How to create a cross hatched pattern

[Anonymous]

I am currently am making a spinning top. I would like to cut a cross hatched pattern into the cylinder part that you twist with your finger. Please help

[ADSKDJW4]

Hello Toño2,

Sounds to me that you are looking for a type on “Knurled” surface? You could create a sweep cut and then pattern it clockwise around the top area. Then do the same with another sweep cut (crossing over the first one giving you an X) then pattern it counter clockwise. The patterns would give you this type of surface. Let me know if this is not what you are looking for?

Best Regards,

Don

[jakefowler]

HI @Anonymous,

If you're trying to adding knurling to a cylinder, here's a workflow that might work for you:

Here are the steps, in detail:

1. Create a Coil with CREATE > Coil. This will ask you to start a sketch and draw a circle for the coil diameter. Click the end of the cylinder to start the sketch here, then draw a circle that matches the centre + diameter of your cylinder.

2. In the Coil command, set the following:

- Revolutions = a value that gives the desired angle for each cut - likely <1 (I used 0.5)

- Height = The distance you want to knurl. If you want to knurl the whole cylinder, this should be the same as the cylinder's height. If the preview goes in the wrong direction, set the value as negative.

- Section = Triangular (internal)

- Section Size = something small (use the preview to judge a suitable cut size)

3. Click OK - this should give you one cut. If you look closely at the ends, they probably look a bit messy, but that will fix itself later...

4. Mirror this cut using CREATE > Mirror.

- For the Object, select the Coil feature in the timeline to mirror.

- For the Mirror Plane, select a plane that directly intersects the axis of the cylinder (you may need to build a plane first if your model is off-centre).

5. Now, pattern both of these cuts to create your knurling. Open CREATE > Pattern > Circular Pattern.

- For the Objects, select both the Coil and Mirror features in the timeline.

- For the Axis, pick a face on the cylinder. Now increase the Quantity until you have enough knurls (pick a number that allows the ends to meet up nicely - for example, if the coil's Revolutions was 0.5, make sure the pattern Quantity can be divided by 2). Note that setting a very large value here may take a long time to compute when you click OK.

Click OK, and you should have a nice knurled pattern!

This is just one way to do this - there are probably other workflows to achieve a similar result, but hopefully this is a quick-and-easy way to get the desired finish.

If you encounter any problems with this, or if I misinterpreted the request, be sure to get in touch.

Thanks,

Jake

[Anonymous]

Thanks @jakefowler for this fantastic little work flow!