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Linear Sketch Patterns causing very high regeneration times
Edgar_aspLED
Posts: 4 PRO
Hello all,
The majority of my designs in Onshape are for designing toolpaths for a CNC mill. The patterns we're making are very tightly spaced lines, all approx 5mm apart, with the final patterns almost looking like graph paper and then exported as a DXF for our CAM software. For smaller patterns it doesn't seem to cause too many issues, but if we have to do a pattern that is meant for a larger product (like 5-7 feet long and 2-3.5 feet wide), it's taking Onshape very long times to regenerate, even sometimes completely freezing and spitting out error support codes. Is there a less intensive way to get this type of pattern without causing the high regeneration times? I don't ever need to extrude or make multiple parts so I'm only using various sketch layers for certain aspects, then using the Use option to project all the sketches to a single sketch which I then export out to DXF.
I've attached an example of a finished toolpath pattern which is 12 x 12 inches.
The majority of my designs in Onshape are for designing toolpaths for a CNC mill. The patterns we're making are very tightly spaced lines, all approx 5mm apart, with the final patterns almost looking like graph paper and then exported as a DXF for our CAM software. For smaller patterns it doesn't seem to cause too many issues, but if we have to do a pattern that is meant for a larger product (like 5-7 feet long and 2-3.5 feet wide), it's taking Onshape very long times to regenerate, even sometimes completely freezing and spitting out error support codes. Is there a less intensive way to get this type of pattern without causing the high regeneration times? I don't ever need to extrude or make multiple parts so I'm only using various sketch layers for certain aspects, then using the Use option to project all the sketches to a single sketch which I then export out to DXF.
I've attached an example of a finished toolpath pattern which is 12 x 12 inches.
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Best Answer
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You'd have to insert it into a drawing and export from there. But the feature would also need to be modified to include the tool motion at the ends.Senior Director, Technical Services, EMEA0
Answers
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It's not surprising - sketches should be kept simple with only a handful of entities. Your sketch is having to solve hundreds of simultaneous equations to solve that. It's a prime candidate for a custom feature, something similar to this one: https://cad.onshape.com/documents/812383b6012526bce6bdfff9Senior Director, Technical Services, EMEA0
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That wire mesh feature would be very useful for my CAD work. While it visually does what I will need it to do (mostly), I'm not seeing any way to be able to export that mesh into a DXF. And unfortunately, trying to project that mesh into a new sketch causes the issue again. Is there any way to export a mesh from that custom feature?0
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You'd have to insert it into a drawing and export from there. But the feature would also need to be modified to include the tool motion at the ends.Senior Director, Technical Services, EMEA0
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Why in the world are you generating tool path motion in CAD instead of in CAM? That's the entire function of CAM.-1