Power Copy Tool in Catia

 

What is Power Copy?

Power copy in Catia is used for patterning or copying an element or a feature in a specified direction or pattern. Thereby, we can place the copy of that particular element wherever we want inside the part. We will be providing various input elements to modify it later.  By doing this, we will be able to save time in recreating that same element again and again. Also if the patterned model is having a slight difference from the parent one, we can edit them accordingly. 

Uses of the Pattern option

Pattern feature inside the transformation toolbar is used to duplicate features along a reference direction. The pattern option is used when we have to create the same features multiple times inside the model. There are three types of pattern options:

• Rectangular
• Circular
• User-defined patterns.

 

 

Why is the Power Copy option different from the Pattern option?

In the Pattern option, after creating the multiple features from the parent body, we cannot edit them separately, If the parent feature dimension is changed, remaining all will get changed accordingly. Here individual editing is not possible. Only the parent element used for patterning can be edited. 

 

 

 

 

But in the Power Copy option, each feature can be edited separately, no matter whether it is parent or children.

 

Procedures to perform for a Power Copy

Step 1

Before creating an actual parent body, we need to locate the position of the parent and apply a point at the position. 

(Note: Point can be also created from part workbench using the point option. Here the point is from the sketcher workbench.)

 

 

Step 2

Go to insert, the axis system and position the axis system in such a way that the previously created point should be the origin of the axis system.

 

 

Step 3

Use position sketch and select the ideal plane based on the orientation of the feature and choose the same point as the projection point. Here the point inside sketch 2 is taken as a projection point.

 

 

Step 4

 Create a sketch and pad it. Here a circular sketch of 10mm and pad it to 100mm is used.

 (Note: If you want you can insert a new body and then perform this pad operation inside it. Here no additional body is used. Just directly create it inside the main body.)

 

 

Step 5

Create additional points and axes based on the locations you want to pattern or copy the object.

 

 

 

Step 6

Go to insert, Knowledge Templates, Power Copy

 

Power copy definition box will appear

 

 

Just click once on the body that needs to be Power Copied.

 

 

So pad 2 (here in my case to be copied) will be coming inside the selected components and remaining all elements (sketches, reference elements, construction elements) related to our pad2 will be going inside Inputs of Components.

 

Step 7

The one that has to get copied in the process are placed inside the selected components. In the default state, only the pad option will be inside selected components, but in some cases, we want the axis system also to be inside selected components. Most of cases, axis are also added because in a few cases we want to change the orientation of the model according to the plane. For example, after copying an object, both parents and children are oriented in the same direction. If we want to change the orientation of the children to the opposite direction, we need an axis system to perform it. So here we are selecting the Axis system by clicking on it once. The axis system will move from the Input of components to selected components.

 

 

So finally we have Pad 2 and Axis system 1 inside selected components and Sketch 2 (here it is a point) inside the Input of components. This means with the help of Sketch 2 as input we will be power copying the Axis system and Pad 2. Click ok to that.

 

 

Step 8

After clicking ok, check on the tree. You can see a new power copy option. Open that and check for power copy.1.

 

 

Right-click on that and go for powercopy.1 object and go for instantiating. An insert object box will appear with the model inside.

 

 

Here again, the input will be highlighted as sketch2 i.e our point. Just click on the first point where you want to copy the new body. Enable the Repeat option if you have more than 1 point. After that click ok.

 

 

Since we enabled the repeat option, the insert object box will appear again and repeat the same step for the next point.

 

 

Finally, close the Insert object option after applying to all points.

Power Copy Applications

Snap Features 

The snap features (they are used to attach flexible components inside plastic) used in plastic components can be patterned using Power Copy depending on the position and orientation. The below figures represent 4 snaps that are facing away from each other. This cannot be achieved using the pattern as children will be facing in the same direction as parents and we cannot edit them. 

 

 

Rib Features

Ribs are another type of feature used in plastic components. Ribs will provide strength to the part. Here in the below figure, all ribs are having the same shape when it comes to the right-hand side. But on the left, their shape is reduced according to the reduction in the wall of the component. So, by the use of power copy, we can edit them separately according to the required dimension afterwards. This cannot be done if we are following a pattern. In pattern, we can edit only the parent and if a parent is edited, children will also get that same change done for a parent. Also in this situation, we need to edit, each and every rib in separate dimensions.

 

 

Conclusion

The above shown is just an idea given to understand what are the basic procedures done to perform Power copy. The steps can be changed according to the situation. For example, if we want to change the orientation, we will add an axis system inside the selected component along with the feature to copy. This means, that what is added to the selected components and what is added to the input of components should be decided accordingly.