Cannot loft using guide rail even though it DOES intersect all profiles

Cannot loft using guide rail even though it DOES intersect all profiles

Anonymous
Not applicable
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Message 1 of 18

Cannot loft using guide rail even though it DOES intersect all profiles

Anonymous
Not applicable

I am trying to loft through 3 profiles using a guide rail. I know for a FACT that the guide rail passes through all 3 profiles, I made sure to use "intersect" function to make the guide rail in a separate sketch, I have zoomed in completely at every point in each sketch profile to make sure that they do indeed touch the rail, etc. etc.

 

I've spent hours trying to make this work and I'm at my wits end. What am I doing wrong?

attached is a screen capture of my screen during the error. 

 

I am happy to provide any information or access to the file

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Accepted solutions (1)
2,442 Views
17 Replies
Replies (17)
Message 2 of 18

davebYYPCU
Consultant
Consultant

You think they are all touching, but THAT error is always correct, in my experience.

You snapped to the projected purple points in the rail sketches?

That picture has not identified which curve was selected as a rail.

 

Attach the file, to avoid the guesswork.

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Message 3 of 18

Anonymous
Not applicable

I  think this is how I attach the file correct?

 

https://a360.co/2NK9DzS

 

I made it available to download.

EDIT: Found a way to attach the file too

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Message 4 of 18

mavigogun
Advisor
Advisor

Dude- those white Points indicate UNCONNECTED segments- they'll turn black when  connected.    Sometimes this is the product of haste- but not always: no mater how far you zoom in, it may be impossible to demonstrate visually they are not co-located.    Connect-the-Dots is an ESSENTIALS add-in that does exactly that- find it here:

https://github.com/kewlsak/ConnectTheDots

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Message 5 of 18

Anonymous
Not applicable

Here's a screen cap before I perform the loft. 

All I see is black spare the one transparent dot that isn't in contact with the rail. I didn't import this from somewhere else, nor do I have multiple components in that area. All one solid piece. I don't see how "connect the dots" could help me here

 

Maybe there's something I'm not seeing?

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Message 6 of 18

davebYYPCU
Consultant
Consultant

Correct file?

 

Can not see your 3 profiles in this file, and there is no neck body/s.

 

 

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Message 7 of 18

davebYYPCU
Consultant
Consultant

Careful Chris, those white dots are useful, they are the mappimg handles.

 

But the file I received has not got those bodies in it.

 

 

Message 8 of 18

Anonymous
Not applicable

Did you open the attached file or the link?

The attached file seems to work fine. When I select the final loft (loft 3) the 3 profiles are visible. The profiles are made from sketches 67, 68, & 75 and the guide rail is drawn in sketch 77.

 

I'll see if I can isolate it from its references to make and .f3d file instead of .f3z

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Message 9 of 18

Anonymous
Not applicable

I shut off history and it allowed me to save as a .f3d

You should still be able to see all 3 profiles, the guide curve, etc...

 

 

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Message 10 of 18

michallach81
Advisor
Advisor

Sketch 66 did introduce a lot of mess and all is because of that. In 30min I'll make a screencast.


Michał Lach
Designer
co-author
projektowanieproduktow.wordpress.com

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Message 11 of 18

Anonymous
Not applicable

Thank you!!

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Message 12 of 18

davebYYPCU
Consultant
Consultant

The link did not work, new f3d is ok.

 

The Loft works here now, you are right all rails are connected, agree with Michael, Sketch 66 is connecting two rails together.

 

Turn off Chain Select, it is recommended that all loft articles be in their own sketch.

 

Might help...

 

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Message 13 of 18

mavigogun
Advisor
Advisor

I almost got it to Loft.    As Dave rightly observed, the White points I decried weren't Sketch Element End Points.

That said, I did find detached points in the center profile, which included an errant Point amid a pile of Line/Arc(?) ends.   First, I Broke all the Projection Links.   This allowed me to clearly see that the two outside Profiles were being defined on 2 sides by the Edge of an Auto Projected Body created- I think -when the Sketch was created on a Face.     Using those phantoms as guide, I connected the Arcs with Lines.   The resulting Profiles would almost Loft- with complaints of self intersection.    I thought it might not like the Rail Arc being virtually parallel with the Profile at the point of contact- but then I found the central Profile wasn't actually connected to the Rail- though that might be display anomaly.    Check it out:

 

woops.JPG

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Message 14 of 18

michallach81
Advisor
Advisor
Accepted solution

General tips:

Don't duplicate geometry (if you have an edge don't duplicate it with a sketch, but if, make sure that next things will be built on that).

Make sure that you know the purpose of your geometry. I've checked sketch 66 and distance 1.5in don't create a parallel edge, is it intended?

Clearly, there are some problems in a way you handle sketches so few things might be problematic because of that. I didn't have time to investigate further than I've made in a screencast below:


Michał Lach
Designer
co-author
projektowanieproduktow.wordpress.com

Message 15 of 18

mavigogun
Advisor
Advisor

Finally got it- there was a complaint about closely co-located surfaces, but was able to resolve it by Lofting each side to center, one at a time.   All I ended up needing to do was Intersect Project the Rail to the Center Profile, draw a new Line from the bottom corner to the Projected Point, and use a Spline to create the curve as the existing Arc was short of the Rail.    I then added a straight Rail across the back to keep the Loft from budging out, and-  hey-presto! -it worked.

Arcs are definitely not the way to go, though- check out the surface continuity at the outsides -it just ain't clean.   Compare that to the perfect transition Michał achieved using Splines.

Connected Center added Back Rail.JPG

Message 16 of 18

michallach81
Advisor
Advisor

These are arcs. It's enough to achieve tangency.


Michał Lach
Designer
co-author
projektowanieproduktow.wordpress.com

Message 17 of 18

lichtzeichenanlage
Advisor
Advisor

This post helped me to understand what intersecting means and by reading your sketch 77, 66 etc. you should perhaps think about Rule #2 - Name your stuff 😉

Message 18 of 18

Anonymous
Not applicable

I couldn't figure out how to reply to all of you or quote multiple people but, I would like to thank all of you for taking the time to help me with this problem. I learned a lot from just this one thread and I really appreciate the support!