Thicken is a face tool which creates a solid part from a face part. All faces of the face part are offset by a specified distance in the face normal direction, and the new faces are connected to the original faces with side surfaces.
You can specify a positive offset or negative offset. A positive offset thickens the face part in the face normal direction. The Both Sides option allows you to thicken by offsetting both sides of a face part by half the given distance on each side.
Use the Ortho option to switch between ensuring the orthogonality of side faces and keeping the topology of offset faces.
The following figure shows a face part (1) thickened on its positive side (2) and on its negative side (3) and on both sides (4).
Blends in the original face part are no longer recognized as blends after thickening. They are considered as generic faces, and cannot be modified as blends.
To thicken face parts,
1. Activate the Surfacing module.
a. Click File > Modules. The Modules dialog box opens.
b. On the Modules pane, click Surfacing under Licensed.
2. Click Surfacing and then, in the 3D Surface Tools group, click Thicken a Face Part. The Thicken FP dialog box opens.
Alternatively, select a face part in the viewport and click on the Command Mini Toolbar.
3. In the Part box, enter the name of the face part to thicken; or click Part and then select the face part.
4. In the Distance box, enter the distance for the face part to be offset. A positive value thickens the face part in the positive face normal direction, whereas a negative value thickens the face in the negative face normal direction.
5. Click Ortho to ensure the orthogonality of side faces.
6. If you want to thicken the face part equally on both sides, click Both Sides.
7. Click Chk & Fix to switch part checking on or off.
8. Click to complete the operation.
Limitations
The Ortho option may slow the thickening process, or fail for complex surfaces.
Thicken a Face Part. The Thicken FP dialog box opens.
to complete the operation.