Creating a Mating Flange

Mating Flange lets you create a mating flange, in order to add a shape to a 3D shape.

Before you begin:

Create a 3D shape containing at least one surface and one wireframe element.

  1. In the Base surface box, select a surface.

    It can have several faces and internal sharp edges.

  2. In the Reference element box, select a reference element to position the mating flange on the base surface.

    It can be:

    • a plane or a surface. The reference location is computed as an intersection with the base surface.

    • a curve (as in our scenario): the curve can be either a 3D curve or a planar curve and must have a projection on the base surface along the reference direction.

    Tip: We advise you not to use the intersection or projection curve but rather the input surface or curve.
  3. In the Reference direction box, select a direction.
    Important: The intersection or projection curve must be long enough to join the base surface boundaries.

    The mating flange reference location feature is created in hidden mode and is temporarily shown during edition.

  4. Define the mating flange parameters by clicking the value to edit in the dialog box or by clicking the handles in the 3D geometry.
  5. Define the thickness.

    • Default thickness: is generally the 3D shape thickness and is used as the default offset value.

    • Local thickness: enables you to define multiple thickness values. You can select several sub-parts, each one having its own local thickness. For each value, a corresponding 3D dimension is created in the 3D geometry and can be edited by double-clicking it.

  6. Click OK to create the mating flange.

 

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