Can I copy features? Derived sketch?

charley

In the attached block, there are identical perpendicular grooves.  I made the second one manually.  What's a better method? In SolidWorks, i would have copied the feature, or even used a derived sketch.

lougallo

@Charley Currently no we do not copy sketches or features directly. You can instead of remove, use New to create a body in one direction, then use circular pattern or transform/copy to make a copy at 90 degrees then boolean subtract.

charley

Forgot to attach.  Here's the example.

lougallo

@Charley Currently no we do not copy sketches or features directly. You can instead of remove, use New to create a body in one direction, then use circular pattern or transform/copy to make a copy at 90 degrees then boolean subtract.

philip_thomas

Derived sketches, planes, helix's and mate connectors now supported - https://forum.onshape.com/discussion/1364/improvements-to-onshape-august-6-2015

andrew_troup

I'm intrigued and encouraged by your answer, @philip_thomas
because it suggests to me that entities can be derived and used within the same part studio.
My attempts to understand and apply the capability had suggested to me they only worked in another studio, and that seemed like a regrettable limitation. 

philip_thomas

andrew_troup said:

I'm intrigued and encouraged by your answer, @philip_thomas
because it suggests to me that entities can be derived and used within the same part studio.
My attempts to understand and apply the capability had suggested to me they only worked in another studio, and that seemed like a regrettable limitation. 

Andrew - yes today you cannot do so in the SAME part studio. The workaround is to create the sketch of (for instance a bolt hole pattern) in a second part studio and then derive it multiple times into the one you want to use it in.

brucebartlett

@philp_thomas @andrew_troup  Why not just copy a segment of the sketch or whole sketch and link with constraints as required. Just thinking out loud but I think it would be rare for me to use a derived sketch in a part studio. If it was needed there are many work a rounds. 

Yesterday I did a series of laser cut spanners, did the first one got all the constraints and dims right. I then copied the sketch and pasted numerous time to front plane, then just edited each sketch to constrain to origin and adjusted dims as required. I found it an absolute joy to do and all in the one part studio. 

philip_thomas

brucebartlett said:

@philp_thomas @andrew_troup  Why not just copy a segment of the sketch or whole sketch and link with constraints as required. Just thinking out loud but I think it would be rare for me to use a derived sketch in a part studio. If it was needed there are many work a rounds. 

Yesterday I did a series of laser cut spanners, did the first one got all the constraints and dims right. I then copied the sketch and pasted numerous time to front plane, then just edited each sketch to constrain to origin and adjusted dims as required. I found it an absolute joy to do and all in the one part studio. 

Bruce - your method works, but I am imagining that Andrew would like to edit one sketch and have them all update.

brucebartlett

philip_thomas said:

brucebartlett said:

@philp_thomas @andrew_troup  Why not just copy a segment of the sketch or whole sketch and link with constraints as required. Just thinking out loud but I think it would be rare for me to use a derived sketch in a part studio. If it was needed there are many work a rounds. 

Yesterday I did a series of laser cut spanners, did the first one got all the constraints and dims right. I then copied the sketch and pasted numerous time to front plane, then just edited each sketch to constrain to origin and adjusted dims as required. I found it an absolute joy to do and all in the one part studio. 

Bruce - your method works, but I am imagining that Andrew would like to edit one sketch and have them all update.

Yes in that case you would have to manually add constraints between entities after the copy therefore a derived sketch would be quicker but not essential. 

andrew_troup

@brucebartlett

@philip_thomas is right about what I seek, but there's an extra consideration: 

If I wanted another sketch IN THE SAME LOCATION (even on a parallel plane) I can simply "Use/Project"

The places I used "Derived Sketch" in Solidworks are places where the required feature requires an identical sketch, and is (if on a parallel plane) offset, OR it's on a different face, possibly not even orthogonal to the source sketch, and/or at a different rotation. And (as PT says) I need a live link. 

One example which springs to mind is a family of cast worm reduction boxes. There are cooling fins on most of the faces, whose sectional profiles are quite intricate, but are common to all locations in a given size of gearbox.

For an affordable and and manageable model, the local profiles need to be driven from a master sketch (which updates parametrically for each different size of gearbox).

philip_thomas

andrew_troup said:

@brucebartlett

@philip_thomas is right about what I seek, but there's an extra consideration: 

If I wanted another sketch IN THE SAME LOCATION (even on a parallel plane) I can simply "Use/Project"

The places I used "Derived Sketch" in Solidworks are places where the required feature requires an identical sketch, and is (if on a parallel plane) offset, OR it's on a different face, possibly not even orthogonal to the source sketch, and/or at a different rotation. And (as PT says) I need a live link. 

One example which springs to mind is a family of cast worm reduction boxes. There are cooling fins on most of the faces, whose sectional profiles are quite intricate, but are common to all locations in a given size of gearbox.

For an affordable and and manageable model, the local profiles need to be driven from a master sketch (which updates parametrically for each different size of gearbox).

Andrew - the 'derived sketch from another part studio' is a great solution for now. Scott explained to me earlier today why we cannot do it from the same part studio currently, but that doesn't mean that we won't support that workflow at some point in the future. I have used it the way i describe and it's very similar to using a linked library feature in SolidWorks. Basically, it works just fine. Scott has a very good track record of being right so for now I am going to say that this is the best solution.

andrew_troup

Thanks, @philip_thomas

I'll file that one away, and it does sound a very workable flow #

(pending future nirvana! There's something to be said for living in the present, too ... )

# Now that we can also copy sketches (and constraints) between part studios, it is not even a problem if we don't realise before creating the sketch that we will want to derive it; it seems to me we can subsequently shift it to a dedicated "Master sketch(es) studio, with minimal rework.