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Knurl on an organic curved surface

14 REPLIES 14
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Message 1 of 15
rsmith
7614 Views, 14 Replies

Knurl on an organic curved surface

This is a tough one, but there must be way.

 

I need to apply a knurled texture to an organic curved surface. It cannot be a decal, this is to be rapid prototyped so the knurl must be real 3d. I have an imported Soliworks file that shows exactly what I need (image attached). I do not have access to the author of the Solidworks part so I dont know how they did it. Its part of a pistol grip handle.  

 

Keep in mind that emboss does not support organic surfaces, only cylindrical or planar.

 

Any suggestions?

 

 

Robert Smith
Solutions Engineer
M2 Technologies
http://www.m2t.com/
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14 REPLIES 14
Message 2 of 15
Cadmanto
in reply to: rsmith

Anyway you can get the native SW part?  I have SW 2011 at home and if it is 2011 or earlier it is possible I can open it and tell you how it was done.

Best Regards,
Scott McFadden
(Colossians 3:23-25)


Message 3 of 15
JDMather
in reply to: rsmith

Curve driven pattern in Inventor.

I did this once on a gun handle.


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Message 4 of 15
rsmith
in reply to: rsmith

I am working on getting the native file. I can't count on it though.

Robert Smith
Solutions Engineer
M2 Technologies
http://www.m2t.com/
Message 5 of 15
rsmith
in reply to: JDMather

I dont suppose you have the file you created?

 

I thought of curve driven pattern as well, but I haven't figured out just how to execute.

 

Thanks

Robert Smith
Solutions Engineer
M2 Technologies
http://www.m2t.com/
Message 6 of 15
JDMather
in reply to: rsmith

Attach your trial effort here.


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Message 7 of 15
rsmith
in reply to: JDMather

The example is too large to attach (10MB)

 

Here is a dropbox link: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/93464527/Curved%20Knurled%20Feature.ipt

 

Its a pistol grip.

Robert Smith
Solutions Engineer
M2 Technologies
http://www.m2t.com/
Message 8 of 15
JDMather
in reply to: rsmith

Just do a simple example and roll up the EOP before zipping and attaching here.

Should take 10 minutes or less.


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Message 9 of 15
rsmith
in reply to: JDMather

There is no trial effort. I (and others) have a made a few attempts that went nowhere and so were not worth saving. Some attempts included intersecting Sweeps using a diamond pattern projected onto the face as paths, modeling individual knurl bosses using lofts, stuff like that.

 

The dropbox link contains a finished part that I want to emulate (there is an image of it attached to my first post). Rolling up the EOP and zipping does not shrink it enough.

 

I can attach the part that needs to be knurled.

 

 

Robert Smith
Solutions Engineer
M2 Technologies
http://www.m2t.com/
Message 10 of 15
JDMather
in reply to: rsmith

The process is rather involved and takes several hour to set up.

Project Cut edges in 2D sketch for curve along handle to follow (if more complex path is needed - will have to create 3D sketch intersection).

 

Loft square to point (or another square) for first knurl location (you might Offset Surface to use to cut off tops instead).

Rectangular Pattern, but set up to follow curve.

 

I will not have time to set something up till around Sept.


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Message 11 of 15
mpatchus
in reply to: rsmith

Would something like this suit your requirements?

Its not a finished product, it needs some tweaking, but its enough to get the idea.

Plastic Grip.jpg

Mike Patchus - Lancaster SC

Inventor 2025 Beta


Alienware m17, Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-10980HK CPU @ 2.40GHz 3.10 GHz, Win 11, 64gb RAM, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Super

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Message 12 of 15
rsmith
in reply to: mpatchus

That certainly looks good at a distance. What was your approach?

Robert Smith
Solutions Engineer
M2 Technologies
http://www.m2t.com/
Message 13 of 15
mpatchus
in reply to: rsmith

I basically defined a tool path, projected it onto the surface, then did a sweep of the tool along the path using the surface as a guide.

 

I've attached the file (Inventor 2012) for you to look at.

 

NOTE:  This generates a lot of faces on this part and will bog down your machine while it processes the sweep.  Plan on grabbing a cup of coffe while it works.  LOL

 

 

Mike Patchus - Lancaster SC

Inventor 2025 Beta


Alienware m17, Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-10980HK CPU @ 2.40GHz 3.10 GHz, Win 11, 64gb RAM, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Super

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Message 14 of 15
rsmith
in reply to: mpatchus

I like it. I went down this road, but I did not think of using a continuous curve for the path. I was making individual paths for each row of bosses. That was tedious.

 

I think this is the solution.

 

Thanks!

Robert Smith
Solutions Engineer
M2 Technologies
http://www.m2t.com/
Message 15 of 15
Burnewiin_TA
in reply to: mpatchus

Hello mpatchus.  Glad I was directed to this thread/post as we're working on a bunch of knurling patters right now on curved surfaces.  Nice execution.  I sure wish I could see exactly how you generated that toolpath (with continuous loop and even spacing).  Seems like maybe a CAM type function but there must be a way to generate something like that.  I noticed that the sketched path/lines are all green which on my screen indicates that they are not constrained.

 

How'd you do that?

Thanks,

Tom

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