About Auto-filleting

The difference between the rounding and filleting is described in this section.

While rounding or filleting, the app replaces sharp edges by blending circular surfaces. The term 'rounding' applies to convex sharp edges. Rounding removes material from the 3D shape. Conversely, the term "filleting" is appropriate for non-convex sharp edges. Filleting adds material to the 3D shape. This terminological distinction is to be made when running Auto Fillet since it computes fillets and rounds altogether while complying with mechanical specifications, meaning that very often, the rounding radius value differs from the filleting radius value.

This section provides you information on the non-filleted edges.

For different reasons, there might be cases where the system is not able to deal with all the edges to be modified. When this happens, the system does not stop at the first error encountered but computes as many rounds and fillets as possible and leaves the remaining edges untouched (see the figure below) so that you just have to finish the job manually.

For unchanged remaining edges: you need to use the traditional Fillet capabilities

The app issues a warning message to help you identify non-filleted edges.

This section provides you information on the slivers and the cracks.

A sliver is an unwanted thin wall which should be smoothed and partially removed by the automatic filleting operation. A thin wall that is not rounded is not processed by the automatic fillet capability unless you select it as a sliver.

A crack is an unwanted slot which should be smoothed and partially filled by the automatic filleting operation. Similarly, a slot that is not rounded is not processed by the automatic fillet capability unless you select it as a crack.

If you do not select them as slivers or cracks, thin walls and thin slots are rounded and filleted by Auto Fillet command. The resulting height and depth of walls and slots are slightly decreased. Furthermore, the resulting curvature radius is less than the given round or fillet radius because of the small thicknesses.

To manage curvature, two capabilities are provided to help you obtain the best possible result.

• The Preview capability provides a way for anticipating problems.
• The Auto Select capability is available after clicking Preview. It automatically adds the slivers and cracks to the selection. Faces corresponding to slivers and cracks are displayed in green.

The automatic fillet capability can involve parting lines and parting surfaces.

A parting line is a chain of sharp edges included on a parting surface. These edges are not rounded. The sharp edges coincident with the parting line are rounded. This operation modifies the parting line in such a way that it remains on the parting surface. This saves the casting specifications. You need to select the required parting elements in the Parting element box.

Cross parting surface fillets are adjusted

It is possible to add, remove and replace a parting element when the feature is created or edited.

The parting element must be large enough to cut all the edges to be filleted.

Important: Dedicated to casting rounds and fillets, Automatic Fillet command is designed for robustness purposes rather than shape and curvature precision. Surfaces resulting from automatic filleting may not be as precise as those obtained using the traditional fillet capabilities. Consequently, you need to create design rounds and fillets on the part before performing automatic filleting.