Anyone tried this? 2

[Eltron]

Hey, Kids. I was just wondering if anyone has ever tried to be as foolish as I am today...I need to model and/or visually represent a ~1L SS container filled with .125" beads. It's essentially a sealed mixer set-up that I need to show a sectioned-view of in order to get the design idea across.

I can do a series of linear then circular patterns of the beads and stack layers, but as you can imagine I'll end up with a bazillion components. Besides, it looks a little too uniform. It would be nice if there was a sort-of fill command for applications such as this. But then again that's way down on my list of things that would be nice...

Any advice/ tips/ parables/ general discouragement will be greatly appreciated, though not necessarily followed

Dan

http://www.eltronresearch.com

 

[ctopher]

I would make a section view of the part on a dwg and hatch the area to represent the beads.

Chris
SolidWorks 07 4.0/PDMWorks 07
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home (updated 04-21-07)

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

Just arrange one layer of beads at (to suit) the section line.

 

[Eltron]

The section view in the drawing isn't going to get me where I need to go. The client wants color representations, but thanks, Chris.

I'm already in the process of trying to get that single-layer along the section line to look randomly-packed enough for my tastes, Limey. You know what they say, "Great minds think alike...fools seldom differ."

Dan

http://www.eltronresearch.com

 

[ctopher]

Make a part, do a linear pattern of the beads, different configs if needed.
Add the part(s) to an assy and make them lightweight so not to slow down the rebuild.

Chris
SolidWorks 07 4.0/PDMWorks 07
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home (updated 04-21-07)

 

[MikeHalloran]

>>>I'll end up with a bazillion components<<<

Not that many; probably a bit more than 31242 beads. It would be interesting to see if SW could actually solve the packing problem.

Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[Theophilus]

I'd create a simple image file of circles with a darker background to use for creating a decal on your section. Render in PhotoWorks for your color.



Jeff Mowry

http://www.industrialdesignhaus.com

Reason trumps all. And awe transcends reason.

 

[MDGroup]

I have one solution to offer, it solves the issue of things being too uniform, but may be time consuming to create.

1) Create the Container and the Ball as parts.
2) Create an assembly with the Ball and the container.

3) 'Move' the ball into the container with 'Physical Dynamics' Checked. Now copy the ball as much as needed and keep moving the balls into the container. This should randomly locate all of the balls in the container and keep them tightly spaced as you push more into them.

You should be able to copy most of the balls already in the container and then just start squeezing more in from the top until its full.

Depending on how many balls you are going to require, this may take some time.

Good Luck.

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

Eltron ... Theo's idea of a decal is probably the simplest way to go if you have PhotoWorks.

To garner a bit more randomness to the single layer idea, try using a Curve Driven Pattern along a Spiral.

 

[Eltron]

Like Mike said, it'd be ~30K balls (which, last time I checked, was a bazillion). That's going to be pushing this little engine a little bit harder that it can run. I like the idea of using physical dynamics to randomize things though.

Dan

http://www.eltronresearch.com

 

[Eltron]

I will try the decal, Theo. Maybe I can come up with a custom texture that will do the same. Thanks.

Dan

http://www.eltronresearch.com

 

[rfus]

It takes lots of balls to do something like this.

Why not create a spiral and then do a curve driven pattern of the .125 ball around it. Make an axix on the center and then mate 4 or 5 of these along the axis and distance them with the spirals plane. Then spin each one to throw off the look of a pattern, and follow this up with a component driven pattern. Here is a pic of only two instances in a linear component pattern. so I bet you could throw the pattern look off with a few more instances before the linear component pattern. Other than that, I'd so something like this in Adobe Illustrator and paste it into the drawing.

RFUS

 

[MikeHalloran]

Could you use the Physical Dynamics to cover the bottom and a little more, and copy that?

If you copied just the balls that weren't touching the bottom, you might not end up with planar artifacts.




Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[fcsuper]

rfus,

I never would've expected to see that in my life (at least in SW).

Matt

Matt
CAD Engineer/ECN Analyst
Silicon Valley, CA
sw.fcsuper.com
Co-moderator of Solidworks Yahoo! Group

 

[CSLufkin]

How about if you tweak GLED's idea to include mating a point in the middle of the ball to a plane that is located where you want to do your section cut (or offset from your cut). Then use physical dynamics to pack the container full of ball only in one layer.

It will still take a lot of balls, are you up for the job grasshopper?

 

[Eltron]

I was trapped in meetings all afternoon yesterday so I didn't get a chance to play. However, this morning I putzed a little on it:

http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/9942/biomassattritor1ro7.jpg

I ended up doing a spiral pattern, moving things around, stacking, and tweaking. I didn't have to smack it, flip it or rub it down so it's still not perfect, but it'll do in a pinch. Ended up with a little less than 13K parts in the assy. She's a beaut...

Thanks for the gooood idears.

Dan

http://www.eltronresearch.com

 

[draftsman101]

Now thats cool!!!

B. Long
Dell Precision 380
P 4 2.80 GHz
2.5 Gig Ram
Solidworks Office 2007 Sp. 2.2
AutoCAD 2005

 

[rfus]

and not even a star for my suggestion. I feel so slighted.

Looks good draftsman!

RFUS

 

[handleman]

OK, now dissolve all your patterns, apply Gravity from the Simulation toolbar, and see what it does.

 

[Eltron]

You can only dissolve component patterns in an assembly. The original pattern was done on the part level, so (unfortunately) nothing sexy is going to happen.

Dan

http://www.eltronresearch.com