Project to Surface / cut vent holes?

[Anonymous]

I'm stuck on the project to surface workflow and would like a little direction.

Imagine a soda can. (image attached)

I'm attempting to project several slot shapes onto the can in a vertical pattern and cut through to create holes. (imagine a vent)

So from watching various tutorials I created the sketch and projected these onto the can body. Now i see several pink slot shapes conforming to the body. All seems good so far.

So what do i do at this point?

I'm guessing I need to use the split face in Modify to use the shapes as a cutting tool?

I try to use this, selecting nearest point to avoid the projection going through the whole soda can body. I select the body, then select the pink slot shapes, then nearest point and click ok. This cuts out the face. At that point other than selecting the face and moving around, i cant seem to extrude it to create the slot / hole.

So the task, vent holes in a soda can 🙂  

Any suggestions?

Thanks

David

[laughingcreek]

The short answer is your working to hard.

-extrude only works from lines that are planer.  if you want to cut with an extrude, then extrude the original 2d sketch.  don't project it first.

-if you want to split the face so you can do an "offset faces" type command, then use the original 2d sketch here also.  don't project first.

-projected lines are useful when you need geometry for an "along path" type command (sweep, pattern along path, pipe etc.), and for lofting.  and other things I suppose, but useualy not for extrudeing or spltting faces.

[etfrench]

The easy way is to do it with an extrude as @laughingcreek says.  This will give you slightly elliptical ends on the slots.

If you want more circular ends, then use the sheet metal tools to create the slots.  Here's a thread which discusses text around a cylinder, but it will apply equally well to slots.