Derived Part orientation

rocketbob

When adding a derived part, is there a way to change its orientation?  In other words, when I create a new part that is derived I want to place a bottom flat part of the derived part's surface onto the top plane.

Also is there a way to add a derived part based on a surface feature?

Thanks,
Bob

andrew_troup

You can use "Transform" and choose the "Rotate" Option

I'm not aware of a workaround for your second question (but I'm not sure I understand it clearly).
Surfaces cannot be derived yet. You could thicken a surface (subject to some topographical limitations), then derive the resulting solid, but I don't think it is yet possible to convert a solid back to a surface on arrival(in Solidworks, there are several ways of doing this, including simply deleting the unwanted faces)

My Chrome browser is running glacially slow (again!!!) so I cannot test this.

andrew_troup

bob_4 said:

Thanks, was able to transform/rotate the derived part but haven't figured out how to "mate" the derived part to the origin of the new part.

To clear up my second question, it is just a rectangular sketch with some bolt holes.  After the part was extruded I chamfered the corners.  I don't need the entire part, just the flat surface of the feature with the bolt holes and chamfered corners.

To derive the superficial contours of a face (which is my understanding of what you need, ie the circles and the rectangular profile including chamfers at the corners) should be a simple matter
Click on that face, choose "Sketch" to open a new sketch using that face as the sketch plane, then while the face is still selected (or after selecting it again) choose "Use/Project" which should bring the contours of that face into the new sketch.
Now you can derive the new sketch for use elsewhere.

ON EDIT
I was mistaken about being able to convert the contours or boundaries of a face simply by selecting the face and "Use/Project"ing it. 
That works in Solidworks, but not in Onshape. (I think it would be a useful addition)

I was also mistaken that the face would stay selected after invoking "Sketch", FWIW.

So the revised procedure would be to pick the desired boundaries cumulatively, by clicking on them individually, in preparation for "Use/Project".

There is currently no "Chain select" in Onshape, AFAIK; if it was implemented AND if it worked for co-planar edges (not just for sketch entities), this would speed up the selection of the external contour, particularly in more complex cases

andrew_troup

You can use "Transform" and choose the "Rotate" Option

I'm not aware of a workaround for your second question (but I'm not sure I understand it clearly).
Surfaces cannot be derived yet. You could thicken a surface (subject to some topographical limitations), then derive the resulting solid, but I don't think it is yet possible to convert a solid back to a surface on arrival(in Solidworks, there are several ways of doing this, including simply deleting the unwanted faces)

My Chrome browser is running glacially slow (again!!!) so I cannot test this.

rocketbob

Thanks, was able to transform/rotate the derived part but haven't figured out how to "mate" the derived part to the origin of the new part.

To clear up my second question, it is just a rectangular sketch with some bolt holes.  After the part was extruded I chamfered the corners.  I don't need the entire part, just the flat surface of the feature with the bolt holes and chamfered corners.

shashank_aarya

@bob_4 At this point of time there is no standard method available for your second question but one work around I would like to suggest. You can create a new part with minimum thickness (say 0.00002 mm) by thicken option on the surface you described. This new part can be derived whenever required.

andrew_troup

bob_4 said:

Thanks, was able to transform/rotate the derived part but haven't figured out how to "mate" the derived part to the origin of the new part.

To clear up my second question, it is just a rectangular sketch with some bolt holes.  After the part was extruded I chamfered the corners.  I don't need the entire part, just the flat surface of the feature with the bolt holes and chamfered corners.

To derive the superficial contours of a face (which is my understanding of what you need, ie the circles and the rectangular profile including chamfers at the corners) should be a simple matter
Click on that face, choose "Sketch" to open a new sketch using that face as the sketch plane, then while the face is still selected (or after selecting it again) choose "Use/Project" which should bring the contours of that face into the new sketch.
Now you can derive the new sketch for use elsewhere.

ON EDIT
I was mistaken about being able to convert the contours or boundaries of a face simply by selecting the face and "Use/Project"ing it. 
That works in Solidworks, but not in Onshape. (I think it would be a useful addition)

I was also mistaken that the face would stay selected after invoking "Sketch", FWIW.

So the revised procedure would be to pick the desired boundaries cumulatively, by clicking on them individually, in preparation for "Use/Project".

There is currently no "Chain select" in Onshape, AFAIK; if it was implemented AND if it worked for co-planar edges (not just for sketch entities), this would speed up the selection of the external contour, particularly in more complex cases