making a 3d stencil with 200um holes

hi all,

i've explained my situation below. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!

i need to make a 'stencil' of sorts that is a solid 1.5mm thick disk (about 30mm in diameter) with 200um holes (separated by 500um - i.e. 500um distance between each hole)

Things I've tried:

I tried to make a 2D footprint of this stencil and then extrude the entire thing. My computer crashed! i guess the ram needed for this is too much.

I made a 200um diameter circle, extruded it into a 1.5mm 'pillar', arrayed these pillars, then placed a 30mm diameter, 1.5mm high solid disk around the array and made a block. When i exported it to an stl format, it didn't recognize the design as a disk with holes, but as an array of pillars.. argh!!!

I tried to make the disk first. draw one 200um circle and presspull it to form one hole - but i can't seem to array that hole in this disk!! ARGH!!!!! If I have to make an array of these circles and presspull them one at a time, i'll die before i finish the stencil.

What to do? What to do?? I'm at my wits' end!

Thank you much for any help!!

Please do not post the same question in multiple forums. It only causes confusion.

And show some patience. Everyone here is a volunteer. Remain calm too.

Break it down. Draw one quarter of the disk and holes that go with it in 2D. Use the REGION command followed by the SUBTRACT command. Mirror the quarter disk. Union. Copy that. Rotate it and align it with the first half. Union the two halves.

Post a copy (dwg file) of what you have so far. Someone here will take a look at it.

Now that I have posted in all three of your threads do you understand what I mean when I say multiple threads can cause confusion? It gets frustrating responding to them too.

Please do not post the same question in multiple forums. It only causes confusion.

 

And show some patience. Everyone here is a volunteer. Remain calm too.

i'm sorry. my purpose was not to seem impatient. i see the forums have different 'categories'. i thought it might be a better idea to have post it in the categories that this problem applies to instead of just the one category and hope that people checking the other categories somehow stumble onto this question.. that's the only reason why i posted it in more than one category. i realize i haven't paid to put these questions up.

anyways - any help would be appreciated.

thanks.

I got it to work by doing everything in 2D, then EXTRUDEing everything at once, then SUBTRACTing the small cylinders in "chunks" (AutoCAD complained if I tried to do to many at once see below) I have no idea what at "brep" is?

It does seem to take a fair amount of horsepower (although the computer I did this on isn't a exactly a powerhouse.)

SUBTRACT Select solids, surfaces, and regions to subtract from ..

Select objects: 1 found

Select objects:


The maximum number of history nodes in a solid would be exceeded.
You may want to convert the solid to a brep.

Like above extrude one cylinder array and clean up, then extrude your 30mm disk then try subtract this should leave holes.

Do cyl's on a layer, disk on another use FILTER pick cylinders, then subtract "P" for previous if I ma right it will give desired answer.

If you post wrong leave a post to moderator who will fix up.

Like above extrude one cylinder array and clean up, then extrude your 30mm disk then try subtract this should leave holes.

 

Do cyl's on a layer, disk on another use FILTER pick cylinders, then subtract "P" for previous if I ma right it will give desired answer.

 

If you post wrong leave a post to moderator who will fix up.

BIGAL's way should work fine, but wouldn't it be easier to just ARRAY the circles and then PRESSPULL the disc (as opposed to the holes) ?

PRESSPULL defines the bounded area and does not include the circles, so when you pull it you are done holes predrilled.

Then you probably want to erase all of the circles, which is a piece of cake.

.....but wouldn't it be easier to just ARRAY the circles and then PRESSPULL the disc

Did you ever try to PRESSPULL a Circle with nearly 2000 smaller circles arrayed inside of it?

Did you ever try to PRESSPULL a Circle with nearly 2000 smaller circles arrayed inside of it?

I think I would probably remember if I had, so I guess it is safe to say, not recently.

I'd love to watch you try though, and I bet you could do it!

Cue the projectionist, please.

I'd love to watch you try though, and I bet you could do it!

If I make a video trying to PRESSPULL such an object, do you promise to watch until the "AutoCAD (Not Responding)" message goes away?

http://www.cadtutor.net/forum/showthread.php?70036-3d-stencil&p=479547&viewfull=1#post479547

If I make a video trying to PRESSPULL such an object, do you promise to watch until the "AutoCAD (Not Responding)" message goes away?

 

http://www.cadtutor.net/forum/showthread.php?70036-3d-stencil&p=479547&viewfull=1#post479547

I knew you could do it nestly, enjoyed, as always the video ..... do we have any popcorn around here?

Buttered or white cheddar?

Can't wait for the sequel Revenge of PressPull. I think it is going to be shot in Toyko.

BREP is short for Boundary Representation.

AutoCAD includes some basic parametric features while creating primitive type solids (Cylinders, Boxes, Cones, etc.), as well as History features associated with Boolean operations. A solid that maintains those features requires a lot of additional overhead.

AutoCAD’s BREP command will remove the Parametric/History information, leaving just the “dumb” solid – similar to what was available from, say, AutoCAD 2000.

Thanks SEANT. So it's likely I could have done the subtraction in one operation (or at least fewer operations) if solid history wasn't turned on?

I created just one quarter of the disk then used the MIRROR command (twice) to fill in the remaining three quarters. Finished it all off with the UNION command. No Brep encountered.

Thanks SEANT. So it's likely I could have done the subtraction in one operation (or at least fewer operations) if solid history wasn't turned on?

Perhaps, though that process has a lot of complexity even without history.

It sounds like ReMark’s divide and conquer process is a workable alternative.

...When i exported it to an stl format ....

What process will be used to manufacture the part?

Stl will convert the circles to polygons.

No where in the OP's description (post #1) does he indicate having subtracted the "pillars" from the disk. Could that explain why, when exported to a STL format, it was not recognized as a disk with holes?

I would try drawing the holes as 200mm and then scale down to 200um.