Add sketch to 3 dimentionally curved body

[Mr_ticketec]

Hey people,

I'm really stuck on this one.

The item in red is what i am trying to model. I have drawn the shape, and lofted it via 4 rails to get the curve into it but as you can see in the original picture I need it to be hollow at a minimum or ideally, I can fill the area with another sketch. 

Is there any way to do this?

Thanks

dave

[TrippyLighting]

Please share (export and attach to next post) your model in .f3d format.

I doubt that 4 rails are needed.

[Mr_ticketec]

I have attached the .f3d file.

I tried with only 2 guide rails and it would not give me a consistent shape.

It also wouldnt let me modify the surfaces.

[jeff_strater]

There are several questions/topics in this model

1. Needing 2 different "arms"
2. Needing the arms to be hollow

The attached is a bit of a hack - ideally you will want to modify the profiles and probably the rails to your liking.

For #1 - two separate lofts is one way to get this.  You might be able to cut out a section to split the existing loft into 2, but I just made two profiles on each end

For #2 - again, you need 2 lofts for each side - loft cannot handle "hollow" profiles.  So, make 1 for the entire solid, and another to hollow it out.

I had to use centerline rails, because the existing rails don't intersect the profiles.  But, you can certainly make "regular" rails that will work.  I just did not take the time to do so.

[Mr_ticketec]

Thanks for the advise, I followed option 1 as option 2 didn't want to work for me. I kept saying that the second "cut" loft was intersecting. 

Another option would be to emboss the surface with the details I need in the center of those rails. 

Is this a possibility? Everything i've tried does not allow me to select the curved surface.

[TrippyLighting]

The loft tool is the wrong tool for this job. I have a screen recording in the process but it will take a while to upload and convert. Also, quite frankly, based on what I see in your design your skill level is not nearly where it needs to be to complete his project with stable CAD geometry. The screen recording should get you much closer.

[TrippyLighting · Accepted solution]

Here's the screen recording:

@jeff_strater there appears to be some buggy behavior in the shell tool 17 minutes into the screencast. It did not make a difference in creating this par, but I came across the behavior when experimenteing.

 

[Mr_ticketec]

Yes thanks for stating the obvious, perhaps if i had the right skill or education in CAD I would not have posted needing help. I have only been drawing in CAD for the last year or so for these hobby projects of mine. I tried to look online for help to do what i wanted to achieve, but I could not find anything that suited. It is me trying these project that are way past my skillset that makes me grow in my CAD skills and this is why I try.  Is there a beginners forum I should have posted this in first?

Thank you for taking the time to show me how it is meant to be done properly. I will edit my original sketches. I did try the sweep command, but i did not know that you can twist the body with the command box and this explains why i could not get it do to what i wanted.

Thanks again for your time and explanation. I have learnt a lot more than just how to fix my problem with your video

[TrippyLighting]

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@Mr_ticketec wrote:

... I tried to look online for help to do what i wanted to achieve, but I could not find anything that suited. .

...

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That is because you are looking for the wrong stuff!

Like many new users you are trying to model a particular thing, so you start looking for tutorials where someone models that particular thing. That is not a good approach. It might work OK if you already have a good foundation.

What I would suggest is that you complete one of the courses here, to familiarize yourselves with the fundamentals. E.g. good sketching habits and practices.