2 Replies Latest reply on Jan 20, 2011 5:55 PM by Andrew Emmert

a question about working with a minimum radius of curvature.

Andrew Emmert Jan 19, 2011 5:55 PM

Hey guys,

I'm working on a cover for a lighting fixture. I think I've got all the surfacing for the shape figured out, but when I go to thicken the part to 2.5mm, I get the min curvature radius problem that seems to be a fairly common issue to run into.

I've been messing with some of the settings in the surface knit feature, as well as playing with the sketches that comprise the various lofts trying to get that min radius curve up to 2.5mm so that the thicken feature will work. I also consulted my surfacing bible, played with deleting the offending face and filling it back in. Thus far, nothing has worked to my satisfaction.

I've attached the file here for whoever is interested, maybe you guys could give me some pointers on how to go about restructuring the model so that the min radius curve is up to where I need it to be.

Thanks in advance,

COVER_3.SLDPRT.zip 274.4 KB

Re: a question about working with a minimum radius of curvature.

Charles Culp Jan 20, 2011 11:03 AM (in response to Andrew Emmert)
1. Instead of creating a linear extension in Sketch16, I grabbed one of the ends of the convert entities and drug it to extend it further. I did this on both ends to delete the tiny segments that were not a continuation of the primary surfaces.

2. Your problem was that these small surfaces would be enveloped in the offset/thicken, which SW can't handle. In your case, they should have been avoided entirely, but often you can do a variable shell to get around it. This is where you shell, but make that surface a thicker shell offset than the standard wall thickness.

3. I also used Shell instead of thicken, it has some more robust "checks" and also does some fudging for you. In this case, it worked!

The problem area. I removed these small segments at both ends:

COVER_3_cc.SLDPRT.zip 422.2 KB
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- Re: a question about working with a minimum radius of curvature.
  
  Andrew Emmert Jan 20, 2011 5:55 PM (in response to Charles Culp)
  
  Thanks Charles!
  
  with your help, we've managed to live to fight another day, and that's all that really matters, right?
  
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