Rib Pattern controlled by a curve

[Guest0527211403]

Hi Folks

I'm trying to create a rib pattern between a straight edge and a wall which has a height that varies with distance. Please see attached image for reference. This is a simplification of the actual geometry, but the basic idea is the same.

I'm running into an issue patterning the rib so that it follows the curve. I've tried using the "pierce" relation in my sketch to align the end point of the rib profile with the curve, but I'm unable to make my rib "grow" based on the height of the curve and its distance along the side edge.

To make sure I wasn't going crazy I tried it in Pro/E which let me do it using x-sec references in my sketch.

Can anyone offer me a pointer as to what I might be doing wrong?

Thanks in advance

(Using Solidworks 2011)

 

[SteveJJH]

Sorry to get your hopes up by replying, but I'm interested to know if anyone can solve this, so I'm setting up notification.

I can't really think of any way of solving this one. I'm assuming you've had a play around with configurations, and different mating schemes, like mating the ribs to the line rather than the floor

 

[rollupswx]

Is there any reason you can't use a sketch pattern rather than a feature pattern?
(feature pattern has advantage if you need to be able to change length and have number of ribs change)

 

[Guest0527211403]

I cannot use a sketch pattern because each instance of the pattern is on a new plane (and thus cannot lie within the same sketch).

If I change the offset of the plane onto which the rib profile is sketched, the top of the rib itself follows the curve as expected. I was hoping that the pattern tool would allow me to create copies of the same feature or group of features (plane, sketch & rib), with the only difference between each pattern instance being the offset dimension.

As a temporary solution I've just created a bunch of planes manually, created ribs on each plane and controlled the whole thing using equations. It's clunky & doesn't let me change the number of instances (without setting up new configurations) but it works for now.

I talked it over with our VAR and they also seem to think that this is not possible. They recommended I look into the "Vary Sketch" option but that seems to only work for pattern instances whose sketches lie in the same plane as the seed feature's sketch, which presents the same problem as the sketch pattern tool.

I'll most likely submit an enhancement request once my current workload slows down in a few weeks. Until then I'm all ears for solutions/workarounds!

 

[Eltron]

You can sort of work around it using multibody parts. Make all of your ribs one feature (just one big extrude), but keep the Merge Result box unchecked. Then start a sketch on the angled face of that body. You can use the Vary Sketch option here if you like. Sketch a series of polygons that you will use to cut away the material in between the ribs. Do a Cut through all with only the new body selected. Then Combine the separate ribs to the main body. Hopefully that makes sense...to somebody besides me.

Dan

http://www.eltronresearch.com

Dan's Blog

 

[Guest0527211403]

Hi Dan,

The issue I see with that method is that the top surface of each rib will have a face which is slightly "pitched" in the direction of the pattern. That is, the solid that I would create would have a surface which is a loft between my straight edge and the angled edge, and that will result in ribs which with top surfaces that are angled in two directions (from my image, it would be angled in the YZ plane as well as the XY plane). I need to be able to control the top face of each rib so that it is only angled in one direction (the XY plane).

To complicate things even further, the wall which increases in height in my original image does not necessarily increase along a straight line. That is, the top edge of that wall may be an arc/spline. The aforementioned method would produce ribs whose top surfaces are non-planar, which is highly undesirable for our manufacturing process.