Creating a Variable Radius Fillet Using a Spine

You can create a variable bi-tangent circle radius fillet on an edge or consecutive edges that do not have any tangency continuity.

The propagation along the edge(s) can be done smoothly when selecting a spine along which an arc of circle is slid. Cutting the resulting fillet surface by a plane normal to the spine would result in a circle of the specified radius value.

Using this type of radius may help solve twisted fillets created when using any other type of fillet.

Before you begin: Create a 3D shape containing a surface with a sharp edge.
Related Topics
Creating Variable Radius Fillets
Creating Bitangent Shape Fillets
Creating Edge Fillets
Reshaping Corners

  1. Select the edge(s) to be filleted.

  2. Click Variable Fillet .

    The Variable Radius Fillet Definition dialog box appears.

  3. Click Preview.

    The fillet is previewed on the geometry.

  4. Change the radius value to 50mm.



  5. Click More>> to expand the Variable Radius Fillet Definition dialog box and check the Circle Fillet option:



  6. Select the line as a spine.



  7. Click OK to create the variable fillet.

    The surface (identified as EdgeFillet.xxx) is added to the specification tree.

    The same operation without selecting the Circle Fillet option would have led to the following fillet:



Important:
  • You can use any curve as a spine, provided it covers all selected edges, i.e. it is longer than the set of selected edges.
  • In some cases, fillets may be overlapping. Trim ribbons lets you solve this by trimming the fillets where they overlapping. For further information on this option, refer to Creating Edge Fillets.
  • Click More>> to display further options:
    • the edge that should not be filleted (see Creating Edge Fillets).
    • the Blend corner(s) option (see Reshaping Corners).