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Gordian Knot

Gordian Knot

Gordian Knot

(OP)
So a coworker asked if I could model a Gordian Knot.  I did.  It's not perfect, but in 2D it looks great.  I made it by sweeping a quarter of an ellipse and putting two of those in an assembly.  Then I made an AutoCAD style spring with them, and did a circular pattern.  Then I just filled in the gaps by lofting two circles.  I would prefer to make it as one piece, but I am having an extremely difficult time visualizing how to even start due to the twisting.  Anyone have any ideas?

RE: Gordian Knot

Send it to a 3D printer, paint it like metal, make a dwg, have inspection inspect it. ;)
Just for fun.

Chris
SolidWorks/PDMWorks 08 3.1
AutoCAD 06/08
ctopher's home (updated 10-07-07)

RE: Gordian Knot

(OP)
I thought about using some rope, but it will behard to get it to stay in the right shape.  If I get it right, I would like to have someone with a 3D printer make one for me.  Anyone on here have that capability and would like to quote me on that?

RE: Gordian Knot

For 3D printing, you may wish to make a configuration version with a stand feature so you can proudly display it.  There's plenty of 3D shops these days.  Which area are you in?

There's Protopulsion, Inc at 635 Bair Island Road, #104
Redwood City, CA 94063; (650) 369-5335 if you are in the San Francisco bay area.

Matt Lorono
CAD Engineer/ECN Analyst
Silicon Valley, CA
Lorono's SolidWorks Resources
Co-moderator of Solidworks Yahoo! Group
and Mechnical.Engineering Yahoo! Group

RE: Gordian Knot

I would think you could do it just how you did it except using separate bodies instead of separate parts.  Do your quarter ellipse, copy body, move into place, combine bodies, pattern it radially, then join it with lofts the way you already did.

That being said, I think what you did looks pretty cool.  I agree with ctopher, you should send it to a 3d printer.

-Dustin
Professional Engineer
Certified SolidWorks Professional

RE: Gordian Knot

(OP)
Yeah but the only thing with the way I did it is that while it looks good from the front, something just isn't right from the side.  It has to do with the twisint, since the quarter ellipse doesn't twist, some of the curves are too sharp.  I'm near chicago, I'll look into some 3D printing places on Monday.

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