Sweep Going Wrong Direction

[cbrf23]

Hi,

I'm having and issue where my sweep is going the opposite direction of what I want. The sweep starts at the end point of my helix. Its a tapered helix. Cutting profile is located at the bottom (larger) diameter portion of helix. Helix is about 1 revolution. I cannot change the location of the cutting profile. I must use "direction vector" to keep the profile from angling in to match the helix angle.

As a side note, this about the 5th attempt to build this model that I've made. I've successfully built it, but then had to make a bunch of changes that required me to re-build it in a completely different way. I had to make the changes on a very truncated time table and do things in a way that I'm not happy with. I made them, but I know what a nightmare this will be if anyone needs to make any changes, so I'm fixing it. Problem is, no matter how I try to build this stupid model, there is always something that doesn't work correctly.

PS. What the heck is with all the inconsistency in the solidworks interface? Really, would it be that difficult to put a direction option into a sweep - which they have in pretty much every other feature??? So frustrating. Sorry, rant over.

 

[cbrf23]

Well, I got the sweep to work. But I'm getting some wierd surfacing as a result.

I've found that if I sweep counterclockwise, the surfaces look as expected. But if I sweep clockwise (direction it needs to be) it does this wierd thing where instead of making 4 surfaces, it makes 1 (see attached image). This looks terrible and is confusing when trying to make a drawing from this part. Unacceptable in my mind, but I have NO idea how to fix it.

Anyways, does anyone have any advice at all on how to fix the issue I'm seeing with the wierdness in the surfacing?

 

[kellnerp]

Is merge tangent surfaces causing this?

Have you tried converting your sketches into splines for all your sweeps?

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[cbrf23]

Hi Kellnerp.

I've tried tangent propogation and merge tangent faces both on both off and one of each on/off. I tried those settings combinations with the profile sketch as straight lines arcs, as well as I tried with straight lines and splines.

Same effect no matter what I do.

What I really dont understand, is why does it work exactly as I expect if the helix is counter clockwise, but not clockwise? Everything else is EXACTLY the same, the only thing that is different between the two models I posted in the first image is the helix direction. I thoroughly checked both models to make sure there were no other differences.