Help on getting HexInfill script working

shane_adams

Hello!  I've looked in the forums and while I found a post or two on the subject I'm afraid I am still stuck so I am reaching out.

My little part is here https://cad.onshape.com/documents/91aae886a206af099a4bcb9d/w/4fd265942c69d1c71e8cd736/e/d6f3c9eb6ff5b1002a3125e5?renderMode=0&uiState=6352269654dbb078cf3af7aa

I'd like to drop in a hex infill in the middle of the part and take up the available space up to the square pad that has a couple of through holes. on it.  I select the part, plug in the wall thickness and hex width.  Without preview I get red hexagons.  However as you can see the hexagons are not visible, I am unsure how to extrude them to add to my part or what to do next.  

Any help would be really appreciated.

Thank you

MichaelPascoe

There are some custom features for this, "Hex infill", but I could not get any of them to work well.

Usually it is best practice to sketch one item and pattern that via a feature. However, sometimes it is ok to pattern within a sketch. For simplicity, I have kept this hex pattern within the sketch. The trick to getting a hex pattern within a sketch is to delete the horizontal constraint that keeps the linear pattern square. This will allow you to pattern at an angle. Then, you can constrain the corners of the hex to all be equal distant.

https://cad.onshape.com/documents/7f20e54321ee500de14f5288/w/c7352f7856747a712690720e/e/f4dd8ff53819d75183321e69

shane_adams

Wow!  Thanks so much!  What a cool idea to record how you solve a problem so others can benefit and see how it's done visually.  I would not of figured that out, but I did learn a few tricks from your approach.   Thanks again!

wayne_sauder

The hex infill tool has been around for a long time and used to work great. I was playing with it just a bit after reading this question and it seems like maybe there is a problem with it (maybe I missing something). Any thoughts @NeilCooke or @_anton or any of the other feature script gurus out there?