Bend in Pipe 1

[swxuser]

Hi everyone,

I'm using SW 2005 Pro SP5 and create a pipe with a bend in it using sweeps (having a profile with an OD and ID and a path). Is there any way I can show the resulting
"flattened" portion on the ID?

Also, at the ends of the pipe, I need to show there is a "punch" or machined tab, with the material protruding down into the pipe.

Any suggestions on either of these would be much appreciated.

Thanks for all of your help.

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

There are probably several ways to do what you want, but one of the easiest might be to create a solid sweep first and then do a Shell to create the tube.

The flattening (thinning of the OD) at the bends can be created using a Guide curve(s), where the curved portions of the Guide Curve is not concentric with the curved portions of the path.

The "punch" (dimple in the wall ?) could be created using a revolved-cut and fillet features before shelling.

Not sure what you mean by "machined tab", but if you mean like a bent finger, again a couple of regular extrude features and fillets could be used.

 

[swxuser]

Thanks for your input, CorBlimeyLimey.

I understand how to create the sweep, just having difficulty with the flattening at the bend. I tried to do a google search and even look in the SW help files, but haven't seen any examples of it so far.

By "machined tab", it is exactly like a bent finger that protrudes inwards. I was trying to see if there is a way to select a portion of the outer diameter (a small triangle on it to be exact), and see if there is a way to protrude it inwards keeping the material there, creating a bit of a gap.

Thank you for your suggestions! I'll try them out and see what I can come up with.

 

[SBaugh]

You can't flatten a cylindrical bend. You can make a cylindrical piece of SM. But you can't sweep a pipe style pipe and flatten it like you do a piece of SM. There are some lofted SM bends in the Design library, but I don't think its going to fit your requirements.

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP

http://www.scottjbaugh.com

faq731-376

 

[Theophilus]

You can simulate this (not precisely, but for looks) by sweeping an ellipse. You'll have your main path that runs through the centerpoint of your ellipse. Then, make two guide curves--one for one of the major axis points, and the other for the minor axis points (only one each--two is redundant and will cause problems).

When the part bends and needs to flatten, you run your minor axis guide closer to center and your major axis farther from center. On round portions, the major and minor axis points are equidistant from the center (circle). Ellipses are great for sweeps because you can control so much with them like this.



Jeff Mowry

http://www.industrialdesignhaus.com

Reason trumps all. And awe transcends reason.

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

Theophilus ... that works much nicer with an ellipse for the outside bend, but how do you control the "necking in" distortion at the inner rad if you only use one guide curve per axis?

 

[Theophilus]

It doesn't--this is only for a simulated "look", not any sort of precision model. If we were going to make something precise, that would be a whole different method that I'd have to experiment on--and might well require a loft instead of a sweep and would certainly require splines for flexibility of form.

If the bend is mild (135 degrees or so), there won't be much noticeable necking in, and this method will work fairly well.

Another approach (I used to use this way back in SolidWorks for making great handles) is to make two sweeps--each with a half ellipse. Each half ellipse can have a separately controlled axis (minor, for instance) while sharing the other axis. So you can have tangent surfaces between the two sweeps at the guide curve of the shared axis to form a nice shape.

This horn handle was formed that way:

http://www.industrialdesignhaus.com/internet/horn_housing.jpg

http://www.industrialdesignhaus.com/internet/HHH-No-Base.jpg

You see half of the horn's housing here, but we also see the results of the two sweeps (2003 version). The minor axis is shared, leaving me free to form good shapes for the hand on each half-ellipse's major axis--one for the front of the hand (fingers) and the other for the palm of the hand. It worked great.

I recommend working in surfaces to do this--sweep each surface (sweep it longer than you need on each end and then trim to fit). Knit the surfaces, cap each end, (or blend them into another set of surfaces--whichever you need). When you knit, you can chose at that time to form a solid and then you can shell to get what you want for walls.

In the case of the pipe, you can do the same with great control over your form. But you cannot quite invert an ellipse for the "necking in". However, you COULD sweep the outer half as a half-ellipse, and then sweep or loft the inner using splines (much more complex method) and then knit the two for what you need as described above.



Jeff Mowry

http://www.industrialdesignhaus.com

Reason trumps all. And awe transcends reason.