| Radial
patterns are somewhat confusing when you make patterns of
curve-based features. Please read this tech tip to
understand how they work.
After reading the following tech tip, try making a pattern of
holes and confirming that they work, as they are the simplest.
Then, make a pattern of rectangular pockets. Then, make a pattern
of a curve-based feature. It will all make sense.
First, make the feature, then make the pattern:
Once you have created your feature - go to
Construct>Pattern & Group. Then select the pattern option.
Select "radial" in the type box for pattern type.
Enter the diameter for the circle the pattern will be based
on.
Enter the number of copies, the
first angle & the angle between them.
Then position the pattern:
In all cases, the center of the pattern
is controlled by the X, Y, Z location box of the pattern. If you need to shift the center, you can enter
new values in the X, Y, Z box as shown below. Make sure that
you've selected the pattern's Location tab as I've done in the
screen grab below.
If you're making holes or some other
feature from dimensions, then you're done. But for
curve-based features, i.e. a pocket from a curve that you supply, then it gets a little bit
more complicated and you've got some choices, below.
First Feature is Drawn in Place
Most likely, you've drawn the first
instance of the pattern in place. This is by-far the most
common way that people create patterns. So, for curve-based features that are
drawn in place, i.e. the feature that you've drawn is the
first feature of the pattern, then you have two choices.
"Option 1" is by-far the most common one, so you should
focus on that one:
Option 1: Set the diameter of the
pattern to 0 (yeah, this is a little bit unintuitive, but is the
simpler option of the two). And use the XYZ location boxes
of the pattern to control both the center and diameter of the
pattern. Essentially, the diameter of the pattern is
controlled by the distance from the XYZ location to the pocket
that you originally drew.
Option 2: Set the diameter of the
pattern to the desired value. And then use the XYZ location
boxes of the feature to translate the feature to the
origin of your UCS. And then check the Local Offset box to
tell FeatureCAM to honor this translation. Then use the XYZ location
boxes of the pattern to control the center of the
pattern.
First Feature is Drawn at Origin
You can opt to draw the first feature around the
origin of your UCS. If you do this, then you can use the
Diameter of the pattern as you would expect. People don't
usually draw their features around the origin, so this particular
path isn't used very often.
For curve-based features that are
drawn around the origin of your UCS, then the pattern dialog
works as you might expect: set the diameter of the pattern to be
the desired value. Use the XYZ location boxes of the pattern
to set the center of the pattern. The Local Offset checkbox
remains unchecked and the XYZ location of the feature is
ignored. Unfortunately, most people don't ever dream of
drawing their feature geometry around the origin -- it's kind of
unintuitive. So this option rarely applies to most folks.
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