Hi, I've been trying to cut using a ruled surface as my tool but keep getting errors saying "operation failed due to geometric condition." I've tried both cut with surface and the split tool. I'm modeling a bicycle frame to be laser cut and need edges that allow me to put a bead on them. It works for one side but not the other and the order doesn't matter. Any guidance would be much appreciated.
I tried everything I could think of within the confines of surfacing tools and couldn't get it to work either. While I'm sure there's someone out there who's better with surfaces than me who can figure this out, I do have a Solid-Work-Around for you:
Use a Cut-Sweep instead. Sketch a rectangle on the Right plane that encompasses the region to be removed. Keep it as small as possible so It doesn't intersect itself in the sweep. Use the same interior loop used for your Ruled Surface as the Path for your Sweep. Make sure to set Profile Twist to remain Normal to the Front Plane.
It's not as elegant as surfaces (when they work), but it'll do.
~Kam
I'm not big on welds, but I used a Replace Face instead of the Cut With Surface, and I was able to put a weld bead around the outer edge.
Move the surface by 0.1mm then cut it. I do not know why
1-2G0FGM wrote:
Maha Nadarasa wrote:
Move the surface by 0.1mm then cut it. I do not know why
It's because the cut in the download part leaves a lot of extraneous edges, because the cut goes in and out of the material of the part. So moving the face first and then cutting it makes sure it's a clean cut.
BUT, using Replace Face will add and remove material in a single feature. This makes is a more efficient solution than a combination of Move Face and Cut With Surface.
Thanks for the explanation.
Hi Matt,
I appreciate the help with the Replace Surface, it worked great but I'm having trouble with cutting the other end. It says that I have self-intersecting geometry. Any thoughts where I might have screwed up?
That's a zero thickness error, because your ruled surface is essentially tangent to the solid face at the bottom of the saddle, there. That's why the Move Face works - it removes the tangency, and why the Replace Face works - because it ignores the solid face.
Another thing you can do to avoid the zero thickness error is to use the Tapered To Vector option in the Ruled surface, to angle the ruled surface slightly into the solid. The taper angle has to be 0-90, so make it say 87. You may have to fiddle with both the Reverse Direction and Alternate Side controls to get it to go to the outside and into the material at the same time. Confusing controls.
In the 1st option Move Face and Replace Face combination does not work. But Surface Cut works. What is the reason?
Maha Nadarasa wrote:
In the 1st option Move Face and Replace Face combination does not work. But Surface Cut works. What is the reason?
The cut works, but it works badly. See all the extra faces/edges created? That will probably cause other features to fail downstream. If you cut this first, the Move Face will fail, unless you select all 4 faces. This is why you have to be really picky about your models, and make sure all the faces are clean. The software isn't going to do that for you.
Here's another way through this one. With all of the bad faces created by the cut, you can delete the bad faces. But, you can't delete them all at once. Because of the way the cuts intersect, removing them all at once creates more zero thickness errors, so you have to delete them in pairs:
You can waste a lot of time figuring this stuff out.
You're AWESOME @Matt Lombard! Thank you, racked my brain for a couple days trying to figure this out. I really appreciate it!
I posted a similar question not too long ago:
Sweep Along 3D Path While Maintaining Orientation In One Dimension
Ruled surfaces are my new favorite surfacing tool. After reading this thread, Replace Face will make things even easier.
Jim Sculley The easiest way to do what you were asking in that thread is the Radiate Surface, although Ruled will give you more options.
That was my first thought, but Radiate would cause downstream failures due to the extra edges that are created:
That's a zero thickness error, because your ruled surface is essentially tangent to the solid face at the bottom of the saddle, there. That's why the Move Face works - it removes the tangency, and why the Replace Face works - because it ignores the solid face.
Another thing you can do to avoid the zero thickness error is to use the Tapered To Vector option in the Ruled surface, to angle the ruled surface slightly into the solid. The taper angle has to be 0-90, so make it say 87. You may have to fiddle with both the Reverse Direction and Alternate Side controls to get it to go to the outside and into the material at the same time. Confusing controls.