Helical sweep

[chris.schraders]

Hi all

I have been trying to create a reel for a reel mower. The reel blade is esentially several metal bars with a sharpened edge that have been bent along a helical path and then welded to a number of circular metal plates. I tried to create this in Fusion 360 but gave up after a few hours. I was using the coil tool with a small (0.1mm) triangle section and then sweeping my profile along this shape. 

The problem I'm having is that the profile seems to be pivoting around the point where it touches the path, as well as rotating to keep up with the helix. This means that by the time it has reached the bottom of my path, the cutting edge points in to the middle.

What am I doing wrong? Is there a better way to do this?

In Blender I was able to simply use a twist deformation and it worked a treat. Is there a nice easy way to do this in Fusion 360 (short of importing it from Blender)?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. 

Cheers

Chris

[innovatenate · Accepted solution]

Take a look at the attached archive and let me know if this helps.

[chris.schraders]

Thank you!

So let me get this right. You constructed the cylinders/plates first then sketched the profile on each, then constructed a two line through two sets of points and used those as a rails for a loft.

I'll have to give that a go after I get my current assignment done.

Cheers!

[innovatenate]

You got it! I should note that there is an option in the preferences to enable 3D sketching of lines and splines.

I use the Include 3D geometry feature to generate 3D splines to act as guide rails for the loft. The below screencast is from another forum thread, but it may help here too.

I hope that helps! 

Cheers,