SolidWorks 2011 Parts Bible - Matt Lombard [143]
Mirroring features
Features can be mirrored across planes or flat faces used as the plane of symmetry. If you are mirroring many features, then it is best to mirror them all with a single mirror feature rather than to make several mirror features. You may have to do this by moving the mirror feature down the tree as you add new features. Depending on your part and what you are trying to accomplish, it may be better to mirror bodies than features, but you should not go too far out of your way or model in a contrived manner to make this happen.
Mirroring entire parts
Often when modeling, you are required to have a left- and a right-handed part. For this, you need to use a method other than body or feature mirroring. The Mirror Part command creates a brand-new part by mirroring an existing part. The new part does not inherit all the features of the original, and so any changes must be created in the original part. If you want different versions of the two parts, you need to use Configurations.
Cross-Reference
Configurations are covered in detail in Chapter 11.
You can use the Mirror Part command by pre-selecting a plane or planar face. You should be careful when choosing the plane because the new part will have a relationship to the part Origin, based on the plane on which it was mirrored. The Mirror Part command is one of the few remaining features without a PropertyManager that relies completely on pre-selection techniques.
The Mirror Part command is found in the Insert menu. When mirroring a part, you can bring several entity types from the original file to the mirrored part. These include axes, planes, sketches, cosmetic threads, and surface bodies. You can also bring over features and even break the link to the original file.
Mirror Part invokes the Insert Part feature, which is covered in more detail in Chapters 19, on multi-bodies and Master Model techniques, respectively.
One of the options available when you make a mirrored part is to break the link to the original part. This option brings forward all the sketches and features of the original part, and then adds a Move/Copy Body feature at the end of the tree that simply mirrors the body. Figure 9.26 shows the PropertyManager for the Insert Part feature.
FIGURE 9.26
Selecting items to bring into the mirrored part
Note
Under normal circumstances, you cannot get the Move/Copy Body feature to mirror a body. SolidWorks has applied some magic pixie dust behind the scene to make this happen.
Tutorial: Creating a Circular Pattern
Follow these steps to get practice with creating circular pattern features:
1. Draw a square block on the Top plane centered on the Origin, 4 inches on each side, .5-inch-thick extruded Mid Plane with .5-inch chamfers on the four corners.
2. Pre-select the top face of the block and start the Hole Wizard. Select a counterbored hole for a 10-32 socket head cap screw, and place it as shown in Figure 9.27.
Figure 9.27
Start drawing a plate with holes.
3. Create an axis using the Front and Right planes. Choose Insert⇒Reference Geometry⇒Axis. Select the Two Planes option, and select Front and Right planes from the flyout FeatureManager. (Click the bar that says Axis at the top of the PropertyManager to access the flyout FeatureManager.) This creates an axis in the center of the rectangular part.
4. Click the Circular Pattern tool on the Features toolbar. Select the new Axis in the top Pattern Axis selection box in the Circular Pattern PropertyManager. Select the Equal Spacing option and make sure that the angle is set to 360°. Set the number of instances to 8.
5. In the Features to Pattern panel, select the counterbored hole. Make sure that Geometry Pattern is turned off.
6. Click OK to