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Modelling a race seat

Question asked by Hayden Borrie on Jan 12, 2011
Latest reply on Jan 14, 2011 by Michael Maz

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Something I have been looking at for a while is modelling of a race seat, but so far have not come up with an accurate and robust way of approaching this (am quite new to SW).

The seat in question is a Tillet T9.5XL

I initially attemped to use the 'blueprints' method, sketching multiple profiles, then using them to control a surface.. I created a 3D sketch for the rim, created a Surface Fill then used the freeform function to pull the surface (quite innacurately) into shape. Kind of.

I would be interested to know whether anyone would have a different method than this to create the seat moulding with the edge rim, and have it adaptive, symmetrical, accurate and parametrically driven. I have the seat in question at my disposal, so measuring to create a series of sketches through the part is also an option.

Thanks in advance.

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Tillet_T9.5_XL.zip1.3 MB

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Charles Culp Jan 12, 2011 1:01 PM
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Have you seen the list of tutorials out there for surfacing?

http://www.charlesculp.com/SWUG-2010-08.zip

http://files.solidworks.com/special-videos/advanced-modeling-301-mab.zip
Three part Razor demo:
http://files.solidworks.com/special-videos/advanced-modeling-demo-part1.swf
http://files.solidworks.com/special-videos/advanced-modeling-demo-part2.swf
http://files.solidworks.com/special-videos/advanced-modeling-demo-part3.swf
http://files.solidworks.com/special-videos/razor-mm.zip
Boat Hull Demo:
http://files.solidworks.com/special-videos/boathull-using-freeform.wmv
http://files.solidworks.com/special-videos/boathull-using-freeform.zip
Game Controller Model:
http://files.solidworks.com/special-videos/gamecontroller.zip
Boundary surface Spoon Demo:
http://files.solidworks.com/special-videos/boundary-feature.wmv
Miscel:
http://files.solidworks.com/special-videos/getting around project curve constraint problem.avi
http://files.solidworks.com/special-videos/applying a face tangent constraint.avi
http://www.solidworks.com/sw/support/subscription/SolidWorksTipsandTricksArchives.html

Might I suggest the Razor and Game Controller first. They are probably closest to what you need.

To answer your question directly, I think your sketching is probably in the right direction. I would start with using boundary surface through the main part (meaning the mid-section, where it ends is ambiguous). Then fill the ends with the filled surface tool. If I get a chance after lunch I will try and look at your part and post a sample. Unfortunately I am very busy and might not get a chance.
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- Deepak Gupta @ Charles Culp on Jan 12, 2011 2:13 PM
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  Charles thanks for sharing them
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Jerry Steiger Jan 12, 2011 5:57 PM
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Hayden,

Matt Lombard modeled a somewhat similar seat in his blog:
http://www.dezignstuff.com/blog/?p=2081

I would stay away from Freeform and probably use Boundary Surfaces for most of the areas, with Fill where needed.

In addition to the stuff that Charles mentioned, Matt's SolidWorks Surfacing Bible is a really good resource and cheap for what you get. Another resource that might help are Ed Eaton's Curvy Stuff tutorials:
http://www.dimontegroup.com/Tutorials/SolidWorks_Tutorials.htm

They go back quite a ways, so they don't cover newer stuff, like Boundary Surface, except for a little bit in the latest ones, but they give a good grounding in the basics. You can usually use a Boundary Surface anywhere that you would have used a Loft, although there are some special cases that still require a Loft and sometimes a Loft will work unexpectedly better than a Boundary Surface.

The main trick to a project like this is visualizing how to split the surfaces up into the best pieces to make the software work best.

Jerry Steiger
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Hayden Borrie Jan 14, 2011 4:55 AM
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Thanks guys for the advice, really appreciated.

It sounds like I need to gain a more thorough understanding of the different ways to approach this, and what would be the best approach in the different situations. I will try the tutorials, and then come back to you on how successful I was... hopefully very!
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Michael Maz Jan 14, 2011 7:03 AM
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Do you have a front view jpg by any chance?

Might be worth checking out Matthew Perez. He usually does tutorials and another thing is he defines his models. Most people don't understand the parametric uses of solidworks.
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- Hayden Borrie @ Michael Maz on Jan 14, 2011 8:32 AM
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  Unfortunately I dont have the front jpg, and I am not even sure the other two views snipped from the catalogue) are anything more than a hand sketch to give general information. I could possibly do a few narrow perspective photos from the real thing, to generate the three images.
  
  As far as Matthew's surfacing tutorials, I fully intend to go through the Camaro one at some stage. I will have a look some his work good and proper.
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  - Michael Maz @ Hayden Borrie on Jan 14, 2011 10:09 AM
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    Nice, just post some decent images up .
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Modelling a race seat

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