Flattened Tube

[Azum]

One of the common methods of bracing is a steel tube with each end put in a press and flattened and then the flat end drilled or slotted. I have modelled this as a series of extrusions fillets and domes but it never has looked quite right. Has anyone ever done this and what approach did you take.
Many thanks

 

[aardvarkdw]

Though I have never needed to do this myself, I would probably use a loft feature to achieve this.

David

 

[btrueblood]

A tip for this type of loft with a hollow section: do the o.d. or outer surface of the part only first, then model a solid that will boolean "subtract" the i.d. surface, or model a loft that cuts away the i.d. profile. Inventor barfs on a loft for a profile with internal holes...at least my R11 version does. Even when it seems to model it correctly, later manipulation of the model (like your extruded bolt hole) would have it in conniptions. Like I said, YMMV.

 

[Azum]

Many thanks for your input. I was afraid lofting would be the way to go. In my experiance to the easiest task in inventor. But it would make the models more realistic if I can get it right so I had better give it a go
Many thanks

(YMMV) ?????

 

[btrueblood]

YMMV = Your Mileage May Vary, i.e. I dunno why Inventor wouldn't give me a solution when I tried to model a flattened tube lofted to a round tube. But I have had trouble in the past doing lofts with internal holes in the lofted sections. For your case I did a quick little model and confirmed that I had to model the outer surfaces only as a solid loft, then model the i.d. surface as a lofted cut; Inv would not let me loft the thin-wall shapes directly.

 

[Azum]

Many thanks again. I thought I had a space in my work to play with this but another big pile of poo has landed so I will have to experiment later.