Learning Objectives:

Create holes using the Hole dashboard. Create Round, Chamfer, and Rib. Edit features. Redefine, Reroute, and Reorder features. Suppress and delete features. Modify features.

 Options Aiding Construction of Parts

This chapter explains the feature creation tools provided in Pro/ENGINEER that help in creating a model and editing it once the model is completed.

Creating Holes
In engineering components, holes can be counterbore, countersink, tapered, or drilled. Pro/ENGINEER allows you to create all these types of holes. In Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire, holes are created using the Hole dashboard.

The Hole Dashboard

In this release of Pro/ENGINEER, holes are created using the Hole dashboard. The Hole dashboard is displayed when you choose Insert > Hole from the menu bar or the Hole Tool button from the Engineering Features toolbar present in the Right Toolchest. You can create three types of holes using the Hole dashboard. The first type is a straight hole, the second is a sketched hole, and the third is a standard hole.

 Creating Straight Holes

Straight holes are the holes that have a circular cross-section having a constant diameter throughout the depth. They start at the placement plane and terminate at the user-defined depth or at the specified end surface. The Hole dashboard with Create straight hole button selected is shown in the figure.

Hole dashboard

Linear dimensioning of hole

Radial dimensioning of hole

Diameter dimensioning of hole

Coaxial hole

 Creating Sketched Holes

The Sketched option allows you to sketch the cross-section for the hole that is revolved about a center axis. This option is used to draw custom shapes for the hole. When you choose the Sketched option from the first drop-down list in the Hole dashboard, the Hole dashboard appears as shown in the figure.

Hole dashboard

Standard Hole
The standard holes can be created by choosing the Create standard hole button from the Hole dashboard. The holes created using this button are based on industry standard fastener tables.

Hole dashboard

 Important Points to Remember While Creating Holes

1. While drawing the sketch of a hole, the sketch should have axis of revolution and at least one entity normal to it. While creating a hole, the primary reference for placement of hole can be selected without choosing any option from the Hole dashboard. However, when you need to specify the secondary references, then you have to choose the Placement tab from the Hole dashboard. It is recommended that if you are creating a Standard hole then the units of the model should be in mm. An application of Sketched hole is a tapered hole. Sketched holes are always blind and have depth in one direction only. You cannot select a convex or concave surface as the placement plane.

2.

3.

4.

5.

 Creating Rounds
The Round option in the Insert menu creates a fillet or smooth rounded transition with either a circular or a conic profile between two adjacent surfaces. This feature creation tool can be invoked from the menu bar or from the Engineering Features toolbar in the Right Toolchest.

Round created on the edges

Round created on surfaces

 The Round Dashboard

When you choose the Round Tool button from the Engineering Features toolbar or choose Insert > Round from the menu bar, the Round dashboard is displayed as shown in the figure and you are prompted to select an edge or surface to create the round set. The options of Round dashboard are listed next.

Round dashboard

Switch to Set mode button Switch to Transition mode button Sets tab

Options tab Properties tab

Transitions tab
Ambiguity tab

 Creating a constant radius round on a chain of edge Creating a variable radius round on an edge

Constant radius round by selecting the edges

Variable radius round by selecting the edge

 Points to remember while creating rounds

1. To avoid parent-child relationship, other features should not be referenced to the edges created by rounds or to the round surface. Rounds should be added at the last. This means, the rounds should be the last features in any solid model. The more the number of round features a solid model has, the more time the system takes to regenerate them.

2.

3.

4.

Use the shortcut menus extensively while creating rounds.

 Creating Chamfers
Chamfers are used to bevel the selected edges and corners with the help of some specified parameters. Pro/ENGINEER creates two type of chamfers. The first is the Corner chamfer and the second is the Edge chamfer. To create chamfer on a corner, choose Insert > Chamfer > Corner from the menu bar. To create a chamfer on an edge, choose Insert > Chamfer > Edge from the menu bar. You can also choose the Chamfer Tool button from the Engineering Features toolbar to create the edge chamfers.

The two type of chamfers

 Corner Chamfer
A Corner chamfer creates a beveled surface at the intersection of three edges. When you choose the Corner Chamfer option from the cascaded menu, the SELECT dialog box and the CHAMFER (CORNER) dialog box is displayed, see Figure A and you are prompted to select a corner to chamfer. When you select the corner, the PICK/ENTER menu is displayed as shown in Figure B.

Figure A CHAMFER (CORNER) dialog box

Figure B PICK/ENTER dialog box

 Edge Chamfer
An Edge chamfer creates a beveled surface along the selected edge. When you choose Insert > Chamfer > Edge from the menu bar or choose the Chamfer Tool button from the Engineering Features toolbar, the Chamfer dashboard is displayed as shown in figure and you are prompted to select any number of edges to create chamfer.

Chamfer dashboard

Switch to Set mode button

When this button is chosen, the drop-down list to the right of this button in the Chamfer dashboard is also displayed. This drop-down list is used to specify the type of chamfer. The options in the drop-down list with the help of figures are explained next.

D x D option

D1 x D2 option

Angle x D option

45 x D option

 Switch to Transition mode button

Figure A shows the example of transition chamfer.

Sets tab

Transitions tab
Ambiguity tab Options tab
Figure A Transition chamfer

Properties option

 Understanding Ribs
Ribs are defined as thin wall-like structures used to bind the joints together so that they do not fail under an increased load. In Pro/ENGINEER, the section for the rib is sketched as an open section and can be extruded equally in both the directions of the sketch plane or on either sides. The procedure of creating a rib is similar to that of creating a protrusion. Figure A shows a rotational rib and Figure B shows a straight rib.

Figure A Rotational Rib feature

Figure B Straight Rib feature

 Creating Ribs
Ribs are created using the Rib dashboard shown in the figure. The Rib dashboard is displayed when you choose Insert > Rib from the menu bar or choose the Rib Tool button from the Engineering Features toolbar.

Rib dashboard

References tab Change the thickness option between both sides, side 1, and side 2
button

 Editing the Features of a Model

Editing is one of the most important aspects of product designing. Most of the designs require editing either during their creation or after they are created. As mentioned earlier, Pro/ENGINEER is a parametric solid modeling tool.

Editing Definition or Redefining Features

Editing the definition of features allow you to make changes in the parameters that were used to create a feature. You can also modify the sketches of the sketched features by editing their definition. A feature is redefined only when it is completed.

Reordering Features
Reordering the features is defined as the process of changing the order of features in a model. Sometimes, after creating a model it may be required to change the order in which the features of the model were created. A feature can be placed before or after another feature. For this purpose either the Model Tree or the Menu Manager is used.

 Rerouting Features
The References option available in the Edit menu is used to modify the references of a feature and in turn break the parent-child relation that exists between the selected feature and the other features. From this release of Pro/ENGINEER, the rerouting of features is done using the References option.

Suppressing Features
When you do not want a feature to be displayed on the graphics window or to show up in the drawing views of a model then that feature can be suppressed. Once the feature is suppressed, it will neither be displayed in the drawing views nor on the graphics window.

Deleting a Feature
The feature that is not required can be deleted from the model. Right-click on the feature in the Model Tree or select it on the graphics window and press and hold down the right mouse button to display the shortcut menu. From this menu choose the Delete option.

 Modifying a Feature
Once a feature is created, you can still modify the feature by modifying its dimensions. This editing operation reflects the parametric nature of Pro/ENGINEER. Select the feature on the graphics window using the left mouse button. The selected feature is highlighted in red, hold down the right mouse button to invoke the shortcut menu. Choose the Edit option from this shortcut menu. The selected feature is highlighted in red and the dimensions appear on the feature.

Dynamically Modifying the Sketch of a Feature

If you want to modify the sketch of a feature without entering the sketcher environment, then you need to modify it dynamically.

 Tutorial 1
Create the model shown in Figure A. The dimensions of the model are given in the front, top, and left-side views of the model shown in Figure B. (Expected time: 45 min)

Figure A Isometric view of the model

Figure B Left side view, front view, and the top view of the model with dimensions

a.

First examine the model and then determine the number of features in it. The model is composed of eight features.

b.

The first four features are extruded features. First the sketch of base feature will be created on the FRONT datum plane (Figure C), and then it will be extruded to a depth of 10.

Figure C Sketch for base the feature

c.

The sketch of the second feature (Figure D) will be created on the TOP datum plane and will be extruded on one side of the sketching plane. The depth of extrusion is 10 (Figure E).

Figure D Sketch for the second feature

Figure E extrusion

Second

feature

after

d.

The sketch of the third feature (Figure F) will be created on the front planar surface of the second feature and will be extruded on one side of the sketching plane. The depth of extrusion is 10.

Figure F Sketch for the third feature

e.

On the front planar surface of the third feature (Figure G), the sketch of the cylindrical feature (Figure H) will be drawn and extrusion will be on both sides of the plane. The depth of extrusion on one side is 12 and on the other side is 13 (Figure I).

Figure G Sketching plane for the cylindrical feature

Figure H Sketch for the cylindrical feature

Figure I The default view of the model

f.

The next feature is a hole that is coaxial to the cylindrical feature (Figure J). This hole will be created using the HOLE dialog box.

Figure J Coaxial hole created on the cylindrical feature g. The next two features that will be created are rounds. The two rounds have different radii. Hence, they will be created as two separate features.

h.

The last feature is a rib. The sketch for this feature (Figure K) will be drawn on the RIGHT datum plane. The rib is created (Figure L).

Figure K Sketch for the rib feature i.

Figure L The default view of the model

Save the model and then close the window.

 Tutorial 2
In this tutorial you will create the model shown in Figure A. The dimensions of the model are shown in Figure B. (Expected time: 30 min)

Figure A Isometric view of the model

Figure B Drawing views of the model

a.

First examine the model and then determine the number of features in it. The model is composed of four features; one at the bottom (base feature), one cylindrical feature, one hole feature on the cylindrical feature, and one rib feature.

b.

Select the sketching plane for the base feature, draw the sketch using the sketcher tools (Figure C), apply the constraints and dimensions, and then extrude the sketch to the given depth (Figure D).

Figure C Sketch for the base feature

Figure D Trimetric view of the base feature

c.

Select the sketching plane for the cylindrical feature, draw the sketch using the sketcher tools (Figure E), apply the dimensions and constraints, and then extrude the sketch to the given depth (Figure F).

Figure E Sketch of cylindrical feature

Figure F Cylindrical feature

d.

Create the hole on the cylindrical feature using the Hole dashboard (Figure G).

Figure G Hole on cylindrical feature

e.

Create a sketching plane for the rib feature, draw the sketch using the sketcher tools (Figure H), apply the dimensions and constraints, and then give the thickness to the sketch (Figure I).

Figure H Sketch of rib feature

Figure I Trimetric view of the model

f.

Save the model and then close the window.

 Tutorial 3
In this tutorial you will create the model shown in Figure A. The dimensions of the model are given in the front and the right-side views shown in Figure B. (Expected time: 45 min)

Figure A Isometric view of the model

Figure B Drawing views of the model

a.

First examine the model and then determine the number of features in it. The model is composed of four features; one is the base feature, one cut feature, one counter bore hole on the front planar surface of the base feature, and one round feature. Select the sketching plane for the base feature, draw the sketch using the sketcher tools (Figure C), apply the dimensions and constraints, and then extrude the sketch to the given depth (Figure D).

b.

Figure C Sketch of base feature

Figure D Base feature after extrusion

c.

Create a sketching plane for the cut feature, draw the sketch using the sketcher tools (Figure E), apply the dimensions, and then extrude the sketch to both sides of the plane (Figure F).

Figure E Sketch of the cut feature

Figure F Model after creating cut

d. e.

Create a hole (Figure G). Create the round (Figure H).

Figure G Model with the hole feature

Figure H Model with the round features f. Save the model and then close the window.

 Tutorial 4
In this tutorial you will create the model shown in Figure A. The dimensions of the model are given in the front, top, and the right-side views shown in Figure B. (Expected time: 45 min)

Figure A Isometric view of the model

Figure B Drawing views of the model

a.

First examine the model and then determine the number of features in it. The model is composed of five features: one at the bottom (base feature), one cut feature on the base feature, one protrusion on the top of the base feature, and two cut features that will create one hole at the top and two holes on the base feature. Select the sketch plane for the base feature, draw the sketch using the sketching tools, apply the dimensions and constraints, and then extrude the sketch to the given depth, see Figures C and D.

b.

Figure C Sketch of base feature

Figure D Base feature after extrusion

c.

To create the cut feature, select the bottom face of the base feature as the sketching plane, draw the sketch (Figure E), apply dimensions and constraints, and then extrude the sketch (Figure F).

Figure E Sketch of the cut feature

d.

Figure F Model after creating the cut feature

To create the protrusion feature, you need to create a datum plane offset to the top face of the base feature (Figure G), draw the sketch using the sketching tools (Figure H), apply dimensions and constraints, and then extrude the sketch, see Figure I.

Figure G DTM1 created at an offset distance e.

Figure H Sketch for the cylindrical feature

Figure I Model after creating the cylindrical feature

The next feature is a counterbore hole. You will sketch the section of the counterbore hole (Figure J) and then select the top face of the cylindrical feature as the placement plane. This hole is coaxial with the cylindrical feature, see Figure K.

Figure J Sketch with dimensions

Figure K Model with fourth feature

f.

The last feature is the set of two straight holes that are created on the top face of the base feature, see Figure L.

Figure L Model after creating holes

 Exercise 1
Create the model shown in Figure A. The dimensions of the model are given in the front and top views of the model shown in Figure B. (Expected time: 45 min)

Figure A Isometric view of the model

Figure B Top view and front view of the model

 Exercise 2
Create the model shown in Figure A. The dimensions of the model are given in the front and right-side views of the model shown in Figure B. (Expected time: 30 min)

Figure A Isometric view of the model

Figure B Front view and right side view of the model

 Exercise 3
Create the model shown in Figure A. The dimensions of the model are given in the front and right-side views of the model shown in Figure B. (Expected time: 30 min)

Figure A Isometric view of the model

Figure B Front view and right side view of the model