topic Re: Loft Tool in Inventor Forum

Loft Tool

josh_weatherill — Tue, 29 Aug 2023 20:55:20 GMT

Hi all,

I'm looking for some advice to get the loft tool working correctly. I am trying to model a rectangular pipe that twists 90 degrees whilst following a 3D curved centre line. I am relatively new to Inventor so I'm not quite sure how to constrain my sketches correctly to achieve my goal.

Below is my current attempt at using the loft tool with centreline and it returns the error "The attempted Centreline Loft has a centreline that is not smooth. Try modifying the centreline so that it is smooth.". I'm unsure of what the issue is and how to solve it.

Thank you for reading, any tips would be much appreciated.

Josh

Re: Loft Tool

blandb — Tue, 29 Aug 2023 20:58:24 GMT

Can you share your part?

Re: Loft Tool

Frederick_Law — Tue, 29 Aug 2023 21:04:32 GMT

@josh_weatherill wrote:
"The attempted Centreline Loft has a centreline that is not smooth. Try modifying the centreline so that it is smooth.". I'm unsure of what the issue is and how to solve it.

Line segments should be tangent to next one.

You might need a few "rails" to control the rotation.

Re: Loft Tool

josh_weatherill — Tue, 29 Aug 2023 21:05:38 GMT

I've attached the part.

I believe that it is conncected to the centreline.

Re: Loft Tool

blandb — Tue, 29 Aug 2023 21:12:14 GMT

Here is a 2022 test part

Re: Loft Tool

josh_weatherill — Tue, 29 Aug 2023 21:15:45 GMT

Thanks for that!

Would there be any way to retain the pipe cross-section throughout the tranistion?

Re: Loft Tool

blandb — Tue, 29 Aug 2023 21:16:56 GMT

You have a lot of "undefined" sketch info. That could be causing some issues.

Re: Loft Tool

blandb — Tue, 29 Aug 2023 21:21:53 GMT

As in making it appear to be a Rectangular tube that is bent and twisted? If that is what you mean, you could do a Shell of your desired wall thickness, and then choose to remove end faces.

Re: Loft Tool

josh_weatherill — Tue, 29 Aug 2023 21:35:11 GMT

I am wanting the solid to remain the sam shape through out the centreline. I have just tried to use the sweep tool instead to achieve the desired shape and have gotten close. The resultant shape will not allow any degree of twist to be applied so perhaps this method will not work. I'm aiming to get the end of the shape to rotate so it lines up with the sketch.

It is still a good demonstration of the sort of shpe I am after, see below.

Re: Loft Tool

johnsonshiue — Wed, 30 Aug 2023 03:19:17 GMT

Hi! This can be done using Loft + Sweep. The Loft creates a good twisted surface. Then use it as a guide to sweep.

Many thanks!