When cavities overlap, why does it result in Features failing?
Throughout MDTools 900 series, it is possible to encounter errors in which overlapping cavities on opposite faces cause one of these cavities to fail.
This failure results from Solidworks being unable to handle certain overlapping geometries properly, and MDTools has built-in specific fixes and workarounds for this issue. However, it can still occur in some cases:
- Two symmetrical cavities (typically with the same diameter) on the opposite sides of a block overlap exactly.
- Updating precision settings can cause partially overlapping holes to align exactly, resulting in one of the cavities failing.
This issue can be fixed by manually changing the diameter or location of one of the overlapping cavities, even by small increments (even a change of 0.00001 inch can circumvent the issue). This should not result in any meaningful impact on the manifold design but will allow Solidworks to display the feature properly.
MDTools also automatically applies this method of slightly changing the dimensions of one of the overlapping cavities when converting between Virtual and Feature mode if the overlap results in an error. Thus, converting a design from Virtual mode to Feature mode will also stop Features from failing.
Related Articles
How to resolve Feature failing errors if Precision Depth is set to a very low value?
Using low precision for Drill Depth can result in specific cavities failing upon insertion. This is due to the overall depth of the cavity (at Step 12) being rounded down to the same or lower depth than one of the previous Steps. This results in ...Why you cannot constrain cavities that were added prior to other cavities in the design?
This is a limitation of SOLIDWORKS , features cannot be made dependent on other features lower in the model tree.When inserting or editing a cavity, does some cavities disappear? (Applicability MDTools 965 and higher)
Feature failure issue is due to zero-thickness geometry limitation of SolidWorks and is resolved by deselecting the highlighted setting from the SolidWorks settings. Go to System Options > Performance, then deselect the highlighted option as shown ...When I convert block from Virtual to Feature some cavities get relocated or corrupted. How can I fix the issue?
After converting a block from Virtual to Feature, do some of your cavities look like the image above? Then, you may need to change one of the settings before converting. Go to SOLIDWORKS Options > Sketch and uncheck “Auto-rotate view normal to sketch ...How to proceed if the MDTools browser is not visible and I cannot insert cavities from the library?
This occurs if the MDTools browser gets overlapped by the SOLIDWORKS browser, which results in hiding the MDTools browser. Drag the SOLIDWORKS browser down to show the MDTools browser.