×
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

cables in solidworks

cables in solidworks

cables in solidworks

(OP)
Hi !

I would like to ask your help in a problem, I can not solve. I had built together a machine, just to test SolidWorks possibilities weather I can recommend it or not, and I went fine with everything except, that I couldnt find out :

- How can I draw a cable (not electrical one, but a one which used on a fitness machine, steel cable covered with plastic.

Many many thanks for your help in advance,

Moore

RE: cables in solidworks

Use sweep, the following from S/W help.
Sweep Overview
Sweep creates a base, boss, cut, or surface by moving a profile (section) along a path, according to these rules:
The profile must be closed for a base or boss sweep feature; the profile may be open or closed for a surface sweep feature.
The path may be open or closed.
The path may be a set of sketched curves contained in one sketch, a curve, or a set of model edges.
The start point of the path must lie on the plane of the profile.
Neither the section, the path, nor the resulting solid can be self-intersecting.

Bradley

RE: cables in solidworks

Are you trying to build the actual twisted wire core?  Please tell me you are not.  That's like to modelling helical threads on standard fastener hardware.

John Richards Sr. Mech. Engr.
Rockwell Collins Flight Dynamics

There's no place like 127.0.0.1

RE: cables in solidworks

(OP)
Hi !

Bradley : thanks a lot !!

Hohn : Yeah. If all the other part creation seamlessly down, what should i do ?

Moore

RE: cables in solidworks

Just model the outer plastic cover ... that,s really all that's needed. Modeling the twisted wire core would make the overall file size unecessarily large, take a long time to model, and give little, if any, tangible benefit.

from (the City of) Barrie, Ontario.

If you choke a smurf,   what color does it turn?

RE: cables in solidworks

If you really wanted to make the wire look like braided steel cable you could create the outer plastic cover like CBL had suggested and then apply a custom material texture to the part to get the braided cable look. Look in the solidworks help for applying custom material textures.

Anyways. just a thought. hope i could be of some help.

RE: cables in solidworks

(OP)
You know, the only trouble, that this is a fitness machine. It means it has at least 7 rollers driving the cable, all in different angles.

how easy to draw with SolidWorks thats stupidly hard to position a peace of tube position with all rolles to look like proper cable...

Many thanks for all the comments !!

RE: cables in solidworks

That problem is quite easy in solidworks.  Especially if the rollers are all coplanar.  You will have to create the cable "in-context" of your assembly.  Use the rollers to offset half the cable diameter for your sketch path.  Follow the other posts instructions on how to use the sweep command.

Use the help to search for 3D Sketch.  This will allow you to create a sweep path in 3D space.

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