cylinderical stent from 2D sketch

[jwn27]

I'm new to Inventor - naturally, completely lost.

I am trying to make a 3D model of a metal stent out of a pre-made 2D sketch(in .dwg file).

The 2D sketch is very complex in shape(not just rectangles or diamond shapes repeated),

so I have to bend the 2D shape into 3D cylinderical form.

I made a cylinder, a work plane tangent to the side of the cylinder,

pasted the 2D sketch onto the work plane and projected the sketch(project to plane) to the side of the cylinder,

which resulted in a somewhat successful "sketch" of a cylinderical stent.

The main problem is I can't give any thickness or volume to this stent.

How can I make this have thickness to make this a 3D object?

Or are there any other better ways that I could make this properly?

(+) I posted a brief image describing the overall problem, since I can't upload any actual images due to various issues.

[jhackney1972]

Please save your Inventor IPT or IAM file out to your hard drive.  Then attach it to a reply post using the Attachment section.

[Gabriel_Watson]

As long as you have closed loops (geometry in 2D that's "water-tight"), you can create some surfaces from the edges on your cylinder (Boundary Patch may be the easiest tool), then use the "thicken" command to make it solid as needed.

[j.palmeL29YX · Accepted solution]

Hard to say without knowing your 2DSketch and your final goal. 

But perhaps you can first extrude (?) the 2DSketch and then bend the part to get the cylindrical model. 

Try it and let us know if you have further questions /problems. 

[EDIT]

A quick example attached. (Inventor 2000 format)

A "very complex" 2DSketch (Text) extruded (Emboss) and then bent to cylinder. 

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! I guess you may want to use Wrap Around option in 3D Projected Curve. After that, you can use Split command and select the 3D curve to split the cylindrical face. Lastly, use Thicken feature to add thickness. Is this what you were looking for?

Many thanks!

[j.palmeL29YX]

>>Here<< an example video following @johnsonshiue 's suggestion. 

HTH

[jwn27]

thanks for your attachment files, I learned how to use bend part! I never thought that I needed another line.

[jwn27]

thanks to all 🙂