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Drawing and charting bent pipes

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FXjohn

FXjohn

Automotive
Mar 17, 2007
82
Is there a way to a
create a bend chart for bent tubing using a grip program, does one exist? Is there a way to draw bent tubing where
you can later change associative intersection points?

Thanks
 
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Hi FXjohn,

You may get more responses if you were to let us know what version of NX you're using.

You also may wish to describe what you mean by "draw bent tubing"...that's a bit vague considering NX can do both 2D and 3D, which may affect the answer you get.

Thanks

Tim Flater
Senior Designer
Enkei America, Inc.

Some people are like slinkies....they don't really have a purpose, but they still bring a smile to your face when you push them down the stairs.
 
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I'm in NX 3 and I mean hollow bent three dimensional tubing.
Usually there is a chart calling out intersection points, their XYZ coordinates and the radius. I usually draw the the 3d skeleton with lines, then fillet the lines and the make a tube.
To edit it I must retrim the centerlines and either edit or redo the fillets and then redo the tube. Wondered if there was a way to keep the intersection points associative.
 
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I'm sure there's a grip program for that somewhere. I'll have a look for you if John doesn't beat me to it in the next week or so. I'm kind of out of the office at the minute. I know the thing existed because I helped write a verison of it for a client.

Cheers

Hudson
 
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I remember using the grip program also. Was it called pipe.grx?
It predates UG version 10.
 
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I remember a bent tube program that predates V10 also. It was written by Dick (not John) Baker. I would not doubt that it was modified to work in post V10 UG.
I did some contract work for a muffler (and pipe) manufacturer several years ago, and I am sure that they are using the program now, like they did back then. I do not know if it is proper to state the name of the company on here, but they would be the ones to contact for it.
I have not seen Dick Baker for at least five years, and I did a quick Internet search and did not find him ... my guess is that he is retired or not involved with UG anymore.
 
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I'm not sure if you have the associative curves in NX3 but I find them very useful for modelling pipes. Basically I add points in 3D model space and then use associative curvees to join them together in a dot to dot style. Then I use an associative arc (tangent tagent radius) to use as the bends. Then when I create the tube I turn on the 'follow fillet' option from the selection intent and the pipe will be created correctly. Then to modify the pipe, all you do it move the points you created first off and because the lines are all associative, the pipe will update very easily. Again, I've never used NX3 so you may not have these features.

Best regards

Simon (NX4.0.4.2 MP4 - TCEng 9.1.3.6.c)


Life shouldn't be measured by the number of breaths you take, but rather how many times it's taken away...
 
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That sounds great but I do not find the "follow fillet" command, can you elaborate? I wonder if it's not in NX3?
 
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Hmmm I'm not sure if it is available in NX3, have a look at the little avi file I made and that will give you a better idea. Click the link below.


Best regards

Simon (NX4.0.4.2 MP4 - TCEng 9.1.3.6.c)


Life shouldn't be measured by the number of breaths you take, but rather how many times it's taken away...
 
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Before selecting anything, set your Selection Intent correctly. Watch the video again and note that he's got his set to Tangent Curves (pay attention after he OK's the Tube dialog; the Selection Intent toolbar appears). Your image shows that yours is set to Single Curve (and grayed out because you've already selected a line).

Set it to Tangent Curves and Follow Fillet, as shown in the video. The toolbars or icons may look different in the video posted than in NX3, but the basic idea of the workflow should be very similar.

Tim Flater
Senior Designer
Enkei America, Inc.

Some people are like slinkies....they don't really have a purpose, but they still bring a smile to your face when you push them down the stairs.
 
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FXJohn

As Tim rightly said, you hvae not set up your selection intent correctly. Ensure that you have the chain tangent box checked before you select a line and possibly tangent curves in the drop down, then when you do select something, rather than just one line selecting, everything thing that is tangential will select giving you the desired result.

Best regards

Simon (NX4.0.4.2 MP4 - TCEng 9.1.3.6.c)


Life shouldn't be measured by the number of breaths you take, but rather how many times it's taken away...
 
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John

I can't help you there I'm afraid as we are on NX4 here so obviously it works for us and it may possibly be an NX4 enhancement. Sorry to hit a dead end.

Best regards

Simon (NX4.0.4.2 MP4 - TCEng 9.1.3.6.c)


Life shouldn't be measured by the number of breaths you take, but rather how many times it's taken away...
 
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no problem, there is another work around. Just draw associative lines to those fillet ends. Since those fillets are associative to the untrimmed lines the results end up being the same, I just have to draw a few extra lines. It still ends up being less work and I am able to manipulate using intersection points.
 
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That's the one. Now you know why I couldn't just post it for you :)

Cheers

Hudson
 
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FXjohn,

If you're sending files directly to GM, I'd suggest you go to and get registered as a supplier with GM.

This website will keep you and your company informed of what's going on at GM as well as what your company is required (supposed) to have on hand in order to submit CAD data to GM in the correct format, etc. This is where GM notifies suppliers of software migration, upgrades, etc., as well as many other types of notifications.

Look for GM 1825...that's the CAD software document that outlines supplier software requirements and might be the ammo you need to show management for any other things that might pop up in the future.

Tim Flater
Senior Designer
Enkei America, Inc.

Some people are like slinkies....they don't really have a purpose, but they still bring a smile to your face when you push them down the stairs.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
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