Referencing a driven dimension

[ryancousinsCPS]

 

 

I'm trying to figure out a good way to reference one distance to control another dimension. I would like the overall width of my rectangular sketch (holder_width) to equal the distance between the two outermost tangent edges of the circles plus a specified margin. I tried creating a driven dimension but I'm not able to create a user parameter based on this. After reading the forums it looks like there are a lot of issues currently with using driven dimensions in this manner, so I'm wondering if there is another option I'm not thinking of rather than resort to manually entering a fixed dimension.

[laughingcreek]

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@ryancousinsCPS wrote:... I tried creating a driven dimension but I'm not able to create a user parameter based on this....

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This should be possible.  what is happening when you try?  I usually just rename the the auto generated name(d31 in this case) and use that.  favoriting will make it pop up in the pick list making it easier to find when you use it in an equation.

[davebYYPCU]

You can lose the majority of those dimensions, if you use the Equals constraint, efficiently.

Add two equal construction lines to the end tangent points.  Dimension one of them.

Might help….

[TheCADWhisperer]

@ryancousinsCPS 

This one will be easy to fix.

Can you File>Export your *.f3d file to your local drive and then Attach it here to a Reply?