Loft to Curved Surface?

[Anonymous]

Like some other have stated here, I'm loft retarded. What I did here was loft to a tangent work plane, then did a sketch on the top surface and extruded the shape that I want. There has to be a better & easier way. Any suggestions?

Thanks, Larry
System Specs:
Dell Optiplex 745
Pentium D, 3.0 Ghz, 4 GB of Ram
Windows XP Pro SP2
Autodesk Inventor Suite 2009, Service Pack 2
Graphics Card - NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS
Graphics Driver - 6.14.0011.6947
SpaceTraveler, Driver Verizon 6.5.6

[jakefowler]

Hi Larry,

I'm not entirely sure if I have interpreted the picture correctly, but would a face-face fillet acheive your desired result? (see attached image). Perhaps I am seeing the picture wrong, in which case, would it be possible to post your IPT to the discussion thread?

Thanks!
Jake Fowler
QA Engineer
Autodesk Shape Manager

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the info, but I couldn't get it to work. Here is a quick sample. I was more curious if there was a way to extend the loft to the curved surface, instead of tangent to it. Thanks for you help. Larry

[JDMather]

Looks like it would be trivially easy with a Split, but without a history tree....

[Anonymous]

Alright....JD! Here's one with a tree.

[JDMather]

Don't see how those are supposed to be the same problem, but maybe something like this is what you are after?

[Anonymous]

JD,

I do have two problems, well 3 now...:)

- Is there a way or a better way to loft to a curved surface?
- Which led to the creation of a face fillet, that I couldn't get to work
- By trying the split option, it wouldn't extend
- As stated, I created a sketch on the top surface and extruded the shape, worked..but looking for better/correct way.
- Don't have 2010 installed yet


Thanks, Larry
System Specs:
Dell Optiplex 745
Pentium D, 3.0 Ghz, 4 GB of Ram
Windows XP Pro SP2
Autodesk Inventor Suite 2009, Service Pack 2
Graphics Card - NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS
Graphics Driver - 6.14.0011.6947
SpaceTraveler, Driver Verizon 6.5.6

[Anonymous]

Well...after some more playing around. I still couldn't get the result that I wanted, by doing it a different way. I could get the face fillet to work, but only if the loft was linear. In my example, the loft is angled to the circular face and it fails every time.
Larry

[JDMather]

I don't have 2009, but I could probably walk you through the process once I figure out what you are after. Check the attached step file.

[Anonymous]

JD,
Thanks, that is exactly what I'm after...just getting the loft to connect to the cylindrical surface, like in your step file. When I try it, this is what I get. I know I just need to learn the proper steps. I'm pushing for the 2010 upgrade, but I can't load it...until I'm told it's ok!

[JDMather]

>this is what I get

What happened to the box?
What happened to the feature tree?
Is this the file you intended to attach?

[Anonymous]

JD,

Sorry about the mix up....I did pick the wrong file!

[JDMather]

Delete the Split (don't know what you were trying to do with that?)

Delete the Loft (but not the sketches).

Edit Sketch5 and change the projected geometry to construction type and close up the top and bottom as in attached.

Split and use the rectangle sketch in Sketch5 to split the cylindrical surface.

Loft from Sketch3 to the split face of the cylinder.


Oh, and change the projected edges in Sketch3 to construction as well. In fact, they aren't even needed.
Don't tell me you have Autoproject on Sketch Create turned on? You might want to read this document http://home.pct.edu/~jmather/AU2007/MA105-1L%20Mather.pdf

Edited by: JDMather on Nov 11, 2009 11:24 AM

[Anonymous]

JD,

Thank You!

No, I don't have the autoproject on. I also have read the document. The part I was missing was...spliting the surface by the box, I understand why now. I've never had to use either 'split' nor 'loft' in over 3 yrs of working with Inventor. Sad, yes...but true. I'm still learning everyday. Thanks for you help!

Larry

[JDMather]

>No, I don't have the autoproject on. I also have read the document.

I would have constrained to the origin - not the sides of the previous extrusion feature. More robust technique if you have to go back and change things. (Particularly since you used a midpoint of projected geometry - that's living dangerously.)

How are you going to manufacture that geometry?

[Anonymous]

JD,

This is in the concept design stage. If all goes correctly or if it's approved. A casting/mold will be created. That is awhile down the road though. Thanks again!


Larry

[Anonymous]

First, thank you. Your answer above was helpful.

I have a similar problem, except that I'd like to create a single loft to tangent curved surfaceS! Can you please help me?

I have two tangent, curved, surfaces (two tangent cylinders of different radii). Inventor shows a line where the curves intersect and treats the surfaces on either side of that line created by the split (following the steps you layed out above) as seperate surfaces. I can only select a single surface for the loft, when I would like to basically merge those surfaces.

Please see the attached part file. This is just an example for the sake of simplicity and doesn't follow any good design conventions, but it illustrates my problem. 

[JDMather]

One example.