[Rhodan]

Ok, I'm getting closer to having this enclosure modelled but I'm still getting flummoxed by fillets and surfaces that don't match up.

I've carved the shape of the lid out of a box by making two boxes and differencing the smaller from the larger.

The lid has a stepped top to lock with the other half of the enclosure and I used a long thin box to cut away the outer edge of the lid to create this step. This gives me three edges that require filleting - inner corner, step corner, and outer corner.

The inner corner was no problem. The step corner leaves a triangular hole where it pulls away from the outer surfaces. I can fill that easily enough with fill planar holes. To fillet the outer corner I select the corner edges and bottom edges, but this leaves the upper surface where it was, giving it a square corner plane dangling out all by itself.

I've been searching for a tutorial that covers this all morning but can't seem to find anything. I'm probably just using the wrong search words (helps when you know the right terms).

Here are the pics of the process and the model. I'm hoping someone can steer me in the right direction.

[chmillman]

You're not too far off... What is stopping you is the fact that your object is open at the corner, and that the "step" surface is in reality composed of a bunch of smaller surfaces.

To proceed: Use ExtractSrf to unjoin all the little surfaces that compose the step part and delete them. That leaves you a planar hole, but the inner and outer parts are unattached now. So, from the Front view, call PlanarSrf and window select the area where the hole is (or select all the open edges individually). You will see the inner and outer borders light up in the Perspective view. Hit enter to finish the command, the planar surface will be created (red in the sample file). Select all and call Join, your object should now be a closed polysurface (solid).

Now, call FilletEdge, enter your radius (unfortunately, in V3, you need to measure first, and then enter that radius - I assume you want concentric corners, I came up with a radius of .188); select the 4 corner edges and the 4 bottom ones simultaneously, and enter. You should get all the fillets.

In the attached, there are objects representing each step above.

Hope this is clear, --ch

[Rhodan]

Absolutely clear!

I was actually searching for a delete surface function. I figured if I could use cap planar holes for the first missing corner, I could just delete the surface all the way around then cap that. Terminology is messing me up but I'll get used to it after a while.

Anyway, that worked perfectly and it was the last bit of the puzzle. The rest of this model should be a breeze.

Thanks!

P.S. Think I'm going to email K2 and see if they can send the software right away instead of shipping machine etc all at once. Its scary doing 20 operations without saving and I really want those tuts on the disk.

[Rhodan]

Finished my model of the Hammond 1599EBKBAT enclosure. There is at least one mistake - the face wall thickness on the box portion is off by .002 inches. I was working with two decimal places at first and realized too late that the drawing uses three decimal places. Didn't really want to start again lol! Only 14 saves left on the demo.

Thanks for the help! Hopefully V4 will be better at fillets but at least I got some practice dealing with fillet problems in advance.

Now to make the circuit board, LCD, battery holder, DB9, etc and see if I can mock up a handheld datalogger I made a couple years ago

edit: Doh! Just realized - I never made the battery door. Oh well, back to work!

[justCNCit]

if you purchase the education version right now, is it v4?

[chmillman]

Yes, it should be. However, your dealer may not have stock yet. The official release date is the first of March, but a number of dealers already have some in stock. --ch

[7ofclubs]

I have Rhino V4 now, education license.

-=7ofclubs=-