Swept solid 2

[Timelord]

I haven't loaded SW2006 yet, so I cannot test it but I was wondering if SW has added the ability to sweep a solid yet? I tried to make a barrel cam once but couldn't get the slot so both sides remained tangent to my follower. The only way I can see this being done is to have the ability to sweep the cylindrical shape of the end mill while translating and rotating the cylindrical cam blank. The ability to sweep a solid has been requested of SW and promised since I can remember. It seems to me that this should be a requirement of any decent solid modeler, otherwise it is near impossible to model a simple cut that any 2 axis computer controlled machine can easily make.

TIA,

Timelord

 

[rfus]

In 2006 you can create a curve driven pattern and align the solid body(s) in the pattern tangent to to a curve, where you select a face normal to align the body. This face normal can be a swept surface created from a line on a helix for example. You can then cut the solid body to create a profile and the generate a pattern with a high number of instances and equal spacing using this method. A loft or lofted cut can then be generated by just selecting the faces, no sketches, and just use connecters due to the high number of faces in the pattern, otherwise you'll need a lot of guide curves. This, I find, is a great way to make lofts, and is the closest way I can think of to loft a solid, because you can go to each solid body in the instance, be it 5 or 1000 and create the profile you want with a specific profile cut for that body. I hope in the future you can create a loft the same way a curve driven pattern can be created.

If you wanted to create a finely faceted swept solid it can be done. It just depends on you mean your rig for SW is. Plus, in the postprocessor world, G1 contoller moves always boil down to absolute or incremental moves, and G2 and G3 are interpolations of precise geometry.

If a solid body was patterend a very large number of times with a very small spacing between each one, lets say like .0005 (the accuracy of a controller, at least mine), and then all these bodies were combined, you'd have a close to a swept solid. I tried this with the pattern technique above and did 2000 instances with .001 spacing. I could not get them all to combine at onece and got three different error messages with each attempt to combine, but by doing a few at a time I was able to create something similar to a swept solid. I then was able to use this with the subtract and indent (cut) function.

Here is an example of what I am talking about. See the black and gray tool lookin thing far left. Thats 40 bodies combined into one. You could get pretty extreme with this. The other shots are what I mentioned in the first paragraph of this long post.

Here is a 2006 file of whats seen above. How many instances can you create with the first curve driven pattern.

http://www.mooload.com/file.php?file=files/1131576832/SweptSolid_ayuh.SLDPRT

I like messing with the limits of all software so I thought this was an interesting thread.

RFUS
Apple IIc

 

[rfus]

Here is the image, grabbed the wrong size

 

[rfus]

Well that didn't work.

http://www.mooload.com/file.php?file=files/1131577829/sweptsolid_ayuh.jpg

 

[tschevy]

Doesn't help us Solidworks users at the moment, but the Swept Volume Envelopes has been available in Pro/E Mechanism for many years now (no Nobel Prize winner referenced) and you can follow the link below to see an animation of it.

http://www.ptc.com/products/proe/animations/tire.htmand

Now that Pro/E has been repriced in the Solidworks range, it is a quite compelling option for high end, low cost CAD.

The feature has also been in CATIA V5 DMU kinematic product for several years now as well

 

[TheTick]

Is it a true swept solid or an approximation?