I have designed the planar spiral I need (dimensions and nr of turns) using the equation curve however, when I try and do the sweep with a rectangular cross-section of 0.5mm (this is the value I need) I get the 'self-intersection error) - I have tried reducing the the cross-section size to 0.1mm even but I keep getting the same error.
I have tried creating different planes for the point of origin of the sweep - perpendicular and at an angle however I can't figure out what I'm going wrong.
*The coil's terminals are not the issue because the error persists even if I delete them*
Any suggestions are welcomed. Thank you a lot
Have you tried starting with a 3D helix and setting it as a spiral, or starting with the 0.5 square in relation to a center line, then using coil set to a spiral, these will do what you want. Unless you NEED the 2D Equation curve.
3D Helix
Coil in 2D
Hi! In general, you want to place the profile at either end of the path. It looks like you place it in the middle. The behavior can be flaky and unpredictable. For your case, you may need to do it in two separate sweeps.
Many thanks!
@blandb Thank you for the solution - I did it in the end with the 3D helix and it worked fine.
I wanted to use the 2D Equation Curve to have more control over the spiral and also to draw different shapes-
I am still curious why it didn't work with the 2D Equation - because I used the same approach when I created the sweep with the 3D helix as I did with the 2D Equation .... is it possible that the 2D Equation is more prone to errors?
I don't have a lot of experience so just trying to understand. 😅
@johnsonshiue I tried changing its position and it didn't seem to help....I know that creating two separate sweeps works with a circular cross-section (saw the solution on a different post in the forum) and in my case it worked when I had a bigger gap between turns / bigger spiral
Thank you both for the answers and advice! For now I'll keep using the 3D helix until I have no other choice
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