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Hi all,
In summary, I am trying to loft between two "lobes". Each pair of lobes is on a different work plane (see image below). The left lobe of one pair should loft with the left lobe of the other pair, and the same thing between the right lobes should occur. However, I'm having trouble completing what I thought would be a farily straightforward task.
The inner design of lobes was drawn with multiple lines between imported points from excel (using the spline function to better approximate the desired shape). The resulting closed loop was then offset 0.5mm outwards (this was done in all four lobes), however, different numbers of lines were used in each (maybe a reason for my problem...?)
I have attached the Inventor file - any and all help is appreciated!
Thanks in advance,
JR
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@jr12714 wrote:
Hi all,
In summary, I am trying to loft between two "lobes". Each pair of lobes is on a different work plane (see image below). The left lobe of one pair should loft with the left lobe of the other pair, and the same thing between the right lobes should occur. However, I'm having trouble completing what I thought would be a farily straightforward task.
The inner design of lobes was drawn with multiple lines between imported points from excel (using the spline function to better approximate the desired shape). The resulting closed loop was then offset 0.5mm outwards (this was done in all four lobes), however, different numbers of lines were used in each (maybe a reason for my problem...?)
I have attached the Inventor file - any and all help is appreciated!
Thanks in advance,
JR
Hi jr12714,
I can't tell from your description what the trouble is. Are you getting the two lofts, but not liking the results, or are you having trouble selecting the profiles?
I took a quick look and I think the different numbers of lines were the cause of the "ugly" results I got, but I was able to create two criss crossing lofts. You can manaully map the loft results (see the last tab in the Loft dialog) , or you can add some rails for it to follow, etc. in order to get smother results. But I think would likely start over and simplify the sketches.
What is this object and what do the sketch points correspond to? Maybe knowing that would help in coming up with a better approach. Also, can one of these loft be created and the other just copied and rotated into place using the Circular Pattern tool, or are they really two different shapes?
I hope this helps.
Best of luck to you in all of your Inventor pursuits,
Curtis
http://inventortrenches.blogspot.com
@jr12714 wrote:
Yes, this could be done. I'm just a beginner at Inventor and I'm trying to best describe the design I scanned... How did you manage to loft between the two sketches? Curious as to what "ugly" results you obtained!
Hi jr12714,
This is as far as I went (see attached).
I hope this helps.
Best of luck to you in all of your Inventor pursuits,
Curtis
http://inventortrenches.blogspot.com
@jr12714 wrote:
Also, the lobe lofts are not meant to criss cross... they are meant to be parallel tubes. I'm sorry if I didn't explain this correctly. Did you employ the area/rail/centreline loft? Would you mind explaining the steps you took to loft between the two sketches?
re: criss cross
yep, i miss-read this the first time
re: Would you mind explaining the steps you took to loft between the two sketches?
Select the bottom sketch from the browser, then click the profile in the graphics area, then click the Click To Add in the Loft dialog, then repeat for the upper sketch. I was not able to select the "loop", but instead just the overall profile, which told me enough about the sketches to decide not to go much futher.
Q: If you had clean geometry in the bottom sketch, could you project that sketch up to the plane in order to create the top profile, or do they need to match the scan data for top and scan data for bottom?
I hope this helps.
Best of luck to you in all of your Inventor pursuits,
Curtis
http://inventortrenches.blogspot.com
@Anonymous wrote:
Actually, Curtis wrote the book on using Inventor and his bedtime is 3hrs or so away. He will probably post back to ight.
Hi jr12714,
I'm working late tonight, but about to give up too... but now that JDmather is in bed, let's talk about him! 
So attached is my Area loft example for this. Notice that I've only used the scan data to use as a guide. As JDMather mentioned sometimes simplifying the scan data is the best bet. I don't have a great deal of experience with this kind of thing, but from what I have I've learned that using the data to generate actual geometry is generally not what we want to do (although we always start out trying). Instead we bring it in and use it as a guide to create a more refined result.
Anyway, maybe this example will give you some ideas, I didn't make any attempt to stick real close to the exact scan points, as this is just for example. You might find that in your case you have to hold more true to the actual scan data, in which case JDMather's example will be closer to how you want to proceed, but in any case don't feel you must be a slave to all of those little data points if you don't have to.
I hope this helps.
Best of luck to you in all of your Inventor pursuits,
Curtis
http://inventortrenches.blogspot.com
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