Separating Circular part in Solidworks

[schmimk]

I have a circular part which I created in solidworks. I want to split the part on one end and open it up x.x amount of degrees. This will be a molded part, and I am doing this for the mold. After the part is done, it should be able to come back into a perfect circle.

Problem is, I do not know how to do this to my model, or redraw it to show the split.

Any tips???

Thanks

 

[ctopher]

Have you tried the mold feature 'Split line'?

Chris
SolidWorks 09 SP5.0
ctopher's home
SolidWorks Legion

 

[schmimk]

I am not familiar with that feature. Where is it located. I will look in solidworks help to see if I can find anything about it.

 

[drawoh]

schmimk,

You may be looking at some weird engineering. It sounds to me that your part must be some shape such that when you load it, it will bend itself into a circle.

Once you figure out what that shape is, you model it using SolidWorks' loft feature.

JHG

 

[rollupswx]

I have a circular part which I created in solidworks.

We spend all of this time learning to communicate with geometry - let's communicate with geometry. Attach your file here (if proprietary simply create a dummy file the exhibits the same behavior to illustrate your design intent).

 

[rollupswx]

Circular is 2D, did you really mean cylindrical, or perhaps spherical?

 

[schmimk]

yes, cylindrical.

picture a washer (made of a flexible mat'l of course), but I want that washer to have a split on one side and just wondering how to model that, so that when the washer closes back together will be perfectly circular, or cylindrical if you will.

 

[clinde]

draw the washer,

create a new sketch, draw a line were you want it to split.

exit sketch, goto - insert - features - split

select the split line

push the cut bodies, let it assign names to the 2 new parts.

click ok

the new parts will be in the same folder as the original, just put the 2 in an assembly and put a degree mate on the 2 faces.

 

[EEnd]

In the free / unstressed case is the cylinder open or closed? Either way, the open shape corresponding to a perfect circle when closed will depend on how the forces which cause it to change shape are applied.

A first approximation would have a circular cross-section with the same thickness as the closed shape and inside and outside arc lengths which match the inside and outside circumferences of the closed shape.

Eric