Modeling free-form, twisted pair wire

[HikinMike]

I've been using SolidWorks 2004 for about 1.5 years. My question, is there an "easy" way to model a two or three conductor twisted "pair" that doesn't follow a straight path. I can make them using the standard Helix, but can you create them to follow, say, a 3-D curve?

Thanks in advance.

Mike
Engineering Technician
Fisher Research Laboratory

 

[Arlin]

Take a look at Mike J. Wilson's Adjustable Curved Helix here:

http://www.mikejwilson.com/solidworks/solidworks_files-05.htm

It should at least give you an idea of how to do it. But, I must admit, I wish SWX had a better way. (ProE's trajpar comes to mind).

 

[HikinMike]

I've seen that one before. Unless I'm missing something I can't figure out how to make it "work" once I open the file.

Mike
Engineering Technician
Fisher Research Laboratory

 

[SBaugh]

Mike Wilson used Curve through free points to make his helical wires. Then he made reference Flex joints. Those joints control the points within the Helical wires. The Yellow bar with the Arrows controls which way it goes (Right to left). The vertical yellow bar with the black ball on it. When moved up or down controls the length via the Flex joints. The other Yellow bar (Horizontal) with the black on it. When moved Right or Left controls the width of the helix via the Flex joints.

I gathered all this first by simply editting the sketch of the path of the wire to tell how it was made. (If you don't recognize and Icon you need to go to your customize menu and thumb through all the icons till you find it). Then I went back to the assembly and un-hid the flex joints. Then moved the black balls and the yellow bar with arrows on it. That indicated to me that these are the controls. If you play with them and rebuild the part you will see it change. It was made incredibly simple for as complex as it is.

Good job Mike!

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP

http://www.3dvisiontech.com

http://www.scottjbaugh.com

faq731-376

 

[ctopher]

I think that is so cool. I would like to learn how to create that.

 

[HikinMike]

I see what I was doing wrong. I forgot to rebuild it after I moved the levers. I'll have to look into that one deeper, but for what I need to do right now I think I'll stick to plain, straight helixes. These are just assembly drawings for in-house use and really don't need to be that realistic. They could be drawn using AutoCAD, but I need the SolidWorks practice.

Thanks for your help guys!

Mike
Engineering Technician
Fisher Research Laboratory

 

[SBaugh]

Remember the more detail you show the larger the performance hit your going to take. If you don't need to detail it DON'T DO IT.

Example - If you make sprokets and you want to how it works. But you buy the chain. Don't make the links of chain, just make the sproket with a faked out looking chain one single boss-extrude.

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP

http://www.3dvisiontech.com

http://www.scottjbaugh.com

faq731-376