Length Isn't Everything.

As a work in progress I have designed a 2.0” dia x 48” shaft that we later added threads, reduced diameters and spindle gears to. Naturally, I started at the “easy” end - the end that had no features, and extruded out from there. The 12” farthest from my original extrusion, the end with all the machined features, is all that I now want to retain. How do I get rid of the boring 36” length, beginning at the origin, and keep all of the features that I still need?

You could simply change the first extrusion distance to say 15 inches.

Complete the part and then change back to 48 inches.

or

create a workplane or sketch line at 36 inches and use it to Split Part get rid of the "boring length" and then simply delete the Split feature when done.

Depending on how you created the part - I would use option 1 - I do this all the time on long parts.

You could simply change the first extrusion distance to say 15 inches.

Complete the part and then change back to 48 inches.

or

create a workplane or sketch line at 36 inches and use it to Split Part get rid of the "boring length" and then simply delete the Split feature when done.

 

Depending on how you created the part - I would use option 1 - I do this all the time on long parts.

Does that work if you use Shaft Designer? (I don't know if he did or not, just wondering.)

I had not used the Shaft Designer. I'll play around with that on the next project. In the mean time, thanks JD for your suggestions, they both worked like a charm. This site is better than the tooth fairy.