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Troubleshooting procedure for fillet failure (and any other failed feature, for that matter)
matt_keveney
Member Posts: 8 ✭
Experienced designer coming up to speed on OnShape.
When applying fillets I find that the tool frequently fails for no obvious reason. This seems more common on complex shapes.
In this example, I'm trying to fillet the joint between ribs in a hollow, irregular shape.
The fillet in the left hand cavity works fine. The right one fails, even though it's a mirror image.
The only error I can find is "Fillet 6 did not regenerate properly: Adjoining edge not filleted."
The entire feature highlighted purple. Close examination reveals a gap showing the offending edge highlighted red. There is nothing telling me what is wrong with this edge.
Please understand that I'm looking for a general, step-wise procedure to zero-in and solve this kind of problem, rather than a litany of "things I could try" or workarounds.
Is there a way to get more detail on errors like this? Maybe a log file somewhere?
-Matt
Comments
Not really more detail available. just kind of by experience you learn limitations/why things error. in you case it looks like the fillet may be trying to self intersect. It doesn't know how to navigate the extreme edges of the fillet as it makes its way around the inside curves. can use a smaller radius or variable fillet in that area. or some other solution.
We always try to provide error messages that are as helpful as possible, as in the one above "…Adjoining edge not filleted." This one implies that, for one reason or another, the tangency propagation did not grab that edge. Perhaps the geometry is slightly not symmetric or tangent (within geometric tolerances)?
As far as troubleshooting, in this case try adding a selection of the additional "missing" edge…
Beyond that, it will be a lot easier if you provide a link to a model so we can look at it in more detail. As you know, filleting is a complex subject and requires a lot more context than the images above.
I don't think Adjoining edge not filleted implies to the user that it could not "grab" the edge. Its possible that it implies the opposite that the program knows it's there and did indeed grab it to present it to the user as an issue.
I have a experienced some issues recently with mirrored geometry not behaving the same as the "original" side, specifically when working with fillets (and drafts). My guess would be that the software uses the "context" provided by the feature creation before the fillet to figure out how to apply the fillet but that gets lost on the "mirrored" side, or something along these lines but you would think the mirrored geometry would work the same!
A couple tricks for troubleshooting fillets:
> The first step is to try a smaller fillet radius to see what happens
No joy... even very small radii fail.
> Temporarily turn off "tangent propagation"
In fact this is how I ultimately worked around the problem, but it's a workaround; not a solution. If my design required the original style fillet, I'd be stuck.
Thanks!
-Matt
> This one implies that, for one reason or another, the tangency propagation did not grab that edge. ... try adding a selection of the additional "missing" edge…
I did that. That's not the problem. I suspect that @MDesign is correct about this error message .
> ...it will be a lot easier if you provide a link
Remember, I'm not trying to solve _this particular_ problem, but am trying to establish a logical, repeatable process for addressing problems of this nature when they arise. I recommend that such a process be documented for each error message. I found no mention of this error message at the documentation site; is it explained somewhere?
I think this error message, and a few others I've encountered so far are too terse to be useful, and was hoping for some sort of 'additional detail' button or log file that might offer a more deliberate approach.
That said, here is a link to the document in question, in case it offers any insights.
https://cad.onshape.com/documents/c95f8fd78c8a7843566095d1/w/8da3d8424883c1f140ca923b/e/bebb3c8ce38b090a2bd27a00?renderMode=0&uiState=68506988dff4e7507cfa7eb7
If it does help, please explain precisely what steps you took (whether fruitful or not) while investigating.
Thanks!
.
Small tangent here, lol pun intended. I made a feature Analyze Fillet to help find fail points quickly. It may or may not be of use in your application.
You can find it here:
https://www.cadsharp.com/featurescripts/…
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Learn more about the Gospel of Christ ( Here )
CADSharp - We make custom features and integrated Onshape apps! Learn How to FeatureScript Here 🔴
Looks like your "fillet1" causes the shape to not be symmetric in the end.
There's some weird condition after the shell where the edge transitions between tangent and not which causes some weird glitch in the surface:
Curvature analysis can help if you know where to look, very small area on the inside:
But the outside with limits set around your shell thickness (used 9-11mm here) shows how you might have some weird stuff on the inside:
Turn off tangent selection. I did this fillet at a smaller radius and it failed. Then set to 10mm and selected edges individually to get a positive result. Tangent selection tries to select around existing fillet generated by shell operation.
Fillet on edge of fillet doesn't seem to work so good.
https://cad.onshape.com/documents/8d80f7b762a738a822ee8429/w/103359dc296701b8edfe87f9/e/866fe18a04a4283a589b73e3
@eric_pesty
Great sleuthing; thanks for taking the time.
The curvature at the point circled in your 4th image changes due to the variable radii I've defined in fillet1. That is by design; this fillet is generally 20x40, but changes around the narrow part of the fingerboard cutaway. If I change the next point along (the 4th from the top of the list), to 20x40 the problem goes away… but that's an unacceptable compromise.
But it does explain why those two pockets are not perfectly symmetrical.
—
On a separate note, I can't really tell what part of the model your first three images are referring to.
It looks like you've used a section view on your 2nd image, but I can't reproduce it.
I also can't figure out how you got the view shown in your 3rd image. This seems to be a curvature color map… can you tell me the endpoints you used? is this a 'min radius' view?
—
And of course, none of the above solves the problem, though it does help characterize it more thoroughly.
Is there some way to precisely locate the discontinuity and "repair" it?
Thanks… I haven't tried it yet.
but, I think I have located the failure point without your tool.
This question is what to do about it?
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What to do about it will depend on how picky you are.
Option A
Do you want an EXACT offset / shell of the original face around that fillet area? Then you will have to find a way to fix the curvature because fillets don't like curvature spikes. Shell / Offset / Thicken can often produce curvature spikes which will cause the fillet to fail.
Option B
Place your main fillet after the shell feature, then you can estimate the inside surface either by copying the original face and moving it, or possibly by creating another fillet on the inside.
Here is an example of what option B would look like:
https://cad.onshape.com/documents/d16046ebb9c1baeef21982ff/w/5ae4177e634a7f40f440d43b/e/258793338f224114727…
.
Learn more about the Gospel of Christ ( Here )
CADSharp - We make custom features and integrated Onshape apps! Learn How to FeatureScript Here 🔴