Help with Drawing a gooseneck trailer neck assembly

[benjamin_burkhalter]

I have been trying to figure out how to draw a gooseneck for a Cattle/Horse/flatbed trailer. 

My students and I are stumped.  I am not well versed in cad. We can create simple bumper pull trailer frames but have yet been able to make a 3d Gooseneck neck assembly that we can drop into any trailer assembly plan we make.

I am extremally frustrated, as I am sure  there is a simple process that I haven't discovered. 

Seriously, I need help. I have been trying to figure this out for years. If I draw one in 3D,  When I use the frame generator and place the steel on the wire frame I can not get the beams to match up the angles. 

If I try to do it in multiple wire frames, I cant get the frame members to mate up properly. 

This is an issue I am trying to solve as it affects our plans we print out for our Ag Mech Show competitions. 

This can be the difference between 1st and 5th places at some of our shows. 

[benjamin_burkhalter]

1. I need to be able to explain it in detail to my students so they can
understand it, even if they don't draw it themselves.
2 Learning how to manipulate the work planes so that I can draw the wire
frame in a re-dimensional manner and when I hit update the complete drawing
re-sizes.
3. I always have hell getting the 30 deg downturn on the neck. I can not
seem to get a work plane in the right place to make it work.
4. Once everything is done and we have a trailer built out in the cad
program. I need to be able to show/teach how to move it into blueprint
drawings with the complete cut/bill of material lists.
The reason why I am trying to do this as a wire frame is because it allows
me to use the preloaded structural steel profiles in frame generation. Use
the joining tools. That allows me to change the trailers up to meet the
needs of the parents and supporters who pay for these projects. I can go
from a lightweight 8k trailer to heavy haul 21K trailer, just changing up
steel thickness and sizes, and corresponding gussets. We may only use 3/16
ths gusset plates on a 8k neck and use 5/16 ths or 3/8ths on a 3 axle or
on a tandem dual float..
I have a student who needs a super lowboy tractor hauler. It is 20ft x 96"
inside the wheels. They use one that a neighbor has to move a tractor and
hay baler from one field to the next without unhooking the baler from the
tractor. Speeds up travel time when hay fields are 20+ miles apart and none
of the fields are close to each other. Saves road wear on the tractor
tires as well. Trailer is literally a 20ft extra wide lowboy with a 12"
standard weight I beam neck, 3"x5"x1/4" angle iron base frame with 3"
channel iron floor supports on closser centers. The construction is the
same as any other lowboy. Just a few more pieces of heavier steel, with a 3
axle set that is centerlined further back to support the additional
tongue weight of the baler.
Thanks for your help.

[benjamin_burkhalter]

Sent you an email

[chris]

@benjamin_burkhalter you can either use your skel to define your plane through an axis or you can just define your plane with an axis based off an edge of geometry. 

[chris]

@benjamin_burkhalter Quick question, are you using Frame Generator? Is that why you are using the skel.?

[benjamin_burkhalter]

Yes, using frame generator with corresponding steel profiles

[chris]

@benjamin_burkhalter  Are you open to not using Frame Generator and taking a more nuts/bolts approach? Do you mind sharing a screenshot of where you assembly model is currently at... in other words, how much of it has been modeled so far?

[benjamin_burkhalter]

I don't have the time to teach the long form of creating every beam and pipe we use to build with.  I teach Ag Mechanics and we only have about 5 to 10 class periods to work solely on cad software and what it can do.  Sophomore year we start with basic draw shapes to extrude, cut out on CNC Plasma, then weld. Jr. and Sr. years we try to work on more complex assemblies. But the time constraints are the same and our access to the computers with the program are limited as well.  Every year I try to get better so I can teach it better.  

[chris]

@benjamin_burkhalter  I have time today (Sunday) if you'd like to jump on a Zoom call? Just PM me.

[chris]

@benjamin_burkhalter Perhaps these concepts will get you started. Remember, you "skel" doesn't have to be sketches and planes, it can be edges and faces of modeled geometry.