Reference Section > Shape Library > Other Shapes

The Wedge shape is a flat-bottomed ramp: a straight base, a face that rises from a sharp toe at a set angle, a short level lip at the top, and a square back end. Use it for wedges, tapered packers and shims, ramp plates and similar profiles where a sloped face finishes in a flat land.

It appears in the shapes library under Tools and Other Shapes.

Insert point and direction

The insert point (Base X, Base Y) is the sharp toe of the wedge, at the bottom left. The base runs from the toe along +X for the full Length, and the shape is built upwards in +Y. The profile is one closed path with five corners, in this order:

1.the toe, at the insert point;

2.the top of the slope, reached by rising at Angle over a horizontal run of Length – Lip Length;

3.straight up by Lip Height;

4.level along +X for Lip Length, to the back of the wedge;

5.straight down the back end to the base, then along the base back to the toe.

The overall height at the back end is (Length – Lip Length) × tan(Angle) + Lip Height. With the metric defaults that is 150 × tan 15° + 25 = about 65.2 mm. All corners are sharp; there are no fillets.

Use Rotation to turn the wedge about the toe, or Mirroring X to flip it about the X axis through the toe, which puts the wedge below the insert point (see Transform).

The Length dimension is drawn under the base. The Lip Height dimension is drawn on the step at the top of the slope, the Lip Length dimension along the lip, and the Angle dimension at the toe, between the base and the sloped face.

Properties

Property	Description	Default
Length	Overall length of the base, from the toe (the insert point) to the back end (mm or inch). Minimum 1. It includes the Lip Length, so the sloped face covers a horizontal run of Length – Lip Length.	200 mm (8 in when working in inches)
Lip Height	Height of the vertical step from the top of the slope up to the lip (mm or inch). Minimum 1.	25 mm (1 in when working in inches)
Lip Length	Length of the level lip at the top of the wedge, measured back from the back end (mm or inch). Minimum 1. Keep it less than Length (see Limits).	50 mm (2 in when working in inches)
Angle	Angle of the sloped face, measured up from the base at the toe (degrees). Minimum 0°. Keep it below 90° (see Limits).	15°

Limits

The shape does not check its values against each other, and it does not show the Warning: Cannot build shape from these parameters message for any of the cases below. It draws the outline anyway, so check the drawing:

•Lip Length equal to Length: there is no slope; the part is a plain rectangle Length × Lip Height.

•Lip Length greater than Length: the slope runs backwards from the toe, to the left of and below the insert point. Depending on Angle and Lip Height the outline can cross itself (for example Length 200, Lip Length 250, Angle 60°). This is not a usable part.

•Angle of 0°: the slope lies on the base, so the part reduces to a Lip Length × Lip Height rectangle at the back end, with an extra line doubled back along the base to the toe.

•Angle of 90° or more: the property page accepts it. The slope is built from tan(Angle), so near 90° the wedge becomes extremely tall. Above 90° the sloped face falls below the base line, so the wedge is built below the insert point instead of above it. This is not the part the name describes.

If building the outline raises an error, the shape catches it: the property page shows the red bar Warning: Cannot build shape from these parameters and no outline is built. The code does not test for the cases above, so none of them shows this bar; check the drawing.

Every 2D shape also has the Transform properties (Base X, Base Y, Rotation, Scale, Mirroring X) and the Polar Array properties, listed after the shape's own properties.