Best use of derived sketch?

alexander_potochkin

Hello

I have two part studios and now I need to add a similar feature to both of it.
This feature should be multiplied and used in several part of the existing details.

So I created a separate sketch and now I am going to derive several copies of it
and use them in both studios.

I can't figure out how to correctly place a derived sketch to a particular plane.
Is it possible at all?

Can I derive a sketch many times within one part studio
and use different copies of it in different planes?

Thanks

joris_kofman

why not make one body that has the shape of the feature you want to add/remove. Then you derive this body into your designs, and use the move feature (with mate locators) to multiply and locate multiple copies of this part all around the design. Then you can use the boolean operation to subtract/add the feature to the design.
Using the boolean operator you can specify all the bodies to subtract/add (tools) and all the bodies to add/subtract (targets) in one go.

It seems to me that you would have a much easier job of doing changes in this way.

Hope this helps you (I wish I was smart enough to do one of those giffy movie thingies, but alas I am not)

andrew_troup

@alexander_potochkin
You can use "Transform" to move a derived part.
https://cad.onshape.com/help/index.htm#transform.htm

In your situation, possibly your best option might be to use Mate Connectors. 

This was also mentioned in connection with Derived Parts in the last "New in Onshape" bulletin but one.
https://forum.onshape.com/discussion/1826/improvements-to-onshape-october-12-2015/p1

3. NEW: Transform with Mate connectors

joris_kofman

why not make one body that has the shape of the feature you want to add/remove. Then you derive this body into your designs, and use the move feature (with mate locators) to multiply and locate multiple copies of this part all around the design. Then you can use the boolean operation to subtract/add the feature to the design.
Using the boolean operator you can specify all the bodies to subtract/add (tools) and all the bodies to add/subtract (targets) in one go.

It seems to me that you would have a much easier job of doing changes in this way.

Hope this helps you (I wish I was smart enough to do one of those giffy movie thingies, but alas I am not)

brucebartlett

If you don't care about the parametric link you could just use the sketch copy and paste. The best thing about this is it takes all the dim's and constraints as well.

andrew_troup

Derived sketches in Onshape are currently a faint foreshadow of what they will (hopefully) be in future. 

alexander_potochkin

joris_kofman said:

why not make one body that has the shape of the feature you want to add/remove. Then you derive this body into your designs, and use the move feature (with mate locators) to multiply and locate multiple copies of this part all around the design. Then you can use the boolean operation to subtract/add the feature to the design.
Using the boolean operator you can specify all the bodies to subtract/add (tools) and all the bodies to add/subtract (targets) in one go.

It seems to me that you would have a much easier job of doing changes in this way.

Hope this helps you (I wish I was smart enough to do one of those giffy movie thingies, but alas I am not)

I also tried to derive a separate part instead of a sketch. The same problem - it is not clear how I can reposition the derived part to a specific place in my part studio. I need to add it in one side of my part and subtract from another side. This is a static design, so I don't use assemblies and mates. 

alexander_potochkin

brucebartlett said:

If you don't care about the parametric link you could just use the sketch copy and paste. The best thing about this is it takes all the dim's and constraints as well.

Unfortunately I do care about the parametric link, so I need to tweak this derived part so it changes in all the places.

andrew_troup

@alexander_potochkin
You can use "Transform" to move a derived part.
https://cad.onshape.com/help/index.htm#transform.htm

In your situation, possibly your best option might be to use Mate Connectors. 

This was also mentioned in connection with Derived Parts in the last "New in Onshape" bulletin but one.
https://forum.onshape.com/discussion/1826/improvements-to-onshape-october-12-2015/p1

3. NEW: Transform with Mate connectors

alexander_potochkin

Hello Andrew

Thanks a lot for your suggestion on using the derived parts together with "transform with connectors" feature!
I didn't realize it was so easy to do.

Have a great day!