Discover how to effectively model a base using user parameters by extruding a main profile and creating vertical parts. Learn how to navigate parametric values, create holes, add fillets, and group objects in the timeline for a well-organized model.
Key Insights
- The article provides a detailed guide on modeling a base using user parameters, which involves extruding a main profile and creating vertical parts that are 60 millimeters above the base.
- Additional steps include creating holes using parametric values, adding fillets that reflect the thickness of the model, and adjusting parameters to ensure all constraints and dimensions update correctly.
- The author also stresses the importance of grouping objects in the timeline for better organization and easier navigation throughout the modeling process.
In this video, we will finish our Base using user parameters. I will go to Extrude, and I will select the main profile here to extrude my base.
I'll drag up and type T for my thickness. I'll click OK, and now I want to create the vertical part that goes through here. I will turn on Sketch 1, and I'll go to Extrude one more time.
I'll select this inner profile here and start to drag up. I know that I want my part to go 60 millimeters above my base, so I can type T + 60 to go up my thickness distance and go the remaining 60 millimeters. Because I'm including my parametric value in this dimension, I know that this part will automatically update.
I'm going to change the Operation to New Body so that I have separate bodies, and click OK. I can now hide Sketch 1 and review my parts. Everything looks good, so I can continue modeling.
Next, we need the hole in the side of my part here, so I'll go to New Sketch, select this face, and go to Sketch > Point. I can place my point anywhere on this face. I'll place it about here, and press D for Dimension.
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I'll dimension to this corner, drag out horizontally, and type 15. This is not a parametric dimension—I want this to always be 15 from the top of my model.
I can now go to Horizontal/Vertical Constraint, and snap this point to the midpoint of this line, or I can go point to point and type T / 2. Remember, we can use basic mathematical functions in this dialog box to get a distance. This will do T divided by 2, and will automatically place this point in the middle of this face. The Horizontal/Vertical Constraint and this dimension would effectively do the same thing.
Everything looks good, so I'll click Stop Sketch and go to Create > Hole. I'll find this point, and use the sliders to get a rough size to where I think it should be, and then I can add my user parameters. I'll type in W for the width, and D for my diameter.
Because I'm using parametric values here, I know that again, it will update in the future. I'll click OK, and the last thing I need to do is add my fillets around the outside of my base. So I'll go to Modify > Fillet, select these four edges, and here I will type T for thickness as a user parameter, because I want these fillets to reflect the thickness of my model if I change it in the future.
I'll click OK and go to my Home view. One more time, I'll move my model to the right side of my screen, open the Change Parameters dialog box, and I will see what happens when I change my parameters. Again, you can type in any distances here to see what will happen.
Everything looks good, and it looks like it updated the correct way. This is a helpful way to make sure that we are modeling our model correctly—all of our constraints and dimensions update with our parametric values, and we can see which thicknesses will work if we are trying to construct this in the real-world. Everything looks good, so I will change these back to 5,30, and 15.
I will be returning to these base values as I move through the model, just so that it's easier to model as we're looking at it. I'll click OK, go to my Home view, and save my file. The last thing I want to do is collapse all my folders, activate my Top component, and I will group these objects in the Timeline.
Grouping the objects in the Timeline as I move through my model will allow me to organize my model so that I know which groups involve which objects. Save your file one more time, and I will see you in the next video.
