Specifying the Thicken Direction

You can thicken a surface by specifying a direction other than normal to a face. This option is available for Thicken and Thicken-Cut features.

In the Thicken PropertyManager and Thicken Cut PropertyManager, you can specify the following entities as a Direction from the graphics area:
  • Linear sketch entities
  • Sketch points
  • Reference planes
  • Reference axis
  • Linear edges
  • Pair of vertices
  • Cylindrical faces
  • Conical faces
  • Points in reference geometry
  • Planar faces

To specify the thicken direction:

  1. Open system_dir:\Users\Public\Public Documents\SOLIDWORKS\SOLIDWORKS 2020\samples\whatsnew\parts\thicken_surface.SLDPRT.

  2. Click Thicken (Features toolbar), or Insert > Boss/Base > Thicken.
  3. In the PropertyManager:
    1. For Surface to Thicken, select Surface-Trim 2 in the flyout FeatureManager tree.
    2. For Thickness, type 50mm.
    3. Click in Direction of Thicken.
  4. In the graphics area, select an entity to use as a direction and click .

    Examples of direction of thicken:

    The thicken surface is parallel to the linear sketch entity.
    The thicken surface is parallel to a line drawn between the two sketch points.
    The thicken surface is normal to the reference plane.
    The thicken surface is normal to the reference axis.
    The thicken surface thickens on both sides of the selected entity.