ES 1050 Onshape Assignment

Solid Modelling: Onshape Assignment

1 Background
Onshape is a computer-aided design (CAD) software system
that exists in the cloud (i.e. used over the Internet as an
online service). This minimizes installation and other setup
requirements and allows almost immediate learning of CAD
principles. The application is accessible using a web-browser
on Windows or Mac, as well Apps available on iOS and
Android but all instructional material is based on the
browser web-page based application. The focus of this
assignment is to access basic sketch driven part
development, followed by building a working model
assembly. In this assignment you will be making a working
model of a pair of scissors.

2 Process and Grades

This document is structured like a worksheet with instructions for students to follow. At certain points in
the process, it will instruct students to capture specific screenshots for submission to the Assignment on
Gradescope. Students will also be expected to include a read only link for your model to allow graders to
review your models online. A detailed marking rubric will be shared later.

3 Steps
There are many ways to create the same geometry as presented here but you are expected to create
the geometry in the same sequence as described here.

3.1 Create a new Onshape document

• Create a new Onshape Document and name it Onshape XXXXXX (where XXXXXX is your student
id e.g. Onshape jdickin5).
• Switch the Document units to mm if not already set that way (see workshop slides).

3.2 Step 1 – Red handle Geometry

a. Make a Sketch on Front Plane of the following profile.
b. Make sure your version it is fully defined (all black lines) and that the sketch is “closed”
(completely bounds the profile of the handle so Onshape shades the region).
c. No construction lines are necessary in the making of this geometry. All shape lines should be
drawn solid. Please note the lines dimensioned as 18 mm and 5.5 mm are vertical, and that a
tangency constraint exists at the intersection of the R20 38mm diameter dimensions.
d. Make sure your origin is the center of the finger holes, as circled in RED in the image below

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ES 1050 Onshape Assignment

Rename the Sketch from Sketch 1 to be “Sketch 1 - Red Handle

Geometry” by right-clicking on the sketch name in the Features list →

e. Capture a screenshot of your sketch for Red Handle Geometry,

clearly showing all dimensions (hint: drag dimensions around
for better legibility) and submit to the Gradescope assignment
where instructed (Q1). It MUST be high-quality and easy to
read.
f. At the lower left of the screen, rename the part studio to
“Handles”

Red Handle Geometry Sketch: ensure you are in fact putting in a screen capture (not cell phone
picture for example or a zoomed in view of the sketch for example).

3.3 Step 2 - Extrude 1 – Red Handle Geometry

a. Extrude the handle 8mm out of the screen towards you as illustrated and rename the feature to
be “Extrude 1 – Red Handle Geometry” in the feature list.

b.

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ES 1050 Onshape Assignment
c. Rename the part in the Part list to be “Red Handle”.
d. Make the “Red Handle” part red. Right Click on the “Red Handle” part, select “Edit Appearance”
and choose Red.

e.

3.4 Step 3 - Sketch 2 – Blade Mate Hole

a. Rotate the handle geometry to give you a similar view as illustrated below. At this point the
blade of the scissor will enter the handle. Create a new sketch on the illustrated surface (Select
the surface and then create new sketch.) Add the box feature and dimensions shown:

b.
c. Rename your new sketch to “Sketch 2 – Blade Mate Hole”.

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ES 1050 Onshape Assignment
d. Capture a skew view screenshot of your sketch for “Sketch 2 – Blade Mate Hole” (similar to the
view above) clearly showing all dimensions (hint: drag dimensions around for better legibility)
and submit to the Gradescope assignment where instructed (Q2). It MUST be high-quality and
easy to read.
3.5 Step 4 – Extrude 2 – Create Blade Hole
a. Remove 5mm of material for the hole by using the Extrude tool on sketch “Sketch 2 – Blade
Mate Hole”. See figure below for extrude settings and desired result.

b. Rename the extrusion “Extrude 2 - Create Blade Hole”.

3.6 Step 5 – Fillet 1 – Remove Handle Edges

We want a handle that is smooth and nice to grip so we must round the edges.

a. Use the fillet tool (see image below) to apply a .75mm fillet to all the outer edges of the handle
and the inner finger hole. Hint 1: do this with 1 fillet command by selecting multiple edges.
Hint 2: clicking on faces generally selects all the edges around that face in one-click.

Then this..

b. Remember to rename the feature operation: “Fillet 1 – Remove Handle Edges”. Your handle
should now look as follows:

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ES 1050 Onshape Assignment

3.7 Step 6 – Mirror 1 – Create the Green Handle

To create a Green handle we are going to mirror the current handle and change its colour.

a. Pick the Mirror tool feature tools at the top. Follow the sequence of steps illustrated in the two
figures below (1 figure is on the next page). Make sure to set mirror dialog to “New” and not
“Add”.

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ES 1050 Onshape Assignment

b.
c. When done the mirroring operation make sure it is named “Mirror 1 – Create Green Handle”.

3.8 Step 7 – Sketch 1 – Blade Geometry

a. Start a new part studio by clicking on the “+” sign (bottom left of the display) and inserting a
new element. Call this new part studio “Blades”.
b. Sketch on Front Plane of the following profile. Make sure your version it is fully defined (all black
lines) and that the sketch is “closed”.
c. Make sure your origin is on the long edge of the handle insertion end, as circled in RED below.

d. Rename the sketch “Sketch 1 – Blade Geometry.

3.9 Step 8 – Extrude width of base metal

a. Extrude the sketch 3mm to make the base blade shape, result looking like:

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ES 1050 Onshape Assignment
b. It should come out of the screen towards you (when in the default front plane view).
c. Change the name of the extrusion you just completed to “Extrude 1 - Width of Base Metal”.

3.10 Step 9 – Sketch 2 – Cutting Edge Chamfer

a. Turn the part so you are looking down the length of the part at the end that does not have a
step in it. (Hint: click on the navigation tool on the side that says “Right” near the upper right-
hand corner of the screen.
b. Sketch on the end surface the following profile. Note the location of the origin as you create the
chamfer:

c. Change the name of the sketch to “Sketch 2 – Cutting Edge Chamfer”.

3.11 Step 10 – Extrude 2 – Cutting Edge Chamfer

Need to remove material to make a cutting blade.

a. Use Extrude tool to remove material as depicted. Hint: this might be easiest to see with a slightly
skew view allowing you to see down the length of the blade. Remove 55mm worth of material
to see something like this:

b. Change the name of the Extrusion feature to “Extrude 2 – Cutting Edge Chamfer”.

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ES 1050 Onshape Assignment
3.12 Step 11 – Sketch 3 – Student Email Prefix Engrave
a. Change to bottom view. Create the sketch shown in the next instruction, but use your own
student ID (email prefix). It will be used later to create a custom engraving on the blade. Note
the location of the origin when positioning your text.

b.
c. Change the name of the sketch to “Sketch 3 – Student Prefix Engrave”

3.13 Step 12 – Extrude 3 – Student Email Prefix Engrave

a. Use the Extrude tool to engrave your id into the blade (depth .5mm). E.g.

b. Name the feature “Extrude 3 – Student Prefix Engrave”

3.14 Step 13 – Fillet 1 – Round the Blade End

These are children’s scissors so the ends shouldn’t be pointy.

a. Use the fillet tool to round the end smoothly by applying a 2mm fillet to create the following
blade end profile.

b. Rename to be “Fillet 1 - Round the Blade End”.

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ES 1050 Onshape Assignment
c. Capture a skewed 3D view (similar to below) screenshot of your finished blade clearly showing
your embossed name on the blade and submit to the Gradescope assignment where instructed
(Q3). It MUST be high-quality and easy to view.

d. Capture an screenshot of your Blade feature tree (with renamed features) and submit to
Gradescope assignment where instructed (Q4). It MUST be high-quality and easy to read.

3.15 Step 14 – Sketch 1 – Sketch Pin Head

To hold the scissor together we need a pin or rivet. Make the pin using Revolve using one sketch as the
source for your geometry.

a. Start a new part studio. Call it “Embossed Pin”.

b. Go to “Top View” and create the following sketch.
o Note: one of the lines is a construction line and that this line will be used for revolving
your sketch in a following step. It is shown as being 10 mm long, but its length can be
anything. (Alternatively, the “inside” edge of the sketch can be used as the axis of
revolution and no construction line would be required, but it is worthwhile knowing
how to make a construction line.)

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ES 1050 Onshape Assignment
o Also note: the location of the origin (circled in red). If the pin is positioned here will
naturally align with other parts later during assembly although it could be modelled
anywhere in space and repositioned during assembly (as it commonly required).

o
c. Change the name of the sketch to “Sketch 1 – Embossed Pin”.
d. Capture a screenshot of your Embossed Pin Sketch and submit to Gradescope assignment where
instructed (Q5). It MUST be high-quality and easy to view.

3.16 Step 15 – Revolve 1 – Create the Pin

a. Use the “Revolve” tool to create the Pin. Hint: Set the revolve axis to be the 10 mm long
construction line from the sketch. Your pin should have the following appearance once revolved:

b. Rename the part to “Embossed Pin”. And change its colour to be yellowish. Note: its
hexadecimal colour code is “FAB601”.

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ES 1050 Onshape Assignment
We have completed building all the parts. Assembly requirements follow.

4 Build Scissors Assembly

In this exercise we have adopted a progressive approach to inserting parts into the assembly and then
mating them with others. It is possible to insert all parts upfront and then create the assembly but for
new users this can be confusing as users often need to change the visibility of each part in order to
clearly see and/or select them for each mating step.

4.1 Insert the first Blade and Fix it to the origin

a. Along the bottom of the screen, click on the Assembly 1 tab. Insert the blade from the blade
part studio. Select the check mark to approve your choice and close the dialogue box. Change
the name of the studio to “Assembly 1 – Scissors”.
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b.
Go into the Features pane along the left-hand side and right click on the new “Blades” item that
has appeared. Select “fix” to unify the origin of the part studio of the blade with the origin of
the assembly.

4.2 Add the Embossed Pin to the Assembly

Add the Embossed Pin and use a Revolute mate it to connect it to the blade so it cannot fall out but can
turn freely. When mated its head should be flush with the Blade and it should be free to turn.

a. Insert the Embossed Pin into the Assembly. If it appears in an awkward place, Left click and drag
to slide it to a more convenient location.
b. Select the Revolute mate tool and slowly hover your mouse over the pin. Various mating points
and orientations will present themselves. (We can make our own mate points in the model, but
these default mate points are sufficient in most cases.)

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ES 1050 Onshape Assignment
o Note: The Revolute mate rotates around the Z-Axis (in blue) of the selected mate, so
pick the mating point with the blue axis aligned along the length of the pin and even
with the head of the pin. Hover over the tool icon to get the help text.

c.
d. Hover your mouse over the hole in the blade. Select the mate point on the end of the hole
where the blade has its edge chamfered. You are trying to mate them together like this. Hint:
you can rotate the view and turn visibility of objects on and off during the mating process to get
the view you need. Hint 2: it may be easier to delete and recreate a mate to get things correct.

e. Once the second mate connector is selected Onshape will bring the parts together and you will
have the option of flipping the orientation if needed using the Arrow button on the Mate dialog.

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ES 1050 Onshape Assignment
Click on the green check box to accept the desired configuration.

f. The pin can now rotate 360 degrees within the blade but later on we will limit this range to be
more like real life scissors.
4.3 Add and mate the Red Handle to the Assembly.
Add the Red Handle and user a Slider mate to mimic the assembly process.

a. Select Insert and expand the Handles option and insert only the red handle.

b. If it appears in an awkward place (e.g. hard to see the other parts), Left click and drag to slide it
to a more convenient location. (Hint: The blade and pin will not move the same way because the
blade is fixed, and the pin is mated to it.)
c. Review the instructions for the Slider mate (hover over the tool icon).
d. Create a mate between the Handle and the Blade using the bottom surface in the handle blade
hole as the sliding half of the mate. This is also possible using matching edges of the hole
instead.

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ES 1050 Onshape Assignment

e.
f. The goal is to assemble the two like this.

g. Use the quadrant selector in the mate dialogue too correct orientation issues with the mate.

h. The Slider mate is used here to show how the scissors are assembled. The handle and blade
should not clash when pushed in, and we want to be able to see it slide off the blade just

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ES 1050 Onshape Assignment
enough to illustrate the assembly process (10mm). Use the limits part of the dialog to set this:

4.4 Adding the second blade to the Assembly.

Fix the new blade to the Pin (as if there was a friction fit between the Blade and the Pin stopping it from
falling off).

a. Insert a second blade (may arrive overlapping first and need dragging away by adjusting visibility
in the tree) and use a Fastened mate between the Pin and the Blade.
b. User the Chamfers to guide how the mates should be aligned.
i. Your result should look something like this:

4.5 Insert the Green Handle

And Fasten it to the second blade.

a. Insert the green handle following the same procedure as you did for inserting the red one.
b. Select appropriate mating surfaces and orientation changes for the fastening of the handle to
the second blade to complete the Scissors assembly
c. Hint: If your scissors don’t look like they would cut in reality, you might want to check your
Blade model chamfer generation.

4.6 Prevent clashes between handles, handles and blades

At this point your scissors are assembled but can be manipulated to so that the parts pass through each
other. Return to your first Revolute mate and set limits so that the handles can’t intersect, and the
scissor can be opened to approximately 90 degrees.

a. Left click on the revolute mate in the assembly tree window and then click on the limits check
box available to you. Adjust the limits to eliminate these clashes.

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ES 1050 Onshape Assignment
5 Gradescope Submission
a) Capture a full screenshot of the Onshape interface showing your scissor assembly INCLUDING a)
the Instances Tree, b) Mates List and c) your user account name in the upper right corner. The
image MUST be high-quality and easy to read and include the items circled in red below. Submit
to the Gradescope assignment where instructed (Q6).

b)

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ES 1050 Onshape Assignment
6 Get a model link for graders to view your model:
Get a model viewing link for your scissor model and submit it here so instructors can closely examine
you model when needed. Make sure to follow ALL the instructions below and check it by opening it in a
different browser WITHOUT logging into Onshape.

• Top right of the Onshape interface

• Click the “Turn on link sharing”

• Copy the link this creates here into the final question in Gradescope (Q7).
• Check it in a different browser without logging in to Onshape.

Example link illustrated here:

https://cad.onshape.com/documents/0ff77e4910cc558a99c12730/w/2cdea0699fe036ea4d6d8c57/e/1
2340e843cb1b7a535afbd90

You will get no marks if you do not share a view only link for your model!!

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