I have sketched a profile of a tab that I would like to make a block and then add it to a library I am creating. I want to be able to add this block to a sketch of a feature. the problem that I am having with this is that solidworks tells me that the sketch is not closed. is there a way to use a block to close a sketch?
Can you show a picture of the geometry of this tab and what geometry you are trying to repeat (like if there are holes, spacing is always 1.00" away from edge, etc.). There are other methods that are possible. Making blocks seems far fetched.
I want this profile (in pink) to close this sketch if I had trimmed out the black line.
the next picture shows the same type of profile only the base part has been cut out and the sketched block has been closed. so far this is the only thing that works, other than exploding the block once it is in position.
You can insert it and then explode it.
That is a valid option, but is there a way to do it where you don't have to explode it?
Create a library feature. I have to warn you if you haven't done this before it can get tricky. I could type pages on the practices of this but for your instance here make sure you don't use the vertex for the cut extrude because it will not be able to be seen later for a reference. Instead dimension the cut extrude where you want it.
In the first picture I am creating the tab that I want to use as a template. You highlight the features and click "Save As" and as a library feature.
From here down is your new part where you want that tab to insert. I used a sheet metal reference so it must be a sheet metal part for this tab.
Edge 1 reference is from a midpoint reference to the original parts edge, now it wants a reference to a similar edge.
Face1 is an up to surface reference.
another valid option and that is probably where this is headed. But the over all goal here is to keep these slots and tabs in a sketch so if there are multiple slots (for instance) that can not be patterned because of the design there isn't a thousand slot feature in the feature tree. I hope that makes my intentions a little more clear.
I have a feeling that what I want to happen can not be done.
Very odd work flow but I still don't grasp why you are doing this and the patterning.
Anyways it does work. Make sure you drag your sketch point over the sketch point on the original sketch. After that use regions to extrude. It will do an extrude thin. Uncheck that.
I had a 10x10 box with one side with 2 in legs.
There is a disconnect between the Extrude Feature and the Base Flange Feature. I didn't mention it before because I didn't think It made a difference but of course it does. the extrude worked just like you said it would Scott, but when I tried it in a base flange it gave me an error about how it needs either a closed contour or open contour that doesn't have self interesting lines.I think it has something to do with the fact that you can not merge an end point of a line to the end point of a block.
some of our other programs in our company do like files that have been "converted to sheet metal" and with the way we model I don't think I would work right with what I want to accomplish.
also the reason for doing this in sketches is our engineers do a lot of modeling and our files are bloated because of excessive features, so I'm trying keep our model flies as small as they can be.
You're killing me lol. That was a service request but is closed.
The exploded block works as you know. If your main problem is file size I would suggest sending a problem file over that is massive in size to look over. There are many different practices unique to each companies work flow. For instance if you Suppress all the parts in an assembly (or features in a part file) you will reduce the file size by a massive amount. However this is not fun if you have a few parts already suppressed and want to keep suppressed for certain configurations.
I suggest sending your file.
Interesting. I just tried this myself.
My solution would be to leave that sketch in place, then create another sketch over the top of it and use "Convert Entities" to copy.
Create a library feature. I have to warn you if you haven't done this before it can get tricky. I could type pages on the practices of this but for your instance here make sure you don't use the vertex for the cut extrude because it will not be able to be seen later for a reference. Instead dimension the cut extrude where you want it.
In the first picture I am creating the tab that I want to use as a template. You highlight the features and click "Save As" and as a library feature.
From here down is your new part where you want that tab to insert. I used a sheet metal reference so it must be a sheet metal part for this tab.
Edge 1 reference is from a midpoint reference to the original parts edge, now it wants a reference to a similar edge.
Face1 is an up to surface reference.