topic Curve length constraint in Inventor Forum

Curve length constraint

phil.pfeil — Tue, 22 Oct 2024 19:44:06 GMT

Hello guys,

i have always wondered this: Is there a way to constraint the total length of a curve? See the following example:

I want to constrain the total length of the not quite circular shaped curve (consisting of arcs and straight lines inbetween) to a certain number, say 450mm. How would I do that?
Thanks in advance 🙂

Re: Curve length constraint

kacper.suchomski — Tue, 22 Oct 2024 20:03:16 GMT

You can certainly assign equality constraints to repeating segments (e.g. the same lines or the same arcs) and dimension one of each type of curve.

Betreff: Curve length constraint

phil.pfeil — Tue, 22 Oct 2024 20:20:05 GMT

I have now arrived at the following equation, constraining one of the smaller arches:

(a - b) * n) / (2*PI)
with
a = length per Segment (150mm in my case)
b = length of the straight part (20mm in my case)
n = number of repititions (3 in my case)

But this still doesn't really answer my question, is it possible without having to find the specific equation for the problem at hand, but rather by simply selecting the segments and assigning a total length? This seems like somewhat straight forward thing to implement and i had the need for it multiple times, so i am surprised if it isn't a thing yet 😕

Re: Curve length constraint

kacper.suchomski — Tue, 22 Oct 2024 20:25:53 GMT

If they are arc, you can dimension their length. Just change the measurement type (rmb) when editing the dimension.

Re: Curve length constraint

phil.pfeil — Wed, 23 Oct 2024 00:26:54 GMT

Thank you! While this still isn't quite the answer i was looking for, this piece of information will be very helpful to me in the future!

Re: Curve length constraint

kacper.suchomski — Wed, 23 Oct 2024 07:24:39 GMT

This way you can dimension the individual segments. What else is missing?