Controlling the direction of an extruded feature

When you add an extruded feature to a three-dimensional part, Abaqus/CAE chooses a default direction of extrusion from the sketched profile based on the type of feature you are creating. By default, a solid or shell feature is extruded outward such that material is added to the existing base feature. Conversely, a cut feature is extruded inward such that material is removed from the existing base feature.

Related Topics
Adding an extruded solid feature
Adding an extruded shell feature
Creating an extruded cut

You can control the direction of an extruded feature as follows:

Choosing the direction while adding an extruded feature

When you complete the sketch to add an extruded feature to an existing part, Abaqus/CAE displays the new sketched profile on the original part. The sketched profile includes an arrow that indicates the extrusion direction. Abaqus/CAE also displays the Edit Extrusion dialog box.

You can control the direction of extrusion by clicking in the Edit Extrusion dialog box. The arrow in the viewport changes direction to show the new extrusion direction.

Editing the direction of an existing extruded feature

When you select an extruded feature to edit, Abaqus/CAE highlights the selected feature in the viewport and the Edit Feature dialog box appears.

You can reverse the direction of extrusion by toggling Flip extrude direction in the Edit Feature dialog box. Abaqus/CAE does not display an arrow that indicates the direction of extrusion; however, you can click Apply to view your changes. When the direction is acceptable, click OK to end the editing process.

You cannot change the direction of extrusion when you are creating a new part because the part would be identical regardless of the direction.