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Design table won't change all dimensions

Question asked by Matthew Purdy on Sep 30, 2018
Latest reply on Oct 1, 2018 by Dennis Dohogne

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Hello!

I am modeling a full sized part and want to scale it down 1/8. I made the part using full size drawings, auto-created a design table, made a row, and divided each column by 8. This generated a new configuration which... only changed a portion of the dimensions.

I am new to using design tables, so I'm not sure what the limitations are. Am I not selecting the dimensions properly? A few of the dimensions I wrote in as Feet plus Inches, but they display as just inches. Could this be screwing me up? Screenshots and part file attached.

Matthew Purdy Oct 1, 2018 12:17 PM

Correct Answer

Hey Guys,

Correct answer is operator error, haha. D7 is an angle; 45 degrees. Scale the angle, and it goes haywire. I adjusted it to stay at 45, and now I have no problems.

I tried to make the scale feature work before, but it does not scale dimensions, and the end result is to have a drawing to make the part from. If the design table didn't work, I'd have to simply make a new part and hand-jam the numbers.

Thanks anyways. This did help. I didn't know that it reconstructed the sketches by column. In this case I'll start constructing sketches in such a way that I won't end up with zero length lines or otherwise.

Matt

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Søren Stærk Oct 1, 2018 8:08 AM

The divided by 8 configuration will yield an insolvable sketch.

Use the feature scale instead

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Josh Brady Oct 1, 2018 8:26 AM

I would agree with Soren... Many times in SW if you make drastic changes to a bunch of dimensions at once, SW has trouble executing those changes. It can't really recognize that "hey, every single dimension is 1/8 what it was" all at once. If it could, it might be able to solve your sketch (maybe... I'm not sure, I didn't open your file). Instead, it sort of processes the changed dimensions in some order, as though you changed them one at a time. If one of those incremental changes results in an error, it will kinda stop processing, especially if one of the changes results in some sort of topological thing like a zero length line.

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Matthew Purdy Oct 1, 2018 12:17 PM

Hey Guys,

Correct answer is operator error, haha. D7 is an angle; 45 degrees. Scale the angle, and it goes haywire. I adjusted it to stay at 45, and now I have no problems.

Matt

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Dennis Dohogne @ Matthew Purdy on Oct 1, 2018 1:02 PM

Matthew Purdy wrote:

Hey Guys,

Correct answer is operator error, haha. D7 is an angle; 45 degrees. Scale the angle, and it goes haywire. I adjusted it to stay at 45, and now I have no problems.

I tried to make the scale feature work before, but it does not scale dimensions, and the end result is to have a drawing to make the part from. If the design table didn't work, I'd have to simply make a new part and hand-jam the numbers.

Thanks anyways. This did help. I didn't know that it reconstructed the sketches by column. In this case I'll start constructing sketches in such a way that I won't end up with zero length lines or otherwise.

Matt

Matt,

Design Tables are terrific things, but they can make your life miserable if they are poorly constructed. For anyone using dimensions in DT's or in the SWX Equations I HIGHLY recommend you name the dimensions something meaningful. Some folks advocate strongly for also naming the sketches, but I don't do that unless the sketch is either standalone (it is not absorbed into a feature) or is used in more than one feature. Also, our practice is to name each feature upon creation. Less than 1% of people will go back when a model is finished and name all their features. Naming them as we go is just good practice and is our standard practice. When we get a model from someone else with the default feature names we just roll our eyes. The person that did that model has already lost credibility and respect with us.

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4 Replies

Søren Stærk Oct 1, 2018 8:08 AM
Mark Correct
Correct Answer
The divided by 8 configuration will yield an insolvable sketch.
Use the feature scale instead
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Josh Brady Oct 1, 2018 8:26 AM
Mark Correct
Correct Answer
I would agree with Soren... Many times in SW if you make drastic changes to a bunch of dimensions at once, SW has trouble executing those changes. It can't really recognize that "hey, every single dimension is 1/8 what it was" all at once. If it could, it might be able to solve your sketch (maybe... I'm not sure, I didn't open your file). Instead, it sort of processes the changed dimensions in some order, as though you changed them one at a time. If one of those incremental changes results in an error, it will kinda stop processing, especially if one of the changes results in some sort of topological thing like a zero length line.
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Matthew Purdy Oct 1, 2018 12:17 PM
Unmark Correct
Correct Answer
Hey Guys,

Correct answer is operator error, haha. D7 is an angle; 45 degrees. Scale the angle, and it goes haywire. I adjusted it to stay at 45, and now I have no problems.

I tried to make the scale feature work before, but it does not scale dimensions, and the end result is to have a drawing to make the part from. If the design table didn't work, I'd have to simply make a new part and hand-jam the numbers.

Thanks anyways. This did help. I didn't know that it reconstructed the sketches by column. In this case I'll start constructing sketches in such a way that I won't end up with zero length lines or otherwise.

Matt
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- Dennis Dohogne @ Matthew Purdy on Oct 1, 2018 1:02 PM
  Mark Correct
  Correct Answer
  Matthew Purdy wrote:
  
  Hey Guys,
  
  Correct answer is operator error, haha. D7 is an angle; 45 degrees. Scale the angle, and it goes haywire. I adjusted it to stay at 45, and now I have no problems.
  
  I tried to make the scale feature work before, but it does not scale dimensions, and the end result is to have a drawing to make the part from. If the design table didn't work, I'd have to simply make a new part and hand-jam the numbers.
  
  Thanks anyways. This did help. I didn't know that it reconstructed the sketches by column. In this case I'll start constructing sketches in such a way that I won't end up with zero length lines or otherwise.
  
  Matt
  Matt,
  
  Design Tables are terrific things, but they can make your life miserable if they are poorly constructed. For anyone using dimensions in DT's or in the SWX Equations I HIGHLY recommend you name the dimensions something meaningful. Some folks advocate strongly for also naming the sketches, but I don't do that unless the sketch is either standalone (it is not absorbed into a feature) or is used in more than one feature. Also, our practice is to name each feature upon creation. Less than 1% of people will go back when a model is finished and name all their features. Naming them as we go is just good practice and is our standard practice. When we get a model from someone else with the default feature names we just roll our eyes. The person that did that model has already lost credibility and respect with us.
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Design table won't change all dimensions

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