to delve into the world of programming custom featurescript (way more complicated), you might be able to turn your cabinet into one big featurescript using configuration instantiation.
https://forum.onshape.com/discussion/12514/conditional-feature-suppression

sam_parsons

Ok, thanks mahir, I think that's enough for me to play around with for now.

I'll let you know if I manage it!

Alternatively, if you want to delve into the world of programming custom featurescript (way more complicated), you might be able to turn your cabinet into one big featurescript using configuration instantiation.
https://forum.onshape.com/discussion/12514/conditional-feature-suppression

Very intrigued by this!

mahir

No problem. The gist of using configuration instantiation is you have to create a template part studio that drives all the variable geometry using configured variables. You can then create a featurescript that instantiates a template configuration with specific dimensions driven by user input and programmed logic.

This gives you much more freedom in how you pick variables. Case in point, if you wanted to you could create a template part studio that has all the different types of box sizes as different features, and create a configured checkbox for each of them that toggles suppression state. This isn't useful by itself, but when instantiated in a featurescript that controls the configured checkboxes, you would be able to do exactly what you want - enter any front height you want and create a cabinet that selects the appropriate box height using either nested or chained if-else statements.