Join several faces into 1

[NutAce]

Hi Guy's

I need some fresh ideas. I would like ( see attached NX8.5 model ) to join the blue colored faces of the model into 1 face. Purpose of this is that I want to lose the edges which were created by adding the blend. On top of this face a blend will be created between another ( to be added ) linked body. For the blend to be smooth I need the blue faces to be 1 face.
The linked body is created on purpose as the original has a lot of features which need to be discarded from this model.

Ronald van den Broek
Mechanical Engineer
Cad Environment Coordinator
Wärtsilä, Propulsion Services
NX8.5.3 / TC9.1.2
HPZ420 Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-1620 0 @ 3.60GHz, 32 Gb Win7 64B
Nvidea Quadro4000 2048MB DDR5

 

[JohnRBaker]

There's no easy, or for that matter, practical way of doing something like this. The only approach that might work would be to create a mesh of points on the various faces and then create a single surface through those points.

But getting back to your original issue, why do you think that you can't create a 'smooth' blend using these three faces? If your concern is that the edges of the blend on your current model are only tangent instead of curvature continuous, then I would use one of the so-called ID Blends on the original model instead of a simple Edge (i.e., rolling-ball) Blend. Even replacing the Circular (rolling-ball) blend with a Conic blend, something that is now an option when creating a simple Edge Blend with NX 8.5, will improve that 'smoothness' of any transition from face to face even though it's not a true curvature continuous blend, which can only really be created using one of the so-called ID Blends, such as a Soft, Styled or Aesthetic Face Blend.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[Toost]

If you have concerns creating a smooth blend on this body,
- the top face is quite heavy ( data mass) and "not smooth" by itself. ( It's degree 3x3 which is ok but it has 23x76 patches which is way too much for the relatively simple shape.)
If you make this face smooth and simple(-r), then the next blend should be ok.

Regards,
Tomas

 

[NutAce]

Hi John, Tomas

To explain my problem more clearly I have added an example.

I have added an extra body to explain my issue with an added blend.
The problem is where my Blend with variable radius crosses the "edge" between the topface and the edge blend.
When you look at the variable blend (Blue) there is a dividing line between the faces (Blue and red) of this blend.
It is created by the "edge" between the edge blend (orange) and the Top Face (Yellow).
As a result the Variable blend now is made up of multiple faces. What I'm trying to achieve is a single face blend. (easier to machine).
When I create the top surface, edge blend and Cylindrical surface as a single surface, the variable blend will be created as a single face.
Attached a similar example picture of a single face surface.

Ronald van den Broek
Mechanical Engineer
Cad Environment Coordinator
Wärtsilä, Propulsion Services
NX8.5.3 / TC9.1.2
HPZ420 Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-1620 0 @ 3.60GHz, 32 Gb Win7 64B
Nvidea Quadro4000 2048MB DDR5

 

[JohnRBaker]

What software are using to machine your final model?

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[NutAce]

Hi John.

The main problem is that our methodology only allows one face to be selected for manufacturing toolpath definitions.
We have a number of manufacturing sites which are using automated processes/methodologies which have been developed when we started using UGv13.

Having to adapt these methodologies for all our production sites would cause a huge amount of work and costs.
It would be much simpeler if we could come with a solution to create that single face.
So why does this pop up only know I can hear you think...

Previously we were only applying this to our standard (portfolio) products which were already build up automatically such that they already had the single face.
Now we want to incorporate our non portfolio models (Serviced) which are handmade and do not contain that single face.


Ronald van den Broek
Mechanical Engineer
Cad Environment Coordinator
Wärtsilä, Propulsion Services
NX8.5.3 / TC9.1.2
HPZ420 Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-1620 0 @ 3.60GHz, 32 Gb Win7 64B
Nvidea Quadro4000 2048MB DDR5