Stretch and Array Problem

[mertkarademir]

Hey, I am using Autocad 2018

Trying to create a dynablock for arranging my folding lines on sheet metal, but can't get to make it just as i wanted.

Picture No 1 is the original gap between my part and folding flap, which has 0.8mm of thickness, but I am trying to make it reinforced by adding 4mm bridges in between the gaps like in the Picture No 2. At first, I used DIVIDE command to divide the gap into equal pieces, and made those bridges manually. But there are thousands of them and I am in a really tight schedule to complete. I tried to create a dynablock, which I am not really good at making, but I could not make it work properly. I added the ARRAY action, but end of the array line overlapped with those little yellow lines just as in the Picture No 3. While arranging these gaps, the bridges between the gaps supposed to be 4mm long, but the length of the gaps are not really important. They can vary between 15-25mm, even more.

I am not sure if there is a specific way to do just as I asked. But I am really welcome to any solution which makes this process faster. Hope I could explain my problem correctly. Thanks all in advance.

[mertkarademir]

Found a thread solved by @MMcCall402, but could not imply it to my problem. If anybody can help me about that, I'll be really greatful.

Here is the thread: https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/dynamic-blocks-forum/variable-array-of-a-dynamic-block/m-p/10139738/h...

I added the dwg file of the dynablock, which I could only imply the ARRAY action.

[MMcCall402]

Hmm, just so I understand correctly:

The bridges are 4mm and never vary.

The gaps vary in length and number of gaps. 

Is there a maximum and minimum length for the gaps? 

Is there an overall anticipated minimum and maximum length to this? 

I'm looking for values to use in equations to trigger when it goes from 1 gap to 2 gaps and so forth.  Calculating the length of the gaps is also needed.

[mertkarademir]

Hello again Mark, and thanks for your reply.

Yeah, bridges are 4mm and they don't vary. But the length and number of gaps vary. They depend on the length of the folding line. I try to keep length of the gaps 18-23mm. It can go up to 30-35mm, but I prefer to keep them not longer than 23. There is no specific reason to do that and it is not really that important, just want to maintain order in the whole drawing. There is no specific minimum or maximum length of the whole gap (length between the sheet metal and the folding flap), but they vary between 10mm to 240mm. They rarely exceed these numbers.

Again, I am not sure if there is a specific way to do that. But the problem in that thread I replied to your solution is kind of similar to mine. Thanks you for your kind response and I hope I could explain the problem in a better manner this time.

[MMcCall402 · Accepted solution]

Sorry this has taken so long to get back to you.

Try out the block in the attached file. It works by stretching one long gap and then placing bridges at equal spacing along the gap.  The number of bridges and their spacing is done thru some user parameters with formulas that calculate their values from the linear constraint used to stretch the gap.  The user parameters are used as some of the values for the arraypath of the bridges along the gap.  The bridge parts include a wipeout that covers the long gap and makes it appear like there are several gaps of equal length that vary as the total gap length changes.

The part I haven't figured out yet is a way to have no gaps when the gap is short.  I included a visibility parameter to handle the situation but its manually controlled right now.  I think the solution would be to use a double lookup to trigger the visibility states when the length gets short enough.  However I'm not having any luck in making a double lookup in the 2021 version.  So, for now it works, its just manually operated.

[mertkarademir]

Mark, thank you very much this one works like a charm. I was so close to asking to the client for a deadline extension, but this will make the process so much quicker. Thanks again, you made my life so much easier!

[bfalconr]

Hi Mark, away from this topic, and because I can't find where to go to find a solution for the small hang that happens in papers pace where I'm making, editing or placing dimensions and multi leaders, it's a sort of small delay every time when working with dimensions, any idea if it's normal or do I have to adjust some graphics settings,

Thank you

Bruno Falcon