Feature Pattern Trim

[kennyjohnson1]

Team,

I am modeling railings.

I use the sweep command to create a bottom rail that follows the perimeter of the walkway.  I then Rectangular Pattern this solid to create the mid and top rails.  Works fine.

Now I go to another area, sweep the bottom rail.  I then do an extrude cut between two stanchions for an opening in the rails.  I Rectangular Pattern this solid; the mid and top rails do not have the extrude cut - the modification to the bottom rail is ignored.

Without having to model each of the three rails and or starting/ stopping the sweeps to be separate solids, is there a way to accomplish this trim?

Thank you in advance,

Kenny

[mcgyvr]

Can you share your files..(don't forget to include all the ipt files if attaching an iam as it only links to them and does not include them in itself..)

Having the files is worth a 1000 words.. At the very least a picture..

There may be a much better way to accomplish your needs vs the way you are doing it now.. (or not)

[TheCADWhisperer]

Split

[kennyjohnson1]

Red arrow is the extrude/cut.

Green arrows are the Feature Rectangle Pattern that ignores the extrude/cut.

Playing with Split command now; I have placed a warplane at each end but I am not sure how to remove the section; just seems to make the railing into multiple parts, but I cannot delete the section after performing the split?  It also looks like I would have to split 6 times to remove all three sections, if there is a way to remove the split portion?

Thank you again,

Kenny

[kennyjohnson1]

Thank you, CAD Whisperer,

I was looking for a solution that the Rectangular pattern would recognize.

In this case I can split the solid, then trim the solid - but I have to do it for each rail; (6) splits.  This is a better method than my extrude/cut, though.

Kenny

[mercerc]

Hi, 

Before I offer any suggestion what is the end goal? Is it just to have a model of the railing? Or is it to have a part and multiple instances of it in a Parts list? This reflect on want approach is best. 

[kennyjohnson1]

Hi Mercerc,

End goal is a model of the railing.  I need to be able to cut openings in railings.  The railings follow odd angles, different sized catwalks, etc.  So it is not convenient to create new work planes/sketches at each opening, and the openings are not uniform in size or spacing.

I want to sweep the bottom rail, then be able to cut openings in the railing where ladders/stairs would go.  I then want to feature pattern the rails up to create the middle and top rails.  I am not concerned with parts lists; just want the railings to be in the correct locations.

What I am running into is the feature pattern ignores any modifications to the original part file; so splits or extrude-cuts don't show up on the middle and top rails.

Thank you in advance for any help.

Kenny

[kennyjohnson1 · Accepted solution]

Okay,

I found the solution and an alternative that seems to work as well.

The solution to the feature Rectangular Pattern is to select the feature to be copied AND any modifications in the Feature option of the Rectangular Pattern.  I was selecting the rail, expecting the modifications to go with - instead you must select the rail and any browser features that affect the rail as part of the feature selection option (IE the Extrude Cut, Sweep Cut, Split, etc.).

Another work around, for when modifications are wanted after creating the feature Rectangular Pattern:

After creating the Rails and the feature Rectangular Pattern, I am using an Extrude Cut that passes through all the rails.  I then have to use the "Solids" selection and pick both the bottom rail and a rail (middle or top) from the Rectangular Pattern.  

Editing just the bottom rail does not affect the feature rectangular pattern.  So the workflow has to change slightly to add all openings after completing all feature patterns; then cut the original rail and the feature pattern at the same time.

Thank you to everyone who offered suggestions.

Kenny

[kennyjohnson1 · Accepted solution]

I found another solution, should anyone else run into this.

When the catwalk and railings were originally modeled, the rails were made as new solids in the part file.  The cut/trim options then only affected the original features, not the Rectangular Pattern for the other rails above it.

Reworking the model and keeping the rails as part of the original model solid body and the cut/trim commands would be copied by the Rectangular Pattern.

Hope that helps someone else!

Kenny