Creating a datum plane at an offset from a selected plane

You can position a datum plane by selecting any plane on the model (including another datum plane) and specifying an offset from the selected plane; you can specify the offset by entering a value or selecting a point.

Related Topics
Methods for creating a datum plane
Datum creation techniques
Controlling datum display

Context:

The figure below shows an example of creating a datum plane at an offset from another plane.



  1. From the main menu bar, select ToolsDatum.

    The Create Datum dialog box appears. The dialog box outlines the types of datum geometry you can create.

    Abaqus/CAE displays prompts in the prompt area to guide you through the procedure.

    Tip: You can also create a datum plane using the tool, located in the module toolbox. For a diagram of the datum tools in the toolbox, see Using the Datum toolset.

  2. From the list of types at the top of the dialog box, choose Plane.

    The Method list indicates the methods you can use to create a datum plane.

  3. From the Method list, select Offset from plane.

  4. If desired, select Make Independent from the prompt area to create the datum as an independent feature.

  5. From the part or assembly in the current viewport, select a plane.

  6. From the buttons in the prompt area, select one of the following:

    Enter Value

    1. An arrow appears, indicating the offset direction.

    2. Click Flip to reverse the arrow, if necessary. Click OK to accept the indicated offset direction.

    3. In the text field in the prompt area, enter the offset from the selected plane. The offset can be positive or negative. A positive value offsets the datum plane in the direction indicated by the arrow.

    Select Point

    From the part or assembly in the current viewport, select a point to define the offset from the selected plane.

    The datum plane appears. You can modify the position of the datum plane by selecting FeatureEdit from the main menu bar and modifying the value of the offset.