I am stuck on two what I think should be simple patterns, but neither seems to have a good answer that I can think of/find, and pattern seems like the logical way to do these.

1.  create a set of stepped cuts along a line spaced an equal distance along an edge.  Both curve driven and linear give me the spacing along the line, but that's not what I want.  I want cuts spaced .5" apart on the x-axis but following the direction of a 30° line.  I can do it with a sketch driven pattern and lots of dimensioning, since I have 20 instances to create, it seems there should be an easier way???

2.  create a series of holes (cut extrude, not hole wizard) with set spacing, but growing diameters.  The diameters should grow by a set amount (.1") as they progress.  I tried to do a pattern with vary sketch and constrain the minimum distance between an edge and the diameter, but vary sketch remains grayed out.

Any thoughts are appreciated, maybe I'm thinking this should be easier than it is..... or maybe I'm missing something obvious.

Toni