Array in a sketch

Select the entities, press Linear or Circular array, set the parameters in the top bar. While you set them the copies are shown as a preview; Enter applies, Esc cancels.

Two, four, six copies — one number changes, not the drawing.
Two, four, six copies — one number changes, not the drawing.

  • Linear — the count and the step along a direction.
  • Circular — the count, the angle and the centre of rotation.

An array, not copies

The copies of an array are one thing, not a set of separate ones. An edit of the source entity goes through all of them: to change the step or the number of copies you redraw nothing. A double click on any copy opens the array parameters for editing.

Hence the rule for choosing: a one-off repetition is Copy; a repetition that is part of the intent (“six fastener circles around a bolt circle”) is an array.

A sketch array or a body array

The same grid of holes can be made two ways, and they are not equal:

  • an array in the sketch multiplies outlines, and the body is then built from all of them at once — a single operation;
  • an array of the body (Part workbench) multiplies a finished feature with all of its fillets and threads.

For plain through holes the first is shorter; where a machined feature is being repeated, take the second.

The centre of a circular array

The centre is given by a click and snaps to sketch points. It helps to put a construction point or circle at the centre beforehand: then the centre of the array and the centre of the part coincide exactly, rather than nearly.

Part: an overview →