Hi everyone,
My name's Rayane, I'm new on this forum and I was hoping you could give me some advice. I have the dimensions for some lobed mixers, and I am trying to reproduce them on Solidworks. My idea was to draw the lobed mixer cross-sections shape on different planes (these cross-sections have different diameter as the lobed mixer is "diverging") and then use the lofted boss/base feature to create the part. The problem is that the thickness of the lobed mixer is not homogeneous over the whole section, therefore the only other possible option is to create sections of different thickness using the lofted boss/base feature and then assemble them together. I am quite unsure about that. I have attached a picture of what I am currently doing on SolidWorks, just so you can understand better what I mean (this one has 20 lobes).
I have also included some pictures of one lobed mixer with 12 lobes (along with its dimensions) and I am trying to figure out how was it drawn on SolidWorks. Can anyone please tell me what steps I need to take to reproduce the same shape, giving dimensions?
Thanks in advance for your help!
Hello Rayane,
I am assuming that the lobes are all similar and patterned by 12? First start by understanding the manufacturing process of this part. Is it formed, drawn, molded, machined etc.
To start with, only create 1/12th and starting as a revolve by 30 degrees. Then create a separate body that represents the lobe (minus wall thickness) and then do an "Indent" feature in the revolve. Add fillets and then finish, by circular pattern the body 360 degrees by 12. These are only the major features, there would be many more features in-between these depending on actual drawing and dimensions. Hopefully you have a dxf?
Of course there are many other ways to do this, but this, I think is a pretty easy way without having to do surfacing. See attached.
Mark