||Variable radius fillets
are curved surfaces defined according to a variable radius. A variable
radius corner means that at least two different constant radii are applied
to two entire edges.
This task shows how to create a standard variable
radius fillet. After performing the scenario, see also
Variable Radius Fillets Using a Spine.
Click Variable Radius Fillet
The Variable Radius Fillet
Definition dialog box appears.
Select the edge to be filleted.
You can define variable radius fillets on closed edges. See
Variable Radius Fillets Using Closed Edges.
The application detects both vertices and displays two identical radius
The icon available after the
Edges to fillet field lets you edit the list of the faces to be
filleted. For more information about that capability, see
Editing a List of Elements.
Optionally, click Preview to see the fillet to
Enter a new radius value to simultaneously change the
radius of both vertices. For example, enter 12mm.
The new radius value is displayed on both vertices. The preview is
You can use the radius value R=0 to create a variable radius fillet.
Two propagation modes are available:
- Minimal: the application does not take any
tangencies into account. If filleted edges overlap, the application
trims the fillets and creates a sharp edge. For the purpose of this
scenario, keep this option.
||The edges tangent to selected edges can be taken into
account to some extent. The application continues filleting
beyond the selected edge whenever it cannot do
- Tangency: tangencies are taken into account so as to
fillet entire edges. If you set the Tangency mode, the Trim
ribbons option becomes available: you can then trim the
fillets to be created. For more, refer to
Click the Points field then a point on the
edge to be filleted.
The application displays the radius value on this point. Note that to
remove a point from the selection, you just need to click this point.
You can also add points by selecting planes. For more information, refer
to the end of the task. You can add as many points as you wish.
Enter a new radius value for this point: enter 4. The new
radius value is displayed.
This is your preview:
The variation mode is set to Cubic: keep this
mode. To see the Linear propagation mode, refer to
More About Variable Radius Fillets.
Click OK to confirm the operation.
The edge is filleted. The specification tree indicates this creation.
To edit this fillet, double-click EdgeFillet.1
in the specification tree.
To access additional options,
expand the dialog box by clicking More..
Limiting elements field and select Plane.1 as the plane that will
trim the fillet.
An arrow appears on the plane pointing to the portion of material that
will be kept.
Click this arrow to reverse the direction and therefore
specify that the portion of material to be kept will be the opposite one.
The variable radius fillet is trimmed to Plane.1. The final part looks
If the conic mode is activated, the
field and the
option cannot be selected.
Variable Radius Fillet Dialog Box
This is the fillet you would obtain using the Linear
variation mode. Examine the difference!
- Contextual commands creating the points you need are available from
the Points field:
- Create Point: For more information, see
- Create Midpoint: creates the midpoint of the line you
- Create Endpoint: creates the endpoint of the line you
- Create Intersection: see
- Create Projection: see
- Create Plane: see
If you create any of these elements, the application then displays the
corresponding icon close to the Points field. Clicking this
icon enables you to edit the element.
- To add additional points on the edge to be filleted, you can also
select planes. The application computes the intersections between these
planes and the edge to determine the useful points.
In this example, three planes were selected. Now, if you move these
planes later, the application will compute the intersections again and
modify the fillet accordingly.
- Points can be added too by selecting 3D points.
No Internal Sharp Edges
When computing variable radius fillets, the application may generate
unexpected sharp edges when the surfaces to be connected are continuous
in tangency but not continuous in curvature. In order to
improve your design, just select No internal sharp edges.
This removes all possibly generated edges.
Note that this option does not work with Keep edge,
whatever mode you are working with (explicit
or implicit mode). For more information, see
Edges to Keep
Specifies the edges which you do not want to fillet while running the
fillet operation on the edges of interest. For details about Edges
to keep, see
||This option is available only if you are defining a constant
edge fillet using Variable Radius Fillet
Blend corners option, see
Variable Radius Fillets Using a Spine
There may be times when you need to fillet consecutive edges with no
tangent continuity but which you want to treat as a single edge logically.
You can do this by using a spine. Compare the fillets below:
||Fillet Using a Spine
To fillet the edge, the application uses circles contained in planes normal
to the spine. It is then possible to control the shape of the fillet.
The spine can be a wireframe element or a Sketcher element.
the Generative Shape Design product license is required to access this
Variable Radius Fillets Using Closed Edges
- The application defines a default vertex on closed edges when
applying the Variable Radius Fillet command. To define your
fillet, first of all you need to remove this vertex, and then use 3D
points or planes only.
- The Linear propagation mode is not valid for closed edges
and edges continuous in tangency.
Interrupting Fillet Computations
In case you made a mistake when defining a fillet (wrong radius value
for example), you can interrupt the feature computation launched after
clicking OK, provided that the computation requires at least 5
seconds to perform.
When a computation exceeds 5 seconds, a progress bar appears and provides a
Cancel option. To interrupt the operation, just click that
Cancel button. This interrupts the process and then displays an
Update Diagnosis dialog box enabling you to edit, deactivate, isolate or
even delete the feature.
This capability is available for any types of fillet features you are
creating or editing.