Aligned Centre hole marks

[UGMENTALCASE]

Hi all,

Is there a way to apply 2 centre marks in line with each other? Let's say you have a part that is straight then has a 45 degree bend at the end. I've done a rough sketch. I want to select those two holes and add a centre marks so I can dimensions than on the angle. I know I can edit the centre mark and rotate them, but it would be nice to not have to faff to do 2 lots of that

 

[DavidJ]

Can't you just add the dimension, using the centre to centre option, no need for centre marks.

 

[UGMENTALCASE]

Yes but it's messy is it not? You use centre marks for a reason and aligning them like this means that one dimension could cover a number of holes. If you have it to one hole then you should be saying how many hole that dimension applies too. Know what I mean?
Another instance is like the attached. If you have to run some holes at an angle from a datum, this shows how what can be nice round figures turn into a bit of a nightmare if done another way? In terms of machining this it's one rotation and a pitch over to one hole then the next.
Otherwise you could be doing two movements to the first hole then two movements to the second.

Granted I've just model this quite quickly I've done a sketch, put it on the centre lines layer, and so on. Whereas clicking two holes (whilst holding shift) could give us an option for an aligned centre line?

If you then add centre marks after dimensioning to the centre of the hole, you end up with a messy overlap between the dimension and centre mark. This happens in any software and personally I'd say it should be avoided. Why else would you have centre marks?

 

[DavidJ]

Sorry, you said you wanted to add centre marks in order to allow adding dimension on an angle, I just pointed out that you don't need the marks.

You've lost me with your later post.

 

[UGMENTALCASE]

This is what I've shown on the last post. Two holes in line with centre marks running through them both. You can then add the dimension angle and so on.

 

[DavidJ]

My own choice would be to add a line between holes, and use that line to place angle dimension. Always more than one way to achieve any particular result.

 

[UGMENTALCASE]

This is what I have done in the example. I was just saying it would be quicker/nicer to have an option to do this, which makes the work flow a bit slicker

 

[multicaduser]

Hey UGMENTALCASE, would you be willing to explain your handle? It just has me curious.

 

[UGMENTALCASE]

Hey UGMENTALCASE, would you be willing to explain your handle? It just has me curious.

Hi, It's to do with using Siemens NX. I started on NX 4 (Maybe even 2 can't remember now) and used to flip between that and Catia V5. We always found it easier to go back from NX to Catia rather than the other way round. The UG was because it was 'Unigraphics' which is what NX was called. So UG it was and being a MENTALCASE due to frustration (in myself) when flipping between the CAD systems
The main one was Catia middle mouse reframes the part to rotate around a point, whereas NX middle mouse is ok/accept, the amount of times you reframe a point that is way off in space, thinking you were doing a ok/accept and spin the model round and it just disappears its unbelievable.

 

[multicaduser]

Aaahhh, that's along the lines of what I thought. Been with NX for 33 years myself (no, it wasn't NX back then it was McDonald Douglas Unigraphics II). It's been my experience that it is usually something with graphics differences among systems that drives people nuts, after all, cad is graphics data entry. When I started with Unigraphics it was clipping planes that would bite me, Autocad didn't have them back then when I switched companies and hence systems. Unusual running into another NX user. Being a very expensive system it's not as popular as Solidworks or Proe or others.

 

[UGMENTALCASE]

33 years of NX, bet you loved it when they went to a ribbon set up and put a load of stuff into hiding! Every new release seemed to have more stuff hidden!

Well add to that the rotation or lack of! Learnt quickly to buy a decent space mouse and use that!
Roll Royce use NX, they have a Team Centre system that's all set up with it. They ran it out years ago across everyone, so you either bought the licenses and got on with it or moved on. Must have been a good sales person who did that pitch! I did a lot with tooling for them. Plenty of round things....

I've rented CATIA licenses myself and it's painful paying for it. I know you can get a NX license for around 12 grand, but you won't get advanced surfacing or anything for that.

 

[multicaduser]

The ribbon change didn't bother me, nor menu changes, that's just part of the upgrade game, adapt or complain. Guess I look at cad differently than most people, starting out before solid modeling may have had an influence, you either found a way to get it done or didn't, I mostly did or tried something different. Of all the cad packages I've used I'd call NX the Roll Royce of surface modelers, but after all that's where they started. Catia is good, but from what I've seen it allows bad modelers the ability to create bad models. That's one system I would like to learn.

We had a review of our NX licensing today, and it was mentioned that they are now offering a subscription option, that's one thing I'm not sure about.

 

[UGMENTALCASE]

I've done a bit of surfacing in NX and it was nice, especially because it seems to have a basic level of G continuity and doesn't allow crappy things like you said.
CATIA is ok, same thing on the licenses you get a basic and then the add ons.
I like NX and it's community of macro and journal writers. I absolutely can not write them, never been something I'm into, but there is some nice stuff out there to make your life a bit easier!
I think like you say, if you have been with CAD systems since the early days in like autocad and such then you can appreciate a solid modeller a lot more. Before linked views and all that sort of thing really does teach a certain way of working.

 

[sz0k30]

All this talk about NX has me all excited. Long time retired GM Chassis Designer. Used Unigraphics & their Team Center data management for probably close to 20 years & LOVED IT! I still think it was so much easier (simpler & more intuitive) to design with than Alibre. Especially their all in one WCS (work coordinate system) instead of Alibre's individual planes & axis.

 

[HaroldL]

I recall that SDRC was bought by EDS and later merged into UG. SDRC's I-DEAS CAD was incorporated into NX. At my workplace we used I-DEAS for a few years before the EDS purchase. I really liked its 2D drafting package with the two or three letter hotheys for virtually every command. I think I had the majority of them memorized. I also wrote several macros to facilitate printing mult-sheet drawings, apply center marks and label holes then create a hole table, along with a few more that I used to make my job easier. It was harder to get CAD admin to add the macros to the icon table than to create them in the first place.

 

[multicaduser]

Sorry for the thread getting hijacked. I remember the SDRC acquisition, they said SDRC was going to remain a separate entity, we know how that all turned out. Anyway, it was UG at the time, wanted the sketcher, it was a good move for them.