NX6 curves, splines, tubes(piping) and stuff

[johham9]

Hi ya'll!
Colleague of mine has a problem.
But as always, it's like men and asking for direction. So hence me posting it.

So, a long story short. He is creating a spline from one connection to another using points(earlier had a problem where he didn't manage to get curvature on the endpoints, not an issue any longer...).
Basically the problem is that the piping is all over the place, following the structure of the assembly.
And of course, for this to be possible to manufacture, one is interested in being able to control the bending radius such at the fellas down on the
floor gets not impossible radiuses to fix...

So any good approaches to this?
ATM, this is done by inserting points and creating the spline from splines - all points in current and so on and so fourth...

Cheers!

//Johanna

 

[cowski]

Are you using the NX routing application or just plain NX modeling?
Also, what version of NX?

www.nxjournaling.com

 

[johham9]

NX6, in plain modelling.

Johanna
CFD, NX, TC, Drawings, Engineering, Boats, Paragliding, Skiing...
vimeo.com/user34572851

 

[carlharr]

Hi Johanna,

Are you talking about pipework e.g. straight followed by bend followed by straight and so on, or flexible ducting.

In fact, do you have a picture you could upload?

http://www.jcb.com

NX 8.5 with TC 8.3

 

[johham9]

Yep, hydraulic piping. "straight followed by bend followed by straight and so on"

I unfortunantly cannot show a picture

But normally, we just have two connections that we connect with a pipe.
And if you let NX decide and dont control the curve, you are gonna end up with a impossible pipe to bend since a spline takes the shortest route beween two points(not exactly, but you get the picture). I guess what he would like to do is something along with determining a bend radius between two points, or something like that.




Johanna
CFD, NX, TC, Drawings, Engineering, Boats, Paragliding, Skiing...
vimeo.com/user34572851

 

[cowski]

If you use the bridge curve command, you can specify a minimum radius for the curve (I'm not sure this option exists in NX 6, but I know for sure it is in 7.5 - the oldest version I currently have installed).

www.nxjournaling.com

 

[johham9]

Yes, the problem with the bridge is that you only can use it "properly" from a curve to another curve and it creates a very nice transition.

But when dealing with multiple points, I believe this feature can be difficult to use.
Also one solution would to be insert small sections of straight lines and joining them with brigde. But I think this would also take a substential amount of time...

Johanna
CFD, NX, TC, Drawings, Engineering, Boats, Paragliding, Skiing...
vimeo.com/user34572851

 

[carlharr]

Johanna,

Apologies if I'm wrong, but we are talking about pipework bent on a bending machine aren't we, with constant radius bends?

If so, the easiest method is

1. use associative points to create the intersection points
2. join those with straight lines from the lines and arcs toolbar
3. add bends using the arc "tan tan radius" from the lines and arcs toolbar
4. add the tube feature by selecting tangent curves with follow fillet (from the selection toolbar)

You can then easily modify the intersection point positions.

Again, apologies if I've got the wrong end of the stick, splines and bridge curves mean more complicated shapes than pipework to me?

Regards, Carl

http://www.jcb.com

NX 8.5 with TC 8.3

 

[carlharr]

picture

http://www.jcb.com

NX 8.5 with TC 8.3