Copying holes in a slab

pipingguy

If I create a 3D slab, punch a hole through it, select the hole in its entirety (both faces and the cylinder between), use ctrl+move to copy it to a new part of the slab - the copied hole now has faces at both openings. What's up with that? I can't even select either of said faces without the entire face of the slab being selected also. To select the hole's face, I need to draw a line over one edge of the hole's perimeter, then erase the now-selected face and repeat on the back side of the slab. Then that sometimes results in the opposite face returning. And further, if I don't double check the back side of the slab, i sometimes find the slab's face missing. This post applies to any 3D opening - not just cylindrical holes.

TECHDAVE02

re draw 1 of the circle side

pipingguy

thanks. by the way - can you explain 'intersect faces with context'

TIG

Intersect with...

Model = everything in the Model is considered - i.e. the model.entities context: this will include objects outside of the current context - e.g. when you are editing a group/component-instance even things outside of that context will be considered, and might intersect.

Selection = everything that is currently selected is considered, and might intersect.

Context = everything that is in the model.active_entities context is considered - e.g. if you are currently editing a group/component-instance, then only those parts active 'inside' the edit-context will be considered, and might intersect - but the rest of the model outside of the edit-context will be ignored.

slbaumgartner

Before getting to your question, there are some basic aspects to understand about "Intersect Faces". The Intersect Faces->With choices are confusing if you don't understand these "features" (or maybe even if you do ).

Intersect Faces works only when you have at least one Face, Group, or ComponentInstance selected, and implicitly it always means "intersect the selected Face(s) with other Faces". It does not look for intersections with Edges. When you select a Group or ComponentInstance, its Faces are included as if part of the selection, though they are not individually selected. You can pre-select multiple objects, or if you right-click on something, it is implicitly selected. Newbies: selecting a Group or ComponentInstance is not the same as opening it for edit!

Second, the resulting Edges are always placed into the currently open edit context - the model, a Group, or a ComponentDefinition. If there is no Component or Group currently open for edit, the new Edges will always go into the model as free geometry regardless of what is selected. Conversely, if a Group or Component is open for edit, the new Edges will go into that Group or ComponentDefinition. This context placement determines what other geometry the new Edges may cut, since Edges will never cut anything from a different context. The context where the new Edges will go is perhaps the most confusing aspect for Newbies.

So then, the Intersect Faces->With options affect what Faces are considered for intersection with the selected Faces:

With Model -> consider Faces in every object selectable from the model context. This includes Faces in any Group or ComponentInstance.

With Context -> consider Faces only within the current edit context. This option is offered only if a Group or Component is currently open for edit.

With Selection -> consider only Faces within the current selection. This option is useful when you want to limit the scope to less than the full model or current context.

sdmitch

Rather than trying to copy a "completed" hole, copy the top circle of an existing hole or draw a circle at the location of new hole then copy that circle to where remaining holes are to be located. Pushpull one of the new "holes" then, with the Pushpull Tool still selected, double click on the remaining "holes".

No faces to intersect and/or delete.

cotty

I'm using the plugin fixit in this case...

[screenr:3n12qcvk]2PtN[/screenr:3n12qcvk]

pcmoor

I found that if you copy the same twice then the hole will be copied howbeit the faces will be filled, which require deleting.

pipingguy

why is tig's initial response missing?

pbacot

Or Dave's?