Swepth Cut Normal to a Surface

[PieBoy]

Hello all.

I'm pretty new to SolidWork and so am finding a few difficulties.

I have a fixture that has a surface created from the customers part. The fixture uses a vacuum to hold the part to it. I have created pockets for the vacuum, but i need to produce an "O" ring groove to sit around the pockets.

I want to produce a swept cut of the form around the pockets, and keep the cut Normal to the surface, to keep the vacuum seal uniform all around.

Any help would be great.

Cheers

Mark

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

It depends upon the complexity of the (non-planar ?) surface.

Using the Sweep function with the o-ring profile projected onto the surface to act as the Path would probably work.

If the surface is non-planar, how do you plan to make the cut normal-to-surface?

Can you post the part for review?

 

[PieBoy]

I cant relly post the part as I'm sure the customer wouldn't be happy.

Lets say that the surface is a wing/blade form.

I imagined sketching the path on the surface and then sketching the profile on a plane created normal to the surface.

I have created a 3D spline on the surface, but i essentially require a square with a rad in each corner on the surface, but you cant creat a spline in that manner (Well i couldn't)

Any help would be great.

 

[dgowans]

I've found (in other software packages) that a regular sweep will not maintain the relationship to the surface that you want.

It's pretty easy way to do what you want using surfacing techniques (see attached part). It's a whole lot easier to show how to do this than explain it.

Do any of you guys know if there is anything in SWX that's similar to the Variational Sweep feature that I-DEAS used to have? This feature would evaluate the sweep profile at every point along the sweep path, such that this kind of thing was very easy.

 

[PieBoy]

I'm very new to surfaces, so I'll have a good look at this part and see how you have built it up.

Hope to repeat this on my part.

I'll let you know how i get on.

Thank you!!

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

Here's another example that might suit the normal to surface you are asking for ... but I don't know how you intend to cut the physical part.

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

oops ...

 

[PieBoy]

Whhooooo hooooo

CorBlimeyLimey after checking your models and doing a bit of reading I've cracked it.

I sketched the path on a plane above the surface, I then projected the curve onto the surface. I then created a plane nornal to the new curve. I sketched the section on the new plane. Next I created a swept cut, using the new sketch for the profile and the projected curve on the surface as the path.

Few....

Thanks for all your advice!!

Mark

 

[dgowans]

PieBoy,

Be careful when using a sweep to do this. Depending on the curvature of the surface upon which you're creating your pocket, you could end up with side walls of your pocket that are not exactly normal to the surface. See the attached part.

You can verify this by using the deviation analysis tool to measure the angle between surfaces. I just checked the initial part I posted and the sidewalls of the part I created weren't exactly normal to the top surface either, but these are closer than those created by a sweep.

How much all this affects your application is your call, of course. I just wanted you to be aware of what could happen when using a sweep.