Feature operations are performed on the basic form features to smooth corners, create tapers, and unite or subtract certain solids from other solids. Some of the feature operations are shown below.
Let us see the different types of feature operation commands in NX5 and the function of each command.
TYPES OF FEATURE OPERATIONS
The features operations used in NX include Edge blend, Face blend, Soft blend, Chamfer,Hollow, Instance, Sew, and Patch. Let us see some of the important commands in details. Unlike the NX3 version, some of the feature operations have been removed in NX5. For example, the Taper operation has been removed. In addition, changes have been made to the way a few
operations are performed. For example, the Trim Body operation no longer supports solid bodies as tools for trimming. Some of the feature operations such as Split Body cannot be accessed from the INSERT menu and have to be opened using the Toolbar.
Edge Blend
An Edge Blend is a radius blend that is tangent to the blended faces. This feature modifies a solid body by rounding selected edges. This command can be found under Insert → Design Feature. You can also do a face
blend.
Chamfer
The chamfer function operates very similarly to the blend function by adding or subtracting material relative to whether the edge is an outside chamfer or an inside chamfer. This command can also be found under the Insert → Design Feature menu.
You can preview the result of chamfering and if you are not happy with the result you can undo the operation.
Thread
Threads can only be created on cylindrical faces. The Thread function lets you create symbolic or detailed threads (on solid bodies) that are right or left handed, external or internal, parametric,and associative threads on cylindrical faces such as holes, bosses, or cylinders. It also lets you select the method of creating the threads such as cut, rolled, milled or ground. You can create different types of threads such as metric, unified, acme and so on. To use this command, go to Insert → Design Feature
Trim Body
A solid body can be trimmed by a sheet body or a datum plane. You can use the Trim Body function to trim a solid body with a sheet body and at the same
time retain parameters and associativty. To use this command, go to
Insert → Trim
Split Body
A solid body can be split into two just like trimming it. It can be done by a plane or a sheet body. Click on the icon in the Form Feature Toolbar as shown to open the Split Body dialog box.
Instance
A Design feature or a detail feature can be made into dependent copies in the form of an array. It can be Rectangular or Circular array or just a Mirror. This particularly helpful feature saves plenty of time and modeling when you similar features for example threads of gear or holes on amounting plate, etc. This command can be found by going to Insert → Associative Copy →
Instance Feature.
Boolean operations are:
• Unite
• Subtract
• Intersect
These options can be used when two or more solid bodies share the same model space in the part file.
To use this command, go to Insert → Combine Bodies.
Consider two solids given. The block and the cylinder are next to each other as shown below.
Unite:
The unite command adds the Tool body with the Target body. For the above example, the output will be as follows if Unite option is used.
Subtract:
When using the subtract option, the Tool body is subtracted from the Target body. The following would be the output if the rectangle is used as the Target and the cylinder as the Tool.
Intersect:
This command leaves the volume that is common to both the Target body and the Tool body.The output is shown below
Modeling Environment Toolbars
You can invoke the Modeling environment, if it is not already invoked, by choosing the Modeling button from the Application toolbar. Alternatively, you can choose Start > Modeling from the Standard toolbar.
The toolbars in the Modeling environment are discussed next.
View Toolbar
The tools in the View toolbar, as shown in Figure,are used for manipulating the views of the model. The View toolbar is available in all the environments. Some of the buttons in the View toolbar are not available in the Drafting environment.
Feature Toolbar
The tools in this toolbar, as shown in Figure, are used to convert a sketch drawn in the Sketcher environment into a feature. This toolbar contains sketch-based feature tools and placed feature tools. You can create the datum plane, axis, and points using the tools in this toolbar
Sketcher Environment Toolbar
The Sketch button in the Feature toolbar is used to invoke the Sketcher environment, where you can create the sketch. After choosing the Sketch button, select a plane, or a planar face to invoke the Sketcher environment. The toolbars in the Sketcher environment are discussed next.
Sketcher Toolbar
The Finish Sketch button in the Sketcher toolbar is used to switch back to the
Modeling environment, where you can convert the sketch into a feature. Figure shows the buttons that are available in the Sketcher toolbar.
Sketch Tools Toolbar
It is one of the most important toolbars in the Sketcher environment. The tools in the Sketch Tools toolbar are used to draw the sketches as well as edit the drawn sketches. Additionally,you can apply constrains to the geometric entities and assign dimension to a sketch using the tools in this toolbar. You can make a sketch fully defined using these tools. Figure shows the buttons that are available in the Sketch Tools toolbar.
Once the basic sketch is complete, you need to convert it into a feature. Choose the Finish Sketch button from the Sketcher toolbar and switch back to the Modeling environment.
The remaining toolbars in the Modeling environment are discussed next.
Feature Operation Toolbar
The tools in the Feature Operation toolbar are used to apply the placed features such as taper, fillet, hole, shell, and so on. Figure shows the buttons in the Feature Operation toolbar
Surface Design Toolbars
You can create the surface design in the same Modeling environment. A separate environment is not required to create the surface design. The tools used to create the solid bodies are also used to create the surface bodies. Some of the toolbars used to create the surface design are discussed next.
Surface Toolbar
The tools in the Surface toolbar are used to create complicated surfaces. Figure shows
Freeform Shape Toolbar
The tools in the Freeform Shape toolbar are used to create advanced surfaces.
Figure shows the Freeform Shape toolbar.
Assemblies Environment Toolbars
You can create the assembly in the same Modeling environment. The toolbars that are used for the assembly can be invoked by choosing Start > Assemblies from the Standard toolbar.
Alternatively, choose the Assemblies button from the Application toolbar. The toolbars used in the assembly design are discussed next.
Assemblies Toolbar
The tools in the Assemblies toolbar are used to insert an existing part or assembly in the current assembly file. You can also create a new component in the assembly file using the tools in this toolbar. Figure shows the buttons in the Assemblies toolbar.
Drafting Environment Toolbars
To invoke the Drafting environment, choose the Drafting button from the Application toolbar.Alternatively, this environment can be invoked by choosing Start > Drafting from the Standard toolbar. The toolbars in the Drafting environment are discussed next.
Drawing Toolbar
The tools in the Drawing toolbar are used to insert a new sheet, create a new view, generate an orthographic view, section view, and detail views for a solid part or an assembly. Figure shows the Drawing Layout toolbar.
Dimension Toolbar
The tools in the Dimension toolbar are used to generate various dimensions in the drawing views. Figure shows the Dimension toolbar.
Drafting Annotation Toolbar
The tools in the Drafting Annotation toolbar are used to generate the GDT parameters,annotations, symbols, and so on. Figure shows the Drafting Annotation toolbar.
Synchronous Modeling Toolbar
The Synchronous Modeling Technology is one of the latest enhancements in
NX. A separate toolbar named as Synchronous Modeling toolbar consisting of
26 tools is introduced in NX 6. The tools available in this toolbar are used to
modify and improve an existing design in the shortest period of time. Figure shows the Synchronous Modeling toolbar
Unigraphics Expressions is a powerful feature in UGS. This UG tutorial will discuss how to use UGS Expressions with an example.
The concept of expressions in Unigraphics is equivalent to the parameters and relations of ProE or somewhat similar to the adding formulas in MS Excel. In UGS expressions are used for controlling the relations between the features of a part and the parts of an assembly. Before going to the example, let’s see the different types of expressions available in UG:
Software Expressions: These UG expressions will be created by the software automatically during some of operations. For example if you create a sketch of a rectangle and dimension it, UGS will create as many parameter as the numbers of dimensions.
User Expressions: You will create these UG expressions as and when required according to your design requirements.
Creating UG Expressions
For discussing the concept we will take the example of the following pentagon block:
Create the UG model of the block as usual extrusion: draw the sketch, give dimensions to all the five sides, and specify the height.
Now, go to tools → expressions and you will find the expression window like below:
Click the drop down list below the listed expressions and set it to all and you will see the already available expressions in the window, these expressions are Software expressions.
There will be total of seven software expressions available, five will be for the five sides dimensions and two for the height of the pentagon.
You can rename the software expressions, for that click on a expression and change the name from the Name field of the dialog box and click apply.
Now, we will create six user expressions, five are for the five sides (s1, s2, s3, s4, and s5) of the pentagon and the sixth one for the height (h).
For creating a user expression, enter suitable name in blank Name field and enter some value at the Formula field. Click Apply.
Next, we have to relate the software expressions with the user expressions. For that, click software expressions and replace the value of it with the suitable user expression. For example, we have related the software expression p61 with the user expression s1, and p62, p63, p64, p65, p47 with s2, s3, s4, s5, and h respectively.
So, finally the expression dialog box will look like below:
Click on Apply and OK, the expressions dialog box will be closed.
Now, look at the part navigator of your model tree, expand the user expressions and you will find all the user expressions are listed there.
You can change the values of any of them simply by double clicking on it, editing the value and pressing the Enter. And you will see the change in your UG model.
Here we will discuss about the most used and important commands in UG:
Toolbars:
Toolbars contain icons, which serve as shortcuts for many NX functions. The following figure shows the main Toolbar items normally displayed. However, you can find many more icons for different feature commands, based on the module selected and how the module is customized.
> Right-Click anywhere on the existing toolbars gives a list of other Toolbars. You can add any of the toolbars by checking them. The list of toolbars you can see in the default option is Standard, View, Visualization, Selection, Object Display, etc. Normally, the default setting should be sufficient for most operations but during certain operations, you might need additional toolbars. If you want to add buttons pertaining to the commands and toolbars,
> Click on the pull-down arrow on any of the Toolbars and choose
ADD OR REMOVE BUTTONS.
> Choose CUSTOMIZE.
This will pop up a Customize dialog window with all the Toolbars under ‘Toolbar’ Tab and commands pertaining to each Toolbar under ‘Commands’ tab. You can check all the toolbars that you wish to be displayed.
You can customize the settings of your NX interface by clicking on the Roles tab on the Resource Bar
The Roles tab has different settings of the toolbar menus that
are displayed on the NX interface.
• It allows you to customize the toolbars you desire to be
displayed in the Interface.
• Selecting Advanced shows all the Application Toolbars
necessary for drafting and modeling.
• You can also select the Application Toolbars to be
displayed in the Interface by clicking on the Industry Specific settings. This provides a list of industry specific toolbar applications as shown in the fig.
Transform Functions:
Open the file that you created/or create a cylinder.
> Click on EDIT → TRANSFORM
Here, we have to choose an entity such as a solid body or curves or a sketch. You can select a single feature or multiple features by clicking on the features.
> Click on the cylinder so that it gets highlighted
> Click OK
This opens a dialogue box that allows you to perform many functions like translating, scaling,and mirroring part of a model as shown in the following figure.
Click on TRANSLATE
Another dialogue box opens with options as shown in the figure.
• TO A POINT – This option allows you to move the center of the cylinder to any destination point on the X-Y-Z axis that you determine. The coordinates are based on the WCS.
• DELTA – This option moves the selected option in the X-Y-Z direction by the distance that you enter.
> Click on DELTA
> Type 5 in the DXC box. This will translate the cylinder a distance of 5 inches along X-Axis
> Click OK
Then the next dialog box will open. Here you have many options like Move, Copy, etc.
> Select MOVE
The cylinder will move in the X-direction by a distance of 5 inches.
> Click CANCEL
As you can see, we have moved the cylinder in the Xdirection.
Similarly, we can also copy the cylinder by a specified distance or to a specified location. These are the basic commands that you will need initially
