Creating a wire which follows a helical path

[Anonymous]

Hello all,

I have a piece (attached) which is a solid cylinder with a helical thread cut into it. I want to be able to create a wire which follows this helical path, starting at a hole which is in the top of the cylinder and ending at a hole in the side of the cylinder.

For the sake of clarity; there are three holes in the cylinder - two small and one large. The wire path should start and end using the two small holes while the larger holes are part of the path.

As much as I have tried, I have no idea how to tackle this problem. Could someone give me some advice on how to achieve this, or if someone has a better idea how to accomplish what I am looking for - please suggest it!!

Thanks

[TheCADWhisperer]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I have a piece (attached) which is a solid cylinder with a helical thread cut into it. 

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Putting aside the wire problem for a minute - how will the helical feature be formed?  

Turned on a lathe?

Molded?

What is the material?

Function?  Is it permissible to model the helical feature on the cylinder with realistic run-off?

[Anonymous]

Hi, 

Thanks for replying. In reality this process is done by hand. It is threaded through the top of the cylinder which exits one of the largest hole which is the wrapped round the core following the coil cut into the cylinder, threaded through the bottom larger hole and then exits through the corresponding smaller hole.

Cheers 

[Anonymous]

It occurs to me you may have been talking about the cylinder itself. This is PTFE and the grooves are cut with a lathe.

[TheCADWhisperer]

I will have to remodel the part from scratch as it cannot be manufactured as you have modeled it.

I ran into other work and it may be a while till I get back.