Want instances in fill pattern to be close together.

richard_hill906

The fill pattern is such a useful tool. Thank you to whoever created it. However I am running into a problem. I create a cylinder .9 inch in diameter and .125 in length. I want my instance spacing to be 1 inch. However the smallest I can go with the fill pattern tool is 1.279. If I go any smaller I get the message "pattern instances too close together, try a larger spacing". I believe the feature script is determining the min instance spacing based on a diagonal length of a boundary box instead of the diameter of my cylinder. I am confident there is a way to change this but I am not good enough with the code to know what to change. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

NeilCooke

You are correct - the spacing is determined by the bounding box of the feature. Please DM me with an example and I will see if I can fix it.

steve_shubin

@richard_hill906

I have no idea of how advanced you are with the program. But I thought I’d just throw this out there

If you’re at all interested in patterning AROUND the cylinder, circular pattern is nice to keep in mind because it EVENLY distributes without having to do any kind of calculations

https://cad.onshape.com/documents/03f9916a996e92e8a8e7615a/w/d362e5b311ae3f94f3a6e53e/e/000234a5a3ebf34ff2576b46

Cary_Bettenhausen

@NeilCooke I'm in the same boat, needing to do a square fill pattern with instances more closely spaced than the bounding box allows (for example, Ø0.213" circles in rows and columns spaced 0.296" apart). Shall I send you a PM? Thanks!

NeilCooke

cary_bettenhausen said:

@NeilCooke I'm in the same boat, needing to do a square fill pattern with instances more closely spaced than the bounding box allows (for example, Ø0.213" circles in rows and columns spaced 0.296" apart). Shall I send you a PM? Thanks!

Yes, with an example of what you are trying to do.

steve_shubin

cary_bettenhausen said:

fill pattern with instances more closely spaced than the bounding box allows (for example, Ø0.213" circles in rows and columns spaced 0.296" apart)

A FILL that is patterned

Look at the diameter of the circles
Look at the spacing

https://cad.onshape.com/documents/34f4f6f29588881a0f69b1a9/w/641072241ce9a60f8c4bb2e4/e/6810472b390b3ac1e5aa985b

Cary_Bettenhausen

steve_shubin said:

cary_bettenhausen said:

fill pattern with instances more closely spaced than the bounding box allows (for example, Ø0.213" circles in rows and columns spaced 0.296" apart)

A FILL that is patterned

Look at the diameter of the circles
Look at the spacing

https://cad.onshape.com/documents/34f4f6f29588881a0f69b1a9/w/641072241ce9a60f8c4bb2e4/e/6810472b390b3ac1e5aa985b

To be clear, I'm asking about the Fill Pattern custom feature.

steve_shubin

cary_bettenhausen said: 

To be clear, I'm asking about the Fill Pattern custom feature.
needing to do a square fill pattern with instances more closely spaced 
for example, Ø0.213" circles in rows and columns spaced 0.296" apart

Take a look at both part studios in the below document - both done with FILL PATTERN FS

As far as close spacing - look at the FILLED CIRCLES part studio

For the exact dimensions you quoted - look at the HOLES part studio

https://cad.onshape.com/documents/2f45c12d3f3d09b64819aaf9/w/4041eef6a01f574e913b40d2/e/80e0008d720367088f8a0764

Cary_Bettenhausen

@steve_shubin Thank you, I see now the difference is creating a Fill Pattern of a Hole feature vs. creating an FP of a hole by sketching a circle and extruding it. I just need more time wrapping my brain around the Onshore way and shedding the old S****W**** habits!

This is a different Fill Pattern custom feature.

steve_shubin

cary_bettenhausen said:

@steve_shubin Thank you, I see now the difference is creating a Fill Pattern of a Hole feature vs. creating an FP of a hole by sketching a circle and extruding it. I just need more time wrapping my brain around the Onshore way and shedding the old S****W**** habits!

This is a different Fill Pattern custom feature.

I would guess that because of it being a different Fill Pattern FS, that is why you are having the problem

With the Fill Pattern FS I am using, it works using either the Hole FS or by extruding a circle made in a sketch

In the GIF below

I duplicated the part studio called Holes

In the features tree, I deleted the Hole’s featurescript

Edited the sketch in that I added a circle

Extruded that circle with it set to remove

In the feature tree, moved the extrude up to just below the sketch

Modified the fill pattern in that I deleted the missing face of the deleted hole

But in its place, I added the face of the hole that was made by extruding a circle