Shell fails on lofted curved vacuum adapter (3mm thickness)

[tscarrott07]

Hi,

I’m modeling a vacuum adapter in Fusion 360. It’s a lofted elbow that transitions from a circular bottom to a rounded-rectangle top.

When I try to Shell it at 3mm thickness (inside direction), I get: “The shell cannot be created at this thickness. Try adjusting the thickness, the selection set, or change the shell type.”

Details:

• Lofted body (not mesh)

• No mesh conversions

• Thickness desired: 3mm

• Shell fails even when selecting only one open face

• Geometry includes a curved elbow transition

• Some fillets exist after the loft

I suspect the inside offset is self-intersecting in the tight bend area.

What is the proper engineering approach here?

Is it better to:

1. Shell before fillets?

2. Use manual inner loft + Combine cut?

3. Modify loft guide rails?

4. Something else?

Or maybe none of these are the solution. I just need help, I am new to fusion 360 and put a lot of effort into this thing, and don't want to have to redo the whole thing.

I’ve attached the .f3d file.

Thank you.

[TheCADWhisperer · Accepted solution]

@tscarrott07 

[tscarrott07]

Man these are great, i am following along and doing everything as you do it. I believe you skipped a part in between the two first sketch profile videos. You missed how you created the second revolve that we decided is straight and not starting to curve down yet. A video for that would be great. Or maybe I can try it myself.

[tscarrott07]

Nevermind, I created it myself. this is amazing by the way!

[TheCADWhisperer · Accepted solution]

@tscarrott07 

[TheCADWhisperer · Accepted solution]

@tscarrott07 

[TheCADWhisperer]

I realized that I forgot the Chamfer in the video.

One hour of videos to model the part.

Attach your progress file here.

[tscarrott07]

I can't thank you enough. Ok will do, just going through the last video, I will share file once I'm done.

[tscarrott07]

Ok Great! I am done. However I would like to know the best way to engrave "VW GDI" into the face. Like my old one. That's the very last thing to do. Letter height is 5.5mm

[tscarrott07]

Here is the file. Without text.

[tscarrott07]

I made one adjustment to be more close to the original. Edited it so that the loft started from a smaller circle, and then chamfered the two different sized circles.

[tscarrott07]

Hey nevermind I figured out the text.

[tscarrott07]

Alright well I'm done. Thanks again, this was a huge help! Also one more question, I have a bunch of other adapters I need to replicate and re-engineer into CAD. There are all different shapes and sizes. Do you recommend I go about them the same way we did with this one? Go off the 3d scan for reference?

[tscarrott07]

And here is my final, final model.

[TheCADWhisperer]

@tscarrott07 

[rosie_lucas1]

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