How It’s Made
Whether you call it a scale or a ruler, you’ve almost definitely used one at some point in your life. However, you might not have thought about how one could be modeled in SOLIDWORKS. Today we’re going to look at one of many ways to model a ruler. Our primary focus will be on making a ruler that can scale very fluidly from a 6-inch rule, to a 7.5-inch rule, to a 12-inch rule with little to no modification to our initial features. This is now easier than ever in 2015 with the capability to create linear patterns up to a reference. So let’s take a look at how I modeled a ruler in SOLIDWORKS 2015.
Modeling a Ruler
In this case, I started with the body of our ruler. I started with a sketch outlining the profile of the ruler.
After creating my sketch, I then extruded in two directions. I extruded in one direction at the desired ruler length, and in the other direction by 1/16″ to create some spacing before the first line.
In order to keep the trend going, I then created an extrusion on the end to add 1/16″ after the last line. At this point, it’s time to start etching lines. We’ll create our first line centered 1/16″ from the starting edge. We’ll then cut this edge into the face using a simple blind boss extrude.
In order to create a scalable ruler, we are going to use linear patterns [Insert >> Pattern Mirror >> Linear Pattern], and we’d like to have different length lines for different segments. (ie. 1/6″, 1/8″, 1/4″, 1/2″, 1″) Because of this, we’ll start off by etching each line separately, and we’ll create separate patterns for each line.
After etching our lines like we did above, we’ll end up with something like this:
Because we’d like to make the ruler scalable, it’s best that these lines each have their own pattern. This allows for the lines to be patterned individually. My tree contained seven separate features for this as listed below. (The 1mm marks were very system intensive, so I cut three at a time to reduce the work the pattern must do.)
Once we’ve created our cuts, it comes time to pattern them. We can start by patterning our one-inch mark. I’ll create the pattern using a linear pattern feature. We’ll select the feature to pattern, as well as a linear edge to define the direction. For this I selected a long edge on the ruler.
This is the key moment for making this ruler scalable. I’m going to select the option “Up to Reference”. This allows me to select an endpoint for the pattern, and to also define an offset.
For my reference point, I will select an endpoint on the ruler, and I will offset it just shy of 1/16″ from the end. This ensures that I have space after the last etched line. Lastly, we’ll define the spacing of this at one inch.
I can then follow this same process to create my other patterns, filling the gaps. I did my best when creating this to prevent overlapping cuts. This will reduce the workload and rebuild time overall. I set the spacing as follows:
After creating these patterns you will end up with something like this:
Lastly, With our patterns configured as Up to Reference, we can freely scale the ruler and watch it update. With Instant3D enabled, we can double-click the ruler and change our dimension, and the ruler will adjust accordingly.
Download
With that, you should be ready to rule the world of scale making.
As always, Happy Modeling!
Whether you call it a scale or a ruler, you’ve almost definitely used one at some point in your life. However, you might not have thought about how one could be modeled in SOLIDWORKS. Today we’re going to look at one of many ways to model a ruler. Our primary focus will be on making a ruler that can scale very fluidly from a 6-inch rule, to a 7.5-inch rule, to a 12-inch rule with little to no modification to our initial features. This is now easier than ever in 2015 with the capability to create linear patterns up to a reference. So let’s take a look at how I modeled a ruler in SOLIDWORKS 2015.
Modeling a Ruler
In this case, I started with the body of our ruler. I started with a sketch outlining the profile of the ruler.
After creating my sketch, I then extruded in two directions. I extruded in one direction at the desired ruler length, and in the other direction by 1/16″ to create some spacing before the first line.
In order to keep the trend going, I then created an extrusion on the end to add 1/16″ after the last line. At this point, it’s time to start etching lines. We’ll create our first line centered 1/16″ from the starting edge. We’ll then cut this edge into the face using a simple blind boss extrude.
In order to create a scalable ruler, we are going to use linear patterns [Insert >> Pattern Mirror >> Linear Pattern], and we’d like to have different length lines for different segments. (ie. 1/6″, 1/8″, 1/4″, 1/2″, 1″) Because of this, we’ll start off by etching each line separately, and we’ll create separate patterns for each line.
After etching our lines like we did above, we’ll end up with something like this:
Because we’d like to make the ruler scalable, it’s best that these lines each have their own pattern. This allows for the lines to be patterned individually. My tree contained seven separate features for this as listed below. (The 1mm marks were very system intensive, so I cut three at a time to reduce the work the pattern must do.)
Once we’ve created our cuts, it comes time to pattern them. We can start by patterning our one-inch mark. I’ll create the pattern using a linear pattern feature. We’ll select the feature to pattern, as well as a linear edge to define the direction. For this I selected a long edge on the ruler.
This is the key moment for making this ruler scalable. I’m going to select the option “Up to Reference”. This allows me to select an endpoint for the pattern, and to also define an offset.
For my reference point, I will select an endpoint on the ruler, and I will offset it just shy of 1/16″ from the end. This ensures that I have space after the last etched line. Lastly, we’ll define the spacing of this at one inch.
I can then follow this same process to create my other patterns, filling the gaps. I did my best when creating this to prevent overlapping cuts. This will reduce the workload and rebuild time overall. I set the spacing as follows:
- 1/16″ lines – Spaced 1/8″
- 1/8″ lines – Spaced 1/4″
- 1/4″ lines – Spaced 1/2″
- 1/2″ lines – Spaced 1″
- 10mm lines – Spaced 10mm
- 1mm lines X 3 – Spaced 3mm (Unavoidable overlap)
After creating these patterns you will end up with something like this:
Lastly, With our patterns configured as Up to Reference, we can freely scale the ruler and watch it update. With Instant3D enabled, we can double-click the ruler and change our dimension, and the ruler will adjust accordingly.
Download
With that, you should be ready to rule the world of scale making.
As always, Happy Modeling!
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