Adding Knurling to a part
- Thread starter Clint
- Start date
Ex Machina
Senior Member
Hello Clint,
Knurling is a really intricate geometry that if design in 3D will eat up a lot of resources every time you pan or rotate the part. Still, there are multiple ways to deal with the problem. But not all of them are available in Alibre Atom 3D.
Which version do you have?
Let me know and I could make a video about it.
P.S. The large number of faces it creates is usually the reason knurlin is denoted in the 2D drawing and not actually created in 3D. But if you need it for 3D printing, it can be done.
Knurling is a really intricate geometry that if design in 3D will eat up a lot of resources every time you pan or rotate the part. Still, there are multiple ways to deal with the problem. But not all of them are available in Alibre Atom 3D.
Which version do you have?
Let me know and I could make a video about it.
P.S. The large number of faces it creates is usually the reason knurlin is denoted in the 2D drawing and not actually created in 3D. But if you need it for 3D printing, it can be done.
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I am very sorry; I should have given more information when I made my post. I have Alibre Design Professional V27. I am not 3D printing and actually only need the knurl in the 2D drawings. I am new to Alibre and didn't know even consider that I could only do the knurl on the 2D drawings.
Ex Machina
Senior Member
In Alibre, when applying a hatch you can select the entities that create the border for that hatch. That means, that you can easily add 2 hatches to the same part of the drawing. So, you can easily create a diamond pattern Hatch by applying two straight line hatches and changing their angles, and then attach a note to it with the callout for the desired Knurl, i.e. "Pitch 6 Raised Diamond Pattern" or similar.
OTE_TheMissile
Alibre Super User
I've done it in 3D for a giggle once or twice. Two helical sweeps in opposite directions with a feature pattern. And yeah, computer hated it 
EDIT: Probably my best, likely because it's so short.
EDIT: Probably my best, likely because it's so short.
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HaroldL
Alibre Super User
I just ran a knurl test with both v26 and v27 and got about the same results in each. The first knurl pattern is pretty quick but the second one, geez, it takes over a minute to compute then it goes into 'working' for another minute before finally updating all the mesh faces and creating the knurl.I've done it in 3D for a giggle once or twice. Two helical sweeps in opposite directions with a feature pattern. And yeah, computer hated it
As Konstantinos pointed out, placing a hatch and callout on the drawing is the best practice for knurls.
There is a Boolean knurl library in the resources section that is supposed to make creating knurls faster but I doubt it will be because of all the mesh faces that get created.
If you are up to it, you can create a custom hatch pattern to put on the drawings, you'll have to search the Help or Knowledge Base on how to do it and where to save it.