Project: HiCAD Feature Technology

Processing Planes

• Insert active processing plane before feature
• Generate the feature's processing plane
• Parameterisation of processing planes

Insert active processing plane before feature

You use this function to assign another processing plane to a feature. You can only select this function if a genuine processing plane, i.e. no sketch plane, has been defined in the drawing.

Example:

You have bored a part and want to change the fitting plane for the hole subsequently. (The figure shows a cuboid with a hole derived from a sketch.)

1. Activate the part with the hole which you want to be modified.
2. In the ICN, activate the Feature tab.
3. Activate the context menu by right-clicking the Hole feature. In the context menu, choose the Generate the feature's processing plane function. The plane is faded in.
4. Now change the plane using the functions of the Processing plane context menu (right-click the menu icon). Choose, say, Transform active plane/Rotate about edge to rotate the processing plane.
5. If the processing plane has the desired position, choose the Insert active processing plane before feature function. The hole is changed accordingly.

Note: You can also generate a new processing plane and apply it using Insert active processing plane before feature.

Generate the feature's processing plane

This function enables you to subsequently generate a feature's processing plane in order to process that feature. This is useful if the processing plane has been deleted in the meantime or another plane is active...

Parameterisation of processing planes

If a feature requires a processing plane, the references for reconstructing the processing plane are generated automatically.

Edges, surfaces and points connected to the plane are saved. This concerns, for example, the origin of the coordinate system if there is a point in the part at that position, or the xy-plane of the coordinate system if there is a suitable surface in the part.

You can also parameterise the processing plane subsequently via three points. The points you have chosen when defining the processing plane are irrelevant here.

The features requiring a processing plane now have a Processing Plane sub-entry, which, in turn, has the following sub-entries:

• Origin,
• Point on X-axis , and
• Point for Y-axis.

If all three points have been defined, they are used to reconstruct the processing plane. Origin defines the origin of the coordinate system, Point on X-axis the direction of the x-axis and Point for Y-axis can be any point on the desired xy-plane. It does not have to lie on the y-axis.

Feature Technology: Context Menu • The Feature Configuration