How do I make a spiral?

Andrew_Gullo

How would I go about making a spiral and what would be the best tool?

MichaelPascoe

Here is how you can do it manually:
https://cad.onshape.com/documents/8cb905126d7cad709d946348/w/c207a83647d5d5c0e3c7e60d/e/fa3c4fa3552b9217e0986d02

Here is a custom feature I made a while back that will create them for you:
https://forum.onshape.com/discussion/14570/new-custom-feature-spiral

How to add custom features to your tool bar:

MichaelPascoe

Here is how you can do it manually:
https://cad.onshape.com/documents/8cb905126d7cad709d946348/w/c207a83647d5d5c0e3c7e60d/e/fa3c4fa3552b9217e0986d02

Here is a custom feature I made a while back that will create them for you:
https://forum.onshape.com/discussion/14570/new-custom-feature-spiral

How to add custom features to your tool bar:

romeograham

Thanks @MichaelPascoe - I've been challenged to figure out how to control your feature to get a simple 2D spiral with the dimensions / attributes that I need. It'll take me a bit longer to fully understand your feature.

However, I realized that the built-in Helix does a fine job too, using a working conical body and an extra step of making a separate spiral sketch.


You can make a conical body (revolve or drafted extrude feature) and select the conical face when creating a Helix. Note: the height of the cone may not matter at all for your application, but the differnence in diameter between the bottom of the cone and the top of the cone can be used to control the "OD" and "ID" of your spiral.

Then you can create a sketch on a plane, and USE EDGE to copy the helix to the sketch plane:

Then you can hide the helix and the working body (or delete them with a delete feature) and you have a spiral, ready for other operations:


You can use the geometry of your conical body, and the definition of the helix to have good control over your resulting spiral.

Hope this helps!
Romeo

MichaelPascoe

@romeograham the feature needs to be updated for bug fixes and performance increases. I don't have the time to update it now, but I may be able to find some time in the future.

Andrew_Gullo

Thank you!

MichaelPascoe

Sure thing!