SKETCH PLANE PROBLEM

vince_long

I HAVE A SITUATION WHERE I WANT TO SELECT A FACE OF MY SOLID PART AS A SKETCH PLANE BUT MY SYSTEM WILL NOT LET ME SELECT CERTAIN FACES BUT IT DOES OTHERS.

john_mcclary

Is the face flat? 

vince_long

Hi John, yes the faces I want to use as a sketch plane b ut cannot are flat.

S1mon

It’s difficult to give general advice without a public document to look at. That said, there’s always a way to get a plane where you want it. Some techniques may require some helper sketches or perhaps using some of the custom feature scripts out there.

https://cad.onshape.com/documents/0de04acb5bac92ca16796edf

NeilCooke

The face must not be flat. You can always use a mate connector. 

vince_long

is there an easy way to check if a face is flat. #i cannot even highlight the face to measure its surface area. it appears to be under a certain level  that i cannot select faces but above it i can.
can someone remind me how to upload the model so you all can see it?
Many thanks for the support.

NeilCooke

Paste the URL here. Plus a pic of which face you are trying to select would be good. 

vince_long

Is this the URL? https://cad.onshape.com/documents/fda6f52d3426f84b223ce3b9/w/5e11e1d5696b60c530b43349/e/b84370b2a37ce048aa15a628. any of the faces within the area contained by the orange circle are unselectable except for the top of the three round bosses. Also why are they a different shade of grey?

wayne_sauder

@vince_long
You have a lot of sketches showing, the easy way to turn them all off is shift+p.
You could also use the ~key to select things underneath all your sketches.  

vince_long

Thanks Wayne, that was my problem.I did not realise that could stop me selecting faces. Every day is a learning day.