Lofting (I suppose) 1

[Creigbm]

Here is my situation. I have a cylindrical can and I wish to mill an 1/8" deep slot all the way around it. This slot however needs to be tapered such that the tool itself will move downward ('z' direction) as it is rotated around. This will give the appearance that it is spiraling downward as you rotate the can. I am trying to us a loft, however, I am having trouble establishing guidlines that will curve with the outside of the can while moving downward as well. I have some pictures that I can e-mail if that would clarify. Thanks for your help in advance.

Brian

 

[TheTick]

Creigbm:

I took a stab at this without seeing your model.

<

http://www.esoxrepublic.com/models/>

SpiralCut.zip

There are two models: one with section normal to helix and one with section plane through cylinder axis.

Due to illness, the part of The Tick will be played by... The Tick.

http://www.EsoxRepublic.com

 

[Creigbm]

Roland,

Thats the same thing I did (on SpiralCut2). See here is my problem. Turn on 'Axis 1' and zoom in really close. There is still a double line from the sweep. If anyone was wondering why I am worrying about this is we are working with our shop to get them import the SW model to mastercam. I forsee double lines laeding to a lot of trouble in the future.

Thanks,
Brian

 

[TheTick]

Please clarify "double lines". Do you mean the appearance that the groove edge does not appear normal to the sylinder surface?

 

[SBaugh]

I don't see any double lines what so ever. What Double lines are talking about?? The sweep looks fine.

Regards

Scott Baugh, CSWP

http://www.3dvisiontech.com

http://www.scottjbaugh.com

faq731-376

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

Same here ... no double edge anywhere.

Have you been to the optician lately ... just kidding.

from (the City of) Barrie, Ontario.

Everyone has a photographic memory. Some just don't have film.

 

[TheTick]

I cut sections through the cylinder axis to examine the groove. The groove walls are perpendicular to the axis and to the cylinder face.

 

[SBaugh]

That's because of the profile, which makes sense...?

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP

http://www.3dvisiontech.com

http://www.scottjbaugh.com

faq731-376

 

[TheTick]

Ja.

 

[TheTick]

Still, doesn't hurt to double-check.

Creigbm, you aren't depending on the screen output to make this determination, are you?

 

[Timelord]

creigbm,

If I understand you correctly, you are making what I call a barrel cam. The only way I have had success makeing these in Solidworks is to make a cylinderical surface, draw your path on the surface and create an offset the width of the follower. Trim the surface into two pieces with the path and its offset. Then thicken the cylindrical surfaces the depth of the slot. Surfaces always thicken perpendicular to the surface. This will give you the perpendicular walls you want with a constant width from the offset trim. I hope I made myself clear, if not let me know here in the forum and I will email you an example.

Timelord

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

TheTick
I'm thinking the same as you, It seems like it's the screen resolution that's at fault here.

Creigbm
Can you measure between the "double lines. Also can you capture a screen shot & send the jpg or bmp file to us.

timelord
That seems like an unecessarily complicated way of creating a relatively simple feature. I know surface thickening definitely has it's place, but I don't think it's here.

from (the City of) Barrie, Ontario.

Everyone has a photographic memory. Some just don't have film.

 

[Creigbm]

I am not completely relying on the screen output since a circle is never completely a circle. This is how I did my verification. I took a section cut through the part and measured the distance between one of the edges of the cut and the top of the can. If the cut was correct, then these two edges would be parallel and would state so when I measured this distance. Is there a way to post a picture in this forum?

 

[SBaugh]

Images
Use the tag to show images from any web server. Be sure to use the entire url to the image you want to use including the "[URL unfurl="true"]http://"[/URL]

[img]http://www.mysite.com/happy.gif
(no line breaks)

This can be found under Process TGML which is under Step 2 Options of posting a thread.

Regards

Scott Baugh, CSWP

http://www.3dvisiontech.com

http://www.scottjbaugh.com

faq731-376

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

creigbm
You need to be able to place the file onto a web server & then reference it here using
{img

http://www.yoursite.com/filename.gif}

NOTE you will have to substitute the {} for []

if you don't have access to a web server then email as before & perhaps one of us can publish it.


from (the City of) Barrie, Ontario.

Everyone has a photographic memory. Some just don't have film.

 

[Creigbm]

Thanks for all of your help. I think at this point I am going to put this to rest and use it as is. Is is close enough and I am just nit picking since I feel that if you are going to model something, you might as well do it right the first time. The distance between the lines is 0.00000000 but it does not state they are parallel. I spoke with the guys here using mastercam and they said that the double line I keep speaking of will not affect their process since you have to zoom in really close. Thanks again.

 

[Creigbm]

I think I have discovered what the problem is. Can someone publish a picture on a server if I send it to them? This picture will prove what I am trying to do and you will visually see what I am running into (all this after there haev been over 30 replies!!)

 

[TheTick]

I got space.

 

[TheTick]

Creigbm's file posted on my website in the models archive. I'll leave it there for a month or so. Zip file includes SW2004 part and JPEG screenshot.

<

http://www.esoxrepublic.com/models/>

Creigbm--02Apr2004.zip

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

The Tick
Could not open the zip file. Tried from several different machines & several downloads, but kept geting "corrupt file" message. Anyone else have the same problem?

from (the City of) Barrie, Ontario.

Everyone has a photographic memory. Some just don't have film.

 

[TheTick]

Grrr...

This has been a problem. I contacted my web host (Yahoo). They insist it's a problem with the downloader's web server.

Some people have no trouble at all. I just tried it at home; no problem. My work computer has trouble sometimes. That is why most of my download points list actual bit count.

There are some programs out there that can help from the downloader's end.
<

http://www.getright.com/>

<

http://www.internetdownloadmanager.com/>

<

http://www.bpftp.com/>

Bulletproof FTP (I have this one)
<

http://www.netants.com/>

free
<

http://www.freshdevices.com/>

free

Due to illness, the part of The Tick will be played by... The Tick.

http://www.EsoxRepublic.com