×
INTELLIGENT WORK FORUMS
FOR ENGINEERING PROFESSIONALS

Log In

Come Join Us!

Are you an
Engineering professional?
Join Eng-Tips Forums!
  • Talk With Other Members
  • Be Notified Of Responses
    To Your Posts
  • Keyword Search
  • One-Click Access To Your
    Favorite Forums
  • Automated Signatures
    On Your Posts
  • Best Of All, It's Free!
  • Students Click Here

*Eng-Tips's functionality depends on members receiving e-mail. By joining you are opting in to receive e-mail.

Posting Guidelines

Promoting, selling, recruiting, coursework and thesis posting is forbidden.

Students Click Here

Jobs

Variable Radius Face Fillet?

Variable Radius Face Fillet?

Variable Radius Face Fillet?

(OP)
Does anyone know of a way to create a "Free Form" fillet to allow better control of a variable radius fillet?  I have an edge where 2 curved surfaces meet and I am trying to define a fillet, similar to the one created by the face fillet, but with a variable radius (is there a "variable radius face fillet?) I am using SW 2009 SP 2.1.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

RE: Variable Radius Face Fillet?

Can you post a sketch, image or sample file to show what you need?

RE: Variable Radius Face Fillet?

(OP)
Sorry.  Attached is a replica of the section of the part that is in question (for attachment to a gauging fixture).  I made the fillets on the spoke using a face fillet.  I would like to make this out of one piece using a 3 axis mill.  The problem is that I have no access to a small triangular section of material, just in front of and just to the side of the front radius.  I think if I was able to pull this radius up above the envelope of the cylinder I should be able to make a smooth profile from both sides with a conventional ball mill without the alarms telling me that I am going to take a chunk out of the base cylinder.  Am I over complicating the problem?
Thanks.
 

RE: Variable Radius Face Fillet?

I don't know that you'll get any of the Fillet features to work for what you need--sometimes using the Hold Line will take care of one of the edges (check that out in Help if you've not already seen it).

But you could do this the "manual" way with surfaces to get exactly what you need.  This involves lots of surfacing features, such as Split Lines, Deleted Faces, and either Fills or Lofts (depending on what sorts of tangency controls you need).  That's probably a bit too much for me to detail in a single post, but the tools are actually quite powerful once you get familiar with them.

 

Jeff Mowry
www.industrialdesignhaus.com
A people governed by fear cannot value freedom.

RE: Variable Radius Face Fillet?

(OP)
Thanks Jeff, I have not been very familiar with the surfacing tools set in the past; but there is no better time to learn.  I will post back if I am having any specific issues with it.

RE: Variable Radius Face Fillet?

Good luck.  Essentially, you use the Split Lines to establish breaks in your surfaces, so you can delete some of what you've got while keeping what you want to remain.  You also create edges, or boundaries, which you can use in your Fill feature.  Fill allows you to designate your edges as either Contact or Tangent, and sometimes it takes some messing around to get it just right.

Good luck.

 

Jeff Mowry
www.industrialdesignhaus.com
A people governed by fear cannot value freedom.

Red Flag This Post

Please let us know here why this post is inappropriate. Reasons such as off-topic, duplicates, flames, illegal, vulgar, or students posting their homework.

Red Flag Submitted

Thank you for helping keep Eng-Tips Forums free from inappropriate posts.
The Eng-Tips staff will check this out and take appropriate action.

Reply To This Thread

Posting in the Eng-Tips forums is a member-only feature.

Click Here to join Eng-Tips and talk with other members!


Resources