polar pattern around standard axis?

[tmoore]

I'm modeling this engine crankcase:

crank1.png (74.95 KiB) Viewed 8140 times

I would like to model the cylinder holes as a polar pattern, but I couldn't find a way to set the pattern's axis to be one of the standard axes, so I ended up duplicating the pocket feature and mapping the sketch to each face. Can I do this from e.g., python?

Thanks,
Tim

[bejant]

Greetings Tim,
We should be able to rotate about any of the standard axes (X, Y, Z) but I don't have those options in any of my Windows FreeCAD versions. I notice the wiki page shows this ability, so I wonder if that option got removed intentionally or if it is a glitch peculiar to Windows.

Maybe a Ubuntu user can post and let us know if they have that ability? If not I'll look myself later after a reboot.

[bejant]

Sorry, I forgot to answer your question:

Can I do this from e.g., python?

I'm not a coder but because the capability seems to have existed before, I imagine the code is probably somewhere...

[bejant]

PolarPattern about the X,Y,Z axes is not available in my Ubuntu build either...

[quick61]

Not anywhere. Looks like it was taken out sometime between 20 August 2012‎ and now, so that should narrow it down a bit. Seems like a real handy feature to have. Array will do it, but it's no where to be found in pattern. Maybe a good time for a feature request to get it added back in?

Mark

[tmoore]

Commit 525cddaaf32e7e1fc2b07e56eada2a92e106aab9 removed the StdDirection field from patterns. It is more general to support any line segment as the pattern transformation, but it looks like a UI to specify standard axes never got implemented.

Tim

[triplus]

There is a way to use Polar Pattern feature for tasks like this. Knowing Select reference... is available we have to incorporate that into our design intent and create the edge to be used as reference:

1.png (19.33 KiB) Viewed 8054 times

After Polar Pattern feature was successfully used we remove what was created just for referencing purposes:

2.png (17.69 KiB) Viewed 8054 times

This is simple example that should get you on the right track if you choose to follow this path. In the future yes for sure it would be easier to have the tool as seen on the wiki. But as shown it is possible to achieve this with current FreeCAD capabilities.

[bejant]

Maybe a good time for a feature request to get it added back in?

Agreed, I think I'll put in a ticket and cross reference back to this topic.

Commit 525cddaaf32e7e1fc2b07e56eada2a92e106aab9 removed the StdDirection field from patterns. It is more general to support any line segment as the pattern transformation,

Yes, supporting any line segment is more general but as seen here sometimes the line simply doesn't exist forcing the user to take a diversion so as to create it.

but it looks like a UI to specify standard axes never got implemented.

I'm thinking that the UI did get implemented at one time, as evidenced by the wiki screen grab...

[bejant]

Ticket #1511.

[NormandC]

I'm thinking that the UI did get implemented at one time, as evidenced by the wiki screen grab...

It was actually refactored because of a bug. We had a discussion about this at the time. The wiki page was never updated to reflect the change.

See discussion here: viewtopic.php?f=10&t=2951&p=26910#p26907

So according to logari81, this can only be reintegrated once the body feature is merged to the main branch. I believe the relevant code is in the jriegel/dev-assembly branch, and we'll have to wait for it to be merged to the main branch.