In general, it’s good practice to create a Feature Pattern rather than creating all of the geometry in a single sketch with a Sketch Pattern. Sketch Patterns are usually slower to rebuild than Feature Patterns and you also have less options available.
However if you create Sketch Patterns for simple geometry, you may have noticed that it doesn’t fully define the instances, even if you opt to Add Dimensions. In this tech tip we’ll answer the common question: Why is my SOLIDWORKS Sketch Pattern Under Defined?
Linear Sketch Pattern – Dimensions added
SOLIDWORKS 2016 – Instances Under Defined
The reason is because the sketch instances can rotate. You could previously Fully Define the instances by adding a Horizontal or Vertical relation on one of the construction lines tied to the instances.
SOLIDWORKS 2016 – Instances Can Rotate
SOLIDWORKS 2017 has been enhanced so that the instances are now locked based on Direction 1 and won’t rotate. The angle for Direction 2 is the angle between axes (with respect to Direction 1), so this will Fully Define the sketch with all dimensions added.
SOLIDWORKS 2017 – Fully Defined Instances Automatically in Linear Sketch Pattern
However the Circular Sketch Pattern will still remain Under Defined in SOLIDWORKS 2017, so just be sure to add Horizontal or Vertical relations (or any required relation/dimension) to the construction lines to fully define the pattern.
Circular Sketch Pattern – Under Defined
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