Modify GD&T and FTA in CATIA

There are some tricks to using FTA in CATIA and creating your GD&T that can make your modeling a lot easier. Read on to find out more.

Here are a few tips for changing and improving GD&T in Catia. 

Setting Options

First thing's first. Make sure all of the Dimension Manipulators are active. These are the options that allow you to use all of the FTA and GD&T options within Catia. 

To turn all of these on, go to Tools -> Options. 

In the tree, select Mechanical Design and then select Functional Tolerancing and Annotation. Under the Manipulator's tab, add all the checks for Dimension Manipulator under Creation and Modify. 

You can also change the Manipulator's size by either increasing the reference size or turning off the "Zoomable" function. 

• Zoomable - will make the symbol larger or smaller when zooming in or out.
• Reference Size - determines the size of your GD&T. When Zoomable is on, the symbol will remain 2mm; when Zoomable is off, the symbol will remain the same size on your screen.

New Options

After turning on the Dimension Manipulators, options will be available to the user outside of Preferences. You can Right-click on the yellow options diamond to bring up an options menu. 

There are different options for each feature in Catia. Dimensions and text have similar options, while GD&T has a lot of other hidden options. 

Options: Dimension Lines and Text

Overrun and Blanking

These two options are located at the top and bottom of a dimension (length dimension, etc.). To edit one, double-click on one of the squares and enter in a value or drag the squares up and down. You're going to want to see a picture for this.

Text before and After

These are located before and after a dimension number. Select the arrows before or after the dimension to enter in text. 

Note: If using the Tolerance Advisor, text may already be inserted into the dimension (see 4x below for an example). 

Move Value 

This will move the dimension value along the dimension line. Some dimensions may have two or more values. 

Move Dimension Line

This option is located in the center of the dimension line. The dimension will also move by dragging the dimension line, but with the block in the center, the value will not snap to the mouse. 

Move Dimension Leader

The dimension leader will only show if the user changes the dimenion line. To change the dimension line, select a dimension and then select the dimenison line option. 

Options: GD&T

It's time to change up some GD&T. Right click your GD&T and take a look at the options list. 

Here are some of the options you should see:

Associated Geometry: If the leader of the GD&T is pointed to a surface, the user can change the pointed geometry without destroying links made by the Tolerance Advisor.

Select Views: Select the view the GD&T (as well as Dimensions and text) is associated with. 

Transfer to View: After adding a new view plane, the user can change the GD&T to the new view plane. 

Add leader: Add a leader from the GD&T to either a surface, line or a dimension. It will also keep the GD&T parallel to the view plane and create a positional link to that dimension. 

Annotation Links: The user can remove a positional or orientation link along with other dimensions or datums. 

Connection Management

A dialog box will appear after selecting this option. To change the GD&T to a different surface:

1. Right-click on the GD&T and select Associated Geometry
2. Select one of the components to show which surface to change
3. Right-click on the component surfaces and select Connect, the icon to the left will change
4. Pick the new surface in the graphic window
5. Pick the Check Validity button to verify that the change worked with that specific surface and their Datums. 
6. Select OK. 

Leaders

Leader Anchor: After right-clicking on the Leader Anchor, this set of options comes up:

More Leaders

• Remove Leader/Extremity: Removes a leader. If there are more extremities, it will still remove the whole leader. 

• All Around: Add a circle to the corner of the leader. 

• Perpendicular Leader: This makes the leader perpendicular to the surface or line. 

• Dimensions of Visualizations: Will add a dimensions line to the FT&A. However, the dimesnion line will be separate from the FT&A and cannot be modified. 

• Symbol: Change the shapes of the arrow at the end of the leader.