Thicken

Creates a solid feature by thickening one or more adjacent surfaces.

If the surface you want to thicken is made up of multiple adjacent surfaces, you must first knit the surfaces together before you thicken the surface.

To thicken a surface:

  1. Click Thicken (Features toolbar), or click Insert > Boss/Base > Thicken.
  2. In the graphics area, select a Surface to Thicken .
  3. In the PropertyManager, under Thicken Parameters, select the side of the surface you want to thicken.

    Preview:

    Thicken Side 1 - Inward Thicken Both Sides Thicken Side 2 - Outward

    When you select Thicken Both Sides , it adds the Thickness you specify to both sides.

  4. Optional: Click in Direction of Thicken to specify a direction other than normal to face.

    From the graphics area, select any of the following entities as a Direction:

    • Linear sketch entities
    • Sketch points
    • Reference planes
    • Reference axis
    • Linear edges
    • Pair of vertices
    • Cylindrical faces
    • Conical faces
    • Points in reference geometry
    • Planar faces

    For example, the thicken direction below is parallel to the sketch entity.

  5. Enter the Thickness .
    To create a solid, click Create solid from enclosed volume. This option is available only if you created a volume that is fully enclosed by surfaces.
  6. Click OK .
    Original surface Thickened solid

Using Thicken to Cut a Solid

You can thicken a surface to cut a solid and create multibody parts.

To cut an existing solid by thickening a surface:

  1. Click Thickened Cut (Features toolbar), or click Insert > Cut > Thicken.
    Original model
  2. In the graphics area, select a Surface to Thicken .
    If you are cutting a multibody part, set the Feature Scope options.
  3. In the PropertyManager, under Thicken Parameters, select the side of the surface you want to thicken.

    Previews:

    Thicken Side 1 - Inward Thicken Both Sides Thicken Side 2 - Outward

    When you select Thicken Both Sides , it adds the Thickness you specify to both sides.

  4. Click in Direction of Thicken to specify a direction other than normal to face.
    The following example shows that the thicken cut surface is parallel to a reference plane.

  5. Click OK .
    The Bodies to Keep dialog box appears, which gives you the option to create a multibody part.
  6. Select All bodies or Selected bodies.
    If you choose Selected bodies, the dialog box expands to display the number of bodies available. Select the check boxes of the bodies you want to keep.
  7. Click OK.
    All bodies