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Smoothing faces of a loft (square to round shape)

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Message 1 of 16
jyager
5703 Views, 15 Replies

Smoothing faces of a loft (square to round shape)

Inv 14

 

When I make a loft, from a 12x12 square to an 8" circle (12" high for the sake of arguement), the corners of the square kind of loft up to the circle where it's corners would be...leaving a sharp break between the planes

 

Is there a way to make it look like the sheet metal lofted flange appears? So that the corners of the square drift to the quadrants of the circle, making a smooth transition?

Jason Yager
Inventor Professional 2023.2
Windows 10 Pro 21H2
Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-10900X CPU @ 3.70GHz
32GB RAM
AMD Radeon Pro WX 3200 Series
3D Connexion SpaceMouse Pro
15 REPLIES 15
Message 2 of 16
BLHDrafting
in reply to: jyager

An example (picture) of your problem woul dprovide great help to anybody thinking about helping you.

 

If I understand the problem correctly, why not do the loft as a sheet metal part if that is the result you want? Other than that adjusting the 2 sketches will also give different results.

 

An example and direction to your requirements would be best for futher help.

Brendan Henderson

Web www.blhdrafting.com.au
Twitter @BLHDrafting

Windows 7 x64 -64 GB Ram, Intel Xeon E5-1620 @ 3.6 GHz
ATI FirePro V7800 2 GB, 180 GB SSD & 1 TB HDD, Inv R2016 PDSU SP1 (Build 210), Vault 2016 Professional Update 1 (Build 21.1.4.0)
Message 3 of 16
JDMather
in reply to: jyager

Attach your attempt here.

It is not clear what you are after.


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Message 4 of 16
jyager
in reply to: JDMather

I want the solid loft to look like a smooth transitioning lofted flange. Not the current loft where you can visibly see the breaks in planes.

 

PDF's attached

 

thanks in advance

Jason Yager
Inventor Professional 2023.2
Windows 10 Pro 21H2
Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-10900X CPU @ 3.70GHz
32GB RAM
AMD Radeon Pro WX 3200 Series
3D Connexion SpaceMouse Pro
Message 5 of 16
Cliffl
in reply to: jyager

Try adding fillets to the corners of your square...

Message 6 of 16
jyager
in reply to: Cliffl

I almost said I didn't want fillets but deleted it...should have left it 😉

 

If I put fillets on there it doesn't give me the same geometry...it just adds something else to something that isn't corrrect to begin with. It's the shape I'm looking for, with the corners of the square smoothly transitioning to the circle quadrants...not just a smoothness of the corners per se. The corners shouldn't be there.

Jason Yager
Inventor Professional 2023.2
Windows 10 Pro 21H2
Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-10900X CPU @ 3.70GHz
32GB RAM
AMD Radeon Pro WX 3200 Series
3D Connexion SpaceMouse Pro
Message 7 of 16
JDMather
in reply to: jyager

Here is a snipped screen capture of the images you posted.

Fillet.png

 

>The corners shouldn't be there.

Do you want corners or fillets?

Let me work up another example.

Maybe you can find an image somewhere on the web of what you really want.


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Message 8 of 16
jyager
in reply to: JDMather

That's not a fillet though...here is a fillet of the loft. It clearly doesn't look like the geometry of the lofted flange...I put edges on it to make it a bit more clear.

 

The fillet you're highlighting is a product of the metal thickness in the sheet metal lofted flange...it will get larger or smaller depending on the thickness...that image was .120.

 

If I went to some tiny number and that bottom corner was almost to a point with no bend radius...the corner would still travel to the circle quadrants and not to the "corners" of the circle as it does with the loft.

 

Again...I'm looking for the overall object shape...not just a "rounded" corner.

Jason Yager
Inventor Professional 2023.2
Windows 10 Pro 21H2
Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-10900X CPU @ 3.70GHz
32GB RAM
AMD Radeon Pro WX 3200 Series
3D Connexion SpaceMouse Pro
Message 9 of 16
jyager
in reply to: JDMather


Maybe you can find an image somewhere on the web of what you really want.


the lofted flange shape IS what I want...just imagine it without the metal thickness subtracked from it.

Jason Yager
Inventor Professional 2023.2
Windows 10 Pro 21H2
Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-10900X CPU @ 3.70GHz
32GB RAM
AMD Radeon Pro WX 3200 Series
3D Connexion SpaceMouse Pro
Message 10 of 16
JDMather
in reply to: jyager


@jyager wrote:
 

the lofted flange shape IS what I want...just imagine it without the metal thickness subtracked from it.


So remove the metal thickness subtracted from it.
Back in a minute - check this in the meantime.

 


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Message 11 of 16
jyager
in reply to: JDMather

JD...that's exactly what I want....guess I just don't understand how you did it?

Jason Yager
Inventor Professional 2023.2
Windows 10 Pro 21H2
Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-10900X CPU @ 3.70GHz
32GB RAM
AMD Radeon Pro WX 3200 Series
3D Connexion SpaceMouse Pro
Message 12 of 16
JDMather
in reply to: jyager

Here is another example.

 

Oops, don't use this one - it is inside out.


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Message 13 of 16
jyager
in reply to: JDMather

That works too but looks like a doctored lofted flange...where the first one looked like it was just a loft? How did you get the corners like that in the loft?

Jason Yager
Inventor Professional 2023.2
Windows 10 Pro 21H2
Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-10900X CPU @ 3.70GHz
32GB RAM
AMD Radeon Pro WX 3200 Series
3D Connexion SpaceMouse Pro
Message 14 of 16
JDMather
in reply to: jyager


@jyager wrote:

JD...that's exactly what I want....guess I just don't understand how you did it?


Point Mapping

Point Mapping.png


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Message 15 of 16
jyager
in reply to: JDMather

That is what I wanted...just was unaware of that function, THANKS.

 

One question related to that point mapping...when I map the new point sets it seems like I get the green snap to the bottom square corners...but it doesn't want to snap to the points on the circle. Is there a reason it's not recognizing those points? Or do you just eyeball their location?

Jason Yager
Inventor Professional 2023.2
Windows 10 Pro 21H2
Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-10900X CPU @ 3.70GHz
32GB RAM
AMD Radeon Pro WX 3200 Series
3D Connexion SpaceMouse Pro
Message 16 of 16
JDMather
in reply to: jyager

Try adding Workpoints at the sketch points (I know workpoints will snap to the sketch points - and I think (but haven't tried) the mapping will snap to workpoints).

 

Another technique would be to pattern the sketch arc rather than sketch points - I am sure *(again, without having actually tried it) that it will snap to the arc endpoints).


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