Solid help with swept

[Code_Breaker]

I am teaching at NTMA in Ontario, CA ...

 

In the Mill Training Tutorial, #15 is creating surfaces for aTea pot ... No problem ...

 

But when trying to make the spout in solid I get the error that the geometry isn't planar ... What am I doing wrong? Works for surfaces but not for solid ...

 

I created a solid from surfaces ... This works fine ... But not solid swept ...

 

Am waiting on pins and needles ...

[Code_Breaker]

What? no hits?

[Hardmill]

As it says your geo needs to be in the same plane.

And will want to extrude in one direction perp

to that geo.

You may also need to sync the geo your sweepin on

 

 

Send it over and ill look at it

when I get back in a few.

 

 

PEACE

[FP1]

Been playing with it for an hour now. I have the same results as you. I have tried rotating one of the arcs to make sure it was parallel to the other arc. I have tried creating a plane off the large arc and projecting the small arc to a distance from that plane. Can only sweep one or the other arc along the path. Like you said, did it in surfaces and converted to a solid and its good.

[BernieT]

Would 'Combine Views' help ??

[FP1]

Its not even working if I just create two closed half arcs in the front plane at different Z levels.

[FP1]

Here is the link to the page: http://www.emastercam.com/files/x3_mill_l3.html Its the file named tutorial 8 wirframe

[Guest]

Working in surfaces it works perfect, I can not get a solid on it either.

 

Of course if you need a solid NOW, you could make surfaces, use a flat boundary surface on the end and create a solid form the surfaces.

 

But it seems to me this SHOULD work.

 

Someone going to sent this in to QC?

[Hardmill]

Looking at the geo you cant do it since the

arcs though in the same plane they arent @

the same z level. Ive never seen a fix for this.

 

 

PEACE

[Code_Breaker]

I put both on the same plane, tried rotating them, even tried using the larger arc geo in both places, tried 3D and 2D ... nothing ...

 

Why good in surface creation, but not in solid creation?

[fabriz]

try closing the geo to be swept.

[JDowe]

All geometry must be closed to create solids

[Code_Breaker]

quote:

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Looking at the geo you cant do it since the

arcs though in the same plane they arent @

the same z level.

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Even when I used the same arc/line (enclosed) it doesn't work ...

 

quote:

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try closing the geo to be swept.

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quote:

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All geometry must be closed to create solids

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I know that ... and been doing that ...

[Patrick Chelli]

I think that the Solids Sweep command was only intended for 1 dimension or in this case 1 radius which is why the end of the spout is not tappering in. The Solids loft command was intended for tappering 2 different dimensions but only on a straight course and not a course with courves.

 

Best regards,

[Guest Tyler Yanta]

I echo what Patrick says here. In saying that, the best option (if you need this to be a solid) would be to create surfaces first, then convert them to a solid.

 

This appears to be a limitation of Mastercam in this case - as Hardmill alluded.

[Code_Breaker]

quote:

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This appears to be a limitation of Mastercam in this case

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What I don't understand is how something like this slipped thru the cracks ...

 

You think that if the algorithm works for surfaces that it would work, or a similar one, for solid ...

 

I am sure I am not the first to try and make a solid from the geometry in Mastercam Tutorial. It has been around for years ... plus, the hundreds of other application which required something along these lines (or splines ) ...

 

Will this be addressed someday?

[Ron Branch @ Verisurf]

No I think you have to remember surfaces have the ability to fold onto themselves and solids can not do this. If the spline or chains it is following does not have enough space to allow the swept shape to be a whole shape through it then a solid should fail, and a surface would pass. Now the same would be the same for trying to make a solid from a surface that is the same way. Remember solids are self healing full entities. Surfaces are skins of something that may or may touch as go it made through, around, or along something. Why the exercise has it working and it is not that needs to be addressed by the author.

[Code_Breaker]

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Why the exercise has it working and it is not that needs to be addressed by the author.

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???? not sure what you mean ... the tutorial excercise does NOT work ...

 

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If the spline or chains it is following does not have enough space to allow the swept shape to be a whole shape through it then a solid should fail

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I understand ... but does not apply here ...

 

Try this:

 

create an half circle 2.0" dia on front plane with a line closeing the geometry at origin, create anoter arc with line with an .5 dia. arc, at X-20.", then create an 20" arc on the top plane to sweep along ...

 

You will not get a tapered solid, but TWO separate solid, one for each of the geometries. The smaller crossing geometry is not folding onto itself ...

 

Unless, I am missing something here ... other solid-based software have no problems ...

[Rob Dusenbury CAD/CAM CONSULTING]

The solid sweep will only allow you to use ONE shape to follow along ONE contour or "Path". Meaning that you cannot change from one shape to another along a given path. Unlike the surface sweep.

 

Think of the Solid as being one across with one along. Obviously the surfaces give you much more control.

 

From MasterCam Help:

quote:

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The Solids, Sweep function lets you sweep closed, planar chains of curves, called section chains, to create one or more new solid bodies.

 

Each Sweep operation has two editable geometry components:

the underlying chains of curves (called section chains) that define a swept solid, cut, or boss and the chain of curves (called a path chain) that defines the path along which the section chains are swept to form the solid, cut, or boss.

 

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You can have more than one shape Following along the same path, but it will result into seperate solids. Thats why I put this in bold letters (Each Sweep operation has two editable geometry components)

 

Now because you have more flexibility with the surfaces use those. Just like you can overcome the limitations of a "swept surface" by using a "Net surface". Having a choice is a good thing

 

So since you are teaching Mastercam Solids. It sounds to me that this is a perfect opportunity for you to show them how to build a solid from a surface and Boolean the solids together. Your students will learn a lot more from you this way, and they will know that they have options.

 

Good Luck.

[FP1]

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You can have more than one shape Following along the same path, but it will result into seperate solids.

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Well it all makes sense to me now. The statement above combined with reading the help file for the umpteenth time, and a little more experimenting, has cleared it up for me. I use this teapot file when I teach surface modeling and never had any trouble. It was interesting to try it as a solid and learn what we did in this thread. For me, I would just like to thank everyone that participated in this discussion.

[Code_Breaker]

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Your students will learn a lot more from you this way, and they will know that they have options.

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I did just that ... demonstrated several methods and taught them to think outside the box

 

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For me, I would just like to thank everyone that participated in this discussion.

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Very true ... my thanks to all as well ...