Part design question.

[ShapeShifter]

hi,

I am using:

OS: Ubuntu 12.04.5 LTS
Word size of OS: 32-bit
Word size of FreeCAD: 32-bit
Version: 0.15.4159 (Git)
Branch: master
Hash: fa3a2a0d3a7a0a619ab6323e236376bb43636e79
Python version: 2.7.3
Qt version: 4.8.1
Coin version: 3.1.3
OCC version: 6.7.1

I am trying to make an irregularly shaped box with a lid - Think like a pill box, but a complicated shape in X and Y.

Now i start with a sketch on the XY plane, and then extrude it via the pad command to the required height.

Then I make a sketch on the top surface to define the wall thickness, and make a pocket. This gives me a box base with the shape and wall thickness I want.

So far so good.

What I would now like to do is to use the first sketch at the box base height instead of at z = 0 to define the outside profile of the lid, to make sure the two parts match, and to extrude that for the lid height by padding it up.

I need to end up with two separate parts.

So I suppose the question is: How do I copy a sketch to a different position along an axis? I can't find a way to do it, and any tips would be appreciated.

[quick61]

Select the sketch you want to copy and go to Edit > Duplicate selection. This will make a duplicate of the sketch. Now select the new sketch and go to Edit > Placement and move it up the Z axis to the desired height. Sense it is not mapped to anything, this will be the beginning of a new part, Pad it and carry on.

Mark

[ShapeShifter]

Thank you.

I have been trying to use right click and copy, but then the paste is elusive.

[NormandC]

Hello ShapeShifter,

Thanks for posting your FreeCAD info.

Then I make a sketch on the top surface to define the wall thickness, and make a pocket. This gives me a box base with the shape and wall thickness I want.

An alternative is to use Part Thickness to hollow out your solid. This doesn't require creating a sketch.

See viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3766#p29547

[bejant]

I have been trying to use right click and copy, but then the paste is elusive.

To Paste I use Crtl + V which (for me) works reliably.

[jmaustpc]

another way, if you want to link the second sketch so that it is always a duplicate of the first, is to use the Draft Workbench Clone on the first sketch, then adjust the placement of the Draft Clone to move it in the z (or any other) direction.

you can apply PartDesign tools to the Draft Clone object in the same way you would if it was a sketch.

Since you have a recent enough FreeCAD this will work for you. I don't think it was there yet for anyone still using 0.14.3703 etc..

[jmaustpc]

one point to be aware of with the clone of a s ketch is that the Pad of this clone will create a new independent solid, which is normally not what you want in PartDesign. However in this case you do want a separate solid, presumably, for the lid.

If you did want this solid to be a part of the first solid, you would have to Part WB Fuse the result of the Pad from the Draft Clone.

[jmaustpc]

here is a demo file of the Draft Clone on an sketch etc......

the file

draftcloneofsketch.fcstd

(22.87 KiB) Downloaded 38 times

a screen shot

draftcloneofsketch.jpeg (45.86 KiB) Viewed 2144 times

[ShapeShifter]

Hello ShapeShifter,

An alternative is to use Part Thickness to hollow out your solid. This doesn't require creating a sketch.

See viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3766#p29547

Cool, Thank you - it sort of works for me - I can hollow out the lid that way, but I get error messages if I try it on the base - this is weird, as the parts are based on the same sketch, the diffference being the that the missing surface for the lid is the one that the sketch was padded from, while in the other case it is the opposite surface.

I am probably doing something wrong.

[ShapeShifter]

I have been trying to use right click and copy, but then the paste is elusive.

To Paste I use Crtl + V which (for me) works reliably.

Thanks - kind of like pasting into a linux console... I will try it