Page 267 - Mastering SolidWorks

|
understanding Fillet tyPes 239

Best Practice
although this may be more personal opinion than best practice, i believe that there are good reasons
to consider using techniques other than single features that contain many fillets or single features
that drive fillets of various sizes. Best practice would lean more toward grouping fillets that have a
similar use and the same size. For example, you may want to separate fillets that break corners on
ribs from fillets that round the outer shape of a large plastic part.
another consideration is feature order when it comes to the fillet’s relationship to draft and shell
features. if the fillets are all grouped into a single feature, then controlling this relationship becomes
impossible.

Rounding Corners
The Round Corners option refers to how SolidWorks handles fillets that go around sharp corners.
By default, this setting is off, which leaves fillets around sharp corners looking like mitered
picture frames. If you turn this setting on, the corner looks like a marble has rolled around it.
Figure 7.21 shows the resulting geometry from both settings.
Figure 7.21
The round corners
option, both
on and off

Round Corners OFF Round Corners ON

Using the Keep Edge/Keep Surface Toggle
The Keep Edge/Keep Surface toggle determines what SolidWorks should do if a fillet is too big
to fit in an area. The Keep Edge option keeps the edge where it is and tweaks the position (not
the radius) of the fillet to make it meet the edge. The Keep Surface option keeps the surfaces
of the fillet and the end face clean; however, to do this, it has to tweak the edge. There is often a
tradeoff when you try to place fillets into a space that is too small. Sometimes, it is useful to
visualize what you think the result should look like. Figure 7.22 shows how the fillet would look
in a perfect world, followed by how the fillet looks when cramped with the Keep Edge option
and how it looks when cramped with the Keep Surface option.
The Default option chooses the best option for a particular situation. As a result, it seems to use
the Keep Edge option unless it does not work, in which case it changes to the Keep Surface option.

Using the Keep Feature Option
The Keep Feature option appears on the Fillet Options panel of the Fillet PropertyManager. By
default, this option is turned on. If a fillet surrounds a feature such as a hole (as long as it is not a
through hole) or a boss, then deselecting the Keep Feature option removes the hole or boss.
When Keep Feature is selected, the faces of the feature trim or extend to match the fillet, as
shown in Figure 7.23.