Edge Fillet (as a Feature Modifier)

Filleting in Functional Molded Part

Two fillet capabilities are available in Functional Molded Part. Depending on your needs you will use them for achieving these results:

• Functional Edge Fillet lets you add fillets as feature modifiers. This is illustrated in the scenario below.
• Part Design Edge Fillet lets you fillet functional solids. You will use it once the part is almost complete.
• Basic Shape Definition allows you to add features intrinsically.

Edge Fillet as a Feature Modifier

The Edge Fillet feature alters the sharpness and shape of an edge, rounding part edges and providing smooth transitions between the faces and features. In other words, Edge Fillet creates curved face of a constant radius that is tangent to, and that joins, two surfaces.

This task shows you how to create a fillet with a radius constant along the edge. This section discusses the following:

• Propagation
• Additional Options
  • Edges to keep
  • Limiting Elements
  • Blend Corners
• What You Cannot Select

1. Click the Edge Fillet icon .

   The Edge Fillet Definition dialog box is displayed.

2. Select the edge as shown as the edge for which you want to create a fillet.

   When selecting edges or faces, ensure that they are valid. For more information, refer to What You Cannot Select.

   The selected edge is now displayed in red. The name of the support element is displayed in the dialog box.

   You can select faces as well: all the edges bordering the selected face are then filleted.

   If you select several edges, the objects to fillet field displays the number of selected edges. To act on this selection, just click the icon to display the Element list dialog box that allows you to:

   view the selected elements remove any element clicking the Remove button replace any element using the Replace button and selecting a new one in the geometry or the specification tree.

   Propagation

   Two propagation modes are available:

   Minimal: edges tangent to selected edges can be taken into account to some extent. The application continues filleting beyond the selected edge whenever it cannot do otherwise. In our example below, the fillet is computed on the selected edge and on a portion of tangent edges:

   Tangency: tangencies are taken into account so as to fillet the entire edge and possible tangent edges.

3. For the purpose of our scenario, set Tangency. The preview clearly shows that the whole edge will be filleted.

4. Enter 7mm as the new radius value. The radius value is updated in the geometry area.

5. Click OK to confirm and create the fillet.
   EdgeFillet1.X is added to the specification tree in the Solid Functional Set.X node.

   Additional Options

   Clicking More displays three additional options:

   Edges to keep Limiting Elements Blend Corners
   Edges to keep

   When filleting an edge, the fillet may sometimes affect other edges of the part, depending on the radius value you specified. In this case, the application detects these edges and stops the fillet to these edges.

   Edge to be filleted	The upper edge is not filleted

   The application issues an error message asking you if you wish to select the edge you do not want to fillet. If you click Yes, then you just need to click the Edit button from the Update Diagnosis dialog box that appears, click the Edges to keep field from the Edge Fillet dialog box and select the edge in the geometry. The application then displays the selected edge in pink meaning that the edge will not be affected by the fillet operation. The fillet is eventually computed and does not affect the kept edge.

   If you do not wish to explicitly select the edge you do not want to fillet, just click No in the Feature Definition Error. The application then tries to find a solution.

Limiting Elements

The Limiting element option lets you intersect the fillet with one or more planes. What you need to do is either:

Select that plane or Click one point located on the edge to be filleted. After clicking, a blue disk displays indicating the limiting element. The intersection with the fillet will then stopped at that point.

An arrow appears on the plane to indicate the portion of material that will be kept. Clicking this arrow reverses the direction and therefore indicates that the portion of material that will be kept will be the opposite one.

Blend Corners

Sometimes, while filleting you can see that corners resulting from the operation are not satisfactory. Here is an example:

The Blend Corners capability lets you quickly reshape these corners. Clicking the Blend corners button detects the corner to reshape and displays it both in the field and in the geometry area.

What you need to do is, for each edge enter a value in the setback distance field. The setback distance determines for each edge a free area measured from the vertex along the edge. In this area, the system adds material so as to improve the corner shape. The result looks like this:

What You Cannot Select

Fillet is a feature modifier and in that sense, you are not allowed to select edges belonging to different shapes (different bodies). In the example below, you cannot select the third edge pointed to by the arrow because it belongs to a distinct shellable feature.

By-pass: what you can do is either create a second functional fillet or apply the Part Design Edge Fillet capability.

You cannot fillet shellable's internal edges or faces.

By-pass: what you can do is use the Part Design Edge Fillet capability.

You cannot select edges intersecting two distinct feature modifiers.

By-pass: what you can do is use the Part Design Edge Fillet capability.

You can select external pocket's edges, but ensure that the radius value you enter does not affect the pocket shape.

By-pass: what you can do is reduce the fillet angle value or use the Part Design Edge Fillet capability.

You can select the edges of Push or Pull features, but ensure that the radius value you enter does not affect the Push or Pull shape.

By-pass: what you can do is reduce the fillet angle value or use the Part Design Edge Fillet capability.

• 0.5, the resulting curve is a parabola.
• 0 < parameter < 0.5, the resulting curve is an arc of an ellipse.
• 0.5 < parameter < 1, the resulting curve is a hyperbola.

• Conical fillets do not handle twist configurations. If a twist is detected, the fillet
  operation fails.
• Conical fillets may produce internal sharp edges due to a curvature discontinuity of the
  fillet supports. Healing is used to smooth these sharp edges.
• If the fillet surface curvature is lower than the support curvature, fillet surface
  relimitation may fail. In such cases, the conic parameter has to be decreased.