Helix on a curve

[phobia1]

Hi Guys an gals
Is it possible to draw a curve or spline and get a helix to follow it?

can control helix anyway I like, up, down, sideways, even on an angle, but can't get it to curve.

Thanks in advance
F

[Marten]

Hi,

I think you have to do this manually:

1. Setup the points of the spiral (using workplanes)
2. Draw a 3D spline through those points
3. Create a workplane normal to the spiral direction
4. Draw your profile
5. Use sweep add to create the helix

I created a part with just a few points

H.t.h.

Regards,

Marten

[phobia1]

Thanks for the reply Marten.
Yes it was a matter of doing it the SLOW way.

In the end a colleague drew the required cord in Pro-Eng which I think is now Creo 5.
Obviously when you have the right tools:-)
There was no-way that I could have done it in Co-create PE. She told me that it took just 3 commands in Pro-E.
Best
F

[Marten]

Yes, you need a special command for this to do it fast, but that one is missing from CoCreate. I also would like to have the ability to create a helix with a progressive pitch...

Regards,

Marten

[phobia1]

Yes me too, I guess that Cocreate PE, great that it is, is not the toy for big boys.
I keep running out of parts (:-) and must seriously look at a better tool for next year.
Regards
F

[Marten]

Well, that better tool is the full version, CoCreate Modeling (or Creo elements direct or whatever...)

:-)

[phobia1]

Yes it is. I go for a good look at it next week. I think its called Creo Elements Pro. This is the new name for Pro-Eng...THE BEES KNEES as far as I can see.
:-)

[Marten]

I would argue that Creo Elements Direct is the Bee's knees... :-)

[phobia1]

I will see them all next week. I was only joking as I have one friend who uses Pro_eng and she is always, always showing off.
My own needs are fulfilled in many ways by PE, its only from time to time that I have need of SO MUCH POWER., haha. Thats the best way I can describe the difference on the occasions that I have seen it.
F

[DrRDCharbonneauAphD]

This was one of the questions I had at the PlanetPTCcommunity sight that helped me decide whether to pursue PE as a software solution. The fellow there showed me a finished helix bent around a torus. I didn't ask him how he did that, but it was reassuring that it could be done. My question involved using the spiral to model a variation of a Moebus Magnet coil and he came closer than I've seen in any other program, including Cybermotion.

My question that likely fits in here is


"where the helix command has a button for "wrap around..." can one use that to wrap the coil similarly in the helix command?"


I haven't tried that yet and don't need to just yet, but I have some transducer designs that I may need to produce as illustrations along with details of the device that depicts to the machinist and coil winder just what the plans are saying. The fact that it can do a helix at all was a selling factor because now I can likely create all the surface data needed to fully describe a complex shape like that. Hopefully this thread will answer that.

[DrRDCharbonneauAphD]

Yes me too, I guess that Cocreate PE, great that it is, is not the toy for big boys.
I keep running out of parts (:-) and must seriously look at a better tool for next year.


The parts question was answered for me at the other site. We have 60 parts max to work with. What we can do is union a group of parts into a single part and make more parts in that fashion. I've done some technical illustrations on the board in my life that involved exploding more than 60 parts for an overall parts catalog effort. The professional version of CoCreate has unilmited parts in 3D and, I was told, has more import and export capabilities.

My system, till, as you are saying "next year," is using progeCAD2009 personal to create my 2D dwg's then bring them here to make the solids and export those as STL's to Blender. I'm trying the progeCAD Professional for 30 days and it can also put out POV files for rendering. The problem with progeCAD, like AutoCAD, it can't "wind a slinky" into a helix unless you write yourself a LISP to simulate it. I could envision that being done or prehaps an AutoLISP program is out there for that already.

What I like about the progeCAD is the price of $400 to buy the Pro and it does all the rendering that Blender does. I would still like to buy a Pro versiion of CoCreate. So far I've put in a contact to a reseller, but no response yet. It's the weekend so I don't expect it yet. What I like thus far about CoCreate is the algorhythm they have used to generate the solid faces. It probably exceeds progeCAD or AutoCAD, but moreover it has a far better repertoire of built in commands that mean when used to write LISP's it will go farther. It depends on the price, but if it is low then it sounds as though someone could write their own way into somethat rivals Solidworks.

It depends on your time and ambition.

Dr. C.

[DrRDCharbonneauAphD]

Here is a copy of the toroid coil from the other site.

Dr. C.