Wavy path (up and down) on top of a circular object

[dxfuller1987]

My goal is to create a 3D printed Carousel. I want the objects to go up and down as the carousel turns. I need to create a path for bearings to ride. Six sections in the circle. Three of them will have low to high points and three will have high to low points so the bearings go up and down as they revolve around the top of the low cylinder. I am struggling on how to do this. I know (i think) I need to cut the paths into the cylinder and do a circular pattern but can't get there. Any help would be appreciated.

[TheCADWhisperer]

@dxfuller1987 

Can you File>Export your *.f3d file of what you have completes so far to your local drive and then Attach it here to a Reply?

A sheet metal part might be the easiest way (doesn't have to actually be sheet metal - just gives easy access to the right tools to create the geometry).

The follower geometry must also be known.

[etfrench · Accepted solution]

Start with a Surface workspace cone:

Circular pattern the cone:

Use the Split Body command to make each into two sections:

Remove the excess bodies:

[etfrench · Accepted solution]

Emboss will work even better:

Draw a fit point spline with a distance between the endpoints equal to the circumference of the cylinder. 

Use a rectangular pattern of points to position the endpoints.  Or simply dimension and horizontally constrain each control point. Each handle must be the same length.  The start and end segments should be half the length of the other segments.  (These handles may need to be shorter as well.)

Copy the spline and draw lines between the endpoints to create a closed profile.

Emboss the profile on your cylinder.

[TheCADWhisperer]

@dxfuller1987 

Be skeptical of any "solutions" that you get.

This is a classical cylindrical cam problem - one of the most misunderstood geometry problems on the internet.

[dxfuller1987]

Emboss was the ticket but I ran into problems applying the pattern to the whole circumference. I think it was a rounding issue because it did not quite complete the circumference when it was done. Just a tiny bit remained.

What I did was to create the pattern on 1/3 of the circumference and emboss it on the cylinder. Then I applied a circular pattern with three occurrences. This worked great because it appears that the pattern now goes around the whole cylinder.

Thank you all for your help. Sorry it took so long for me to get back to this.

[TheCADWhisperer]

@dxfuller1987 

Emboss does not return the absolute correct geometry and you have a circle of unknown size defining your geometry.

Missing a Vertical constraint on the Construction line.

You must also specify the follower geometry type and size to get correct solution.

As I said, this problem is misunderstood by most.