Non-Uniform Distribution In Array for Camera Bellows

[kristofer.sundquist]

Hello,

I am attempted to create the ribs for a camera bellows by 3D printing and, since I'd like to do make more than one shape, I'm trying to make it fully procedural. The standard plan for the internal supporting ribs requires a repeating sequence of long slats that come to a point for two of the 4 sides in the bellows (see below).

Using parameters to drive the sides, I can make the basic shape and the width/ spacing of the slats themselves just fine. Once I try to create the angles, I run into an issue with making the repeating pattern at a taper. It would work just fine if both sides were parallel, but, because of the angle, the angles are having to move both vertically and horizontally. This means the angles skew more the further up the design they go (see below). Am I missing a simpler way of doing this? Is there simply now way to make this design procedural? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[TrippyLighting]

Surprisingly, this post did not receive any replies. Do you still need help ?

[etfrench]

Extend the taper lines so the endpoints are coincident. You may also need to add a centerline (Construction line centered) between each slat in order to keep the angles equal.

p.s. Your sketch needs to be fully constrained in order for parametric changes to be reliable.

[TrippyLighting]

I was a little bored, so here is a fully parametric bellows design:

[etfrench]

It's a nice design and could be 3d printed in TPU filament, but there isn't an easy way to extract the individual slats needed to build a traditional bellows.  It's too bad Fusion can't extract a flat pattern from it.

[etfrench]

Here's one way to make parametric angle cuts.  Note: The entire bellow was extruded, then a thin extrude was used to cut the lines.

Changing the angles: