Performance with sketch pattern

[pludikar]

Hi, 

I'm aware that performance of sketch with a large repeat pattern is painfully slow.  However, it's challenging working with something that is slower than molasses on a cold winter's morning. So I'm trying to find out if it's my configuration, or this level of performance is expected.

I'm attempting to create a vacuum table for my 4'x8'CNC router.  It comprises 48 x 96 x 3/4" sheet with a matrix of grooves to take different configurations of cord gasket.  The grooves also creates passages to distribute the vacuum.  My approach is to take a 1.75in square and create a regular pattern, which in my case, will be 23 repeats x 48 repeats.  The resulting 1058 matrix just bogs down my machine.  Once I get the sketch I would select the gap and extrude it cut the grooves in the sheet.  Hopefully, my description is enough for anyone to get the idea. (i.e. draw a 46 x 96 in rectangle and fill it with 1.75"squares, leaving .25"gap between them)

If I do this in sketch, it takes well over an hour for F360 to come back to life.  During that time Windows resource monitor reports F360 as not responding. CPU is running around 12.5% with 80+ threads.  F360 displays "computing sketch 94%).   If I do this in 3D (using pattern features), it's a little faster, but still nothing to shout about.

My machine is no slouch - 

Windows 10

Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700K CPU @ 4.00GHz, 4001 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s)

32G of installed RAM

SSD hard drive

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 with 8G memory

I can't think what I am attempting to do is anything particularly unusual.  If anyone has any ideas how I can resolve this, I'd really appreciate the help.

Many thanks in advance

Peter

[jeff_strater]

You are on the right track to use feature pattern instead of sketch pattern.  That's a lot of instances of geometry.  If feature pattern is struggling with this, then sketch is going to struggle a whole lot worse.  Your sketch will be unusable with that much in it.

One hint for dealing with larger sketches is to turn off profile recognition.  This is part of what takes so long.  Fusion is trying to identify each of those little profiles.  But, again, I would not recommend using sketch for this, even with profiles turned off.

Jeff

[pludikar]

Hi Jeff,

Many thanks for responding so quickly.  I apologise if this has an obvious answer - How do I turn off profile recognition?

Regards

Peter

[jeff_strater · Accepted solution]

I should have included this in my response, because it is not obvious.  This item in the sketch palette, which turns off the display, also turns off even trying to recognize profiles at all:

Jeff

[pludikar]

Hi Jeff,

That little trick makes a noticeable difference.  Many thanks again.

Peter