Onshape Feature Requests

Yeh it’s easy to do this with a configurable part but the problem is it doesn’t let you draw the tubes directly in context and have them be parametric off a master sketch.

ah. Fair.

Make a sketch. Pull that sketch into your assembly. Make part studios in context. Update your original sketch and update your contexts.

It sounds like it. But having used the configurations feature there are still many times where I wish it was as simple as solidworks.

Dang. I don’t know if I’ve been doing it wrong in the past but yeah that works. (is that new?) You learn something new every day

Idk, I also might vastly over use variables for calculations that could be done in sketches… This is what happens when you give a programmer variables :stuck_out_tongue:

Will say, one ask in onshape is mirror along things other than a line. I tried to mirror two curves around a third curve and it was less than functional.

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Coming directly from Solidworks, I’ve found three really noticeable things.

  • Path Length Dimensions: I use these a ton in Solidworks to do belts I can change the length of in-sketch without having to use a belt calculator.

  • Assembly Mirrors: Don’t even really need to explain this one, I like mirroring things in assemblies. It would also be nice to have a good way to handle the newly created opposite-hand parts, which Solidworks kind of sucks at.

  • Hotkeys: This one’s kind of weird, but I like being able to have custom hotkeys, the built in ones are alright but I’d like to be able to define my own.

  • Being able to outright draw construction lines: I use probably too many construction lines, but they’re really useful and I don’t want to have to draw it then make it construction, that’s like an entire extra keystroke, I might die of old age.

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Select construction, then your sketch elements. Toggling construction on with nothing selected will make you draw construction elements until you unselect it.

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Someone made a point on my Onshape 101 class last night that they’re glad custom hotkeys don’t exist. If I remember correctly, it was a mentor who was frustrated that the hotkeys changed on every Solidworks instance on every student’s/school laptop he used.

@dydx sniped me, but you can outright draw any construction geometry by selecting the construction geometry button (or “q” hotkey) before drawing your geometry.

It would be great if identical parts created with a parts studio were either identified as identical or if there was a way to identify all unique parts in parts studio. A similar function exists in Solidworks, and I’ve found it super useful.

I also feel like there were a few constraints in assemblies that would make life easier. (Maybe I just couldn’t find them). Constraining tangents at a distance (as in I would like 2 cylinders with their rounded edges x distance from each other). Constraining a plane to a line would have also been useful. My descriptions might be terrible, hopefully this is clear.

Global variables (I think that is the programming term? - variables you can reference in any part studio or assembly). It would probably need a tab by itself. Would be useful when making variable based models between multiple assemblies and part studios.

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This is a big ask but I’d love an integrated CAM feature. It’s so bothersome to export to Fusion 360 to do the CAM. Everything in one place would be great.

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I’d amend this to CAM that is at least as good as Fusion360’s, or is good enough that it feels worthwhile to use over going through the F360 export process. There are CAM solutions in Onshape, but my experience with them has been that they are much more painful to use or don’t provide as many useful options as F360 does.

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Path length dimensions and assembly mirrors are of critical importance.
Custom hotkeys that are tied to the user account would be a nice way to avoid the problem of sitting down to different hotkeys. Solidworks does this if you log in.
Mass overrides are also really important to me, as they save a lot of time when importing assemblies from vendors. The custom material library workaround is a waste of time.

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I just figured out what was giving me trouble with applying math to variables… some operations require you to include units, even when the unit should be understood (same unit as variable), which is pretty annoying. #ELVheight-1 doesn’t work, but #ELVheight-1 in does work. Feature request: If it could default to the proper units so that the first one works that would be awesome.

you can just write your variable as unit-less, and as long as the default unit is the one the variable is using, it will assume the units.

OnShape added Mass Override with their latest end of July update. I am happy today! Lots of other new stuff has been showing up, but this is my favorite. Allows override of mass at part or subassembly level, as well as setting center of mass, etc. https://www.onshape.com/cad-blog/whats-new-in-onshapes-latest-update-july-31st-2020

There is also an offer from OnShape for 1 year free of their Education Enterprise plan. I am looking to learn more about what advantages this has. https://www.onshape.com/education-enterprise

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I can’t use the mass override on things that I import such as through MKCad though. Seems like the feature is only half as useful as I’d like unless I’m missing something.

In what circumstance would you like to override the mass in MKCAD? Is there somewhere we have mass missing or incorrect? Very stoked that we can directly set the mass of parts.

Hmm, I started making a list of some of the things that I see without weights in our CAD, but just to be thorough I went and inserted some into the assembly myself to check…and I see they do have weights (as an example, the 3 stage CIM Sport gearbox). I dont know where they got it from…I don’t see an import folder.

I think either way, it’d be nice to be able to override the mass in the assembly, but depending on how all that is handled on the backend that might be hard/unreasonable to do