Position helpers for beams

lars_rengersen

The laser cutting company used to have a feature called "position helpers" in their online ordering tool.
That allowed me to simply add them to connecting beams.
That resulted in a small extra flange on one tube a a corresponding hole in the other.



Unfortunately they do not offer that functionality anymore.
Is there an easy way of doing this in onshape?
I can always do this manually but if it can be done semi-automated that would be handy.
Thanks in advance for your help.

john_mcclary

Sure can!

For Sheet-metal It's called tab in OnShape

start by drawing a sketch of a square, or semi circle in your case on the part you want to have the tab attached to.
In the example below I sketched a rectangle on the "top surface" of the gray part. Then you select the "Tab" feature in sheet-metal commands.
Select your sketch, and the two parts you want, and OnShape will add the relief cut to the slotted part. (the blue part in this example)


For any other part:

Use Boolean with offset, it takes a few more inputs, but does the same thing.
Sketch your tab shape just like sheet metal, except this time you will use extrude-add to make it a part of the "red" part shown below.
then use Boolean-subtract.

Select the tab part as a "Tool"
Select the slot part as a "Target"
Select offset.

Select all 4 faces around the tab.

Then enter your offset distance.

Don't forget to check the "Keep Tools" option to keep your original part.

john_mcclary

I just did .1 because it was default and easy to see on a screen shot.

It all depends on your machinist and what tool he will use.

For example: We use a laser table so we usually use a .01 clearance because we can hold that pretty easy.

john_mcclary

Sure can!

For Sheet-metal It's called tab in OnShape

start by drawing a sketch of a square, or semi circle in your case on the part you want to have the tab attached to.
In the example below I sketched a rectangle on the "top surface" of the gray part. Then you select the "Tab" feature in sheet-metal commands.
Select your sketch, and the two parts you want, and OnShape will add the relief cut to the slotted part. (the blue part in this example)


For any other part:

Use Boolean with offset, it takes a few more inputs, but does the same thing.
Sketch your tab shape just like sheet metal, except this time you will use extrude-add to make it a part of the "red" part shown below.
then use Boolean-subtract.

Select the tab part as a "Tool"
Select the slot part as a "Target"
Select offset.

Select all 4 faces around the tab.

Then enter your offset distance.

Don't forget to check the "Keep Tools" option to keep your original part.

lars_rengersen

Thank you very much for the quick and elaborative answer John!
It worked perfectly.


Instead of an offset of 0.1 inch (2.5 mm) I used 0.5 mm (0.02 inch), should that be sufficient to insert the tab?

john_mcclary

I just did .1 because it was default and easy to see on a screen shot.

It all depends on your machinist and what tool he will use.

For example: We use a laser table so we usually use a .01 clearance because we can hold that pretty easy.

lars_rengersen

Thanks!
Yes, I noticed it was Onshapes default indeed.

I just checked.
The machine at the laser cutting company that I intend to use has a tolerance of 0.2 mm (0.008 inch), so I could also move to 0.01 inch.
Thanks for your help!