Problem Creating a "square" coil

leecasey

Hi guys, I need to create a square coil but I can't pattern the section I need to. I want to pattern it so I can add a configuration variable to specify the amount of turns. 

Link: Coil | Part Studio 1 (onshape.com)



This is what I'm going for.....

S1mon

Check out "contour spiral" and all the other feature scripts in this document:
https://cad.onshape.com/documents/59007ff281e43510ea3797a2/w/a6cb15bca8f1b2bf6e312ccd/e/da24ed59289e4bf68e180e6c

Evan_Reese

@leecasey
I can't think of a use case where you truly need to boolean them together, and it will bog down your model. I recommend using a composite part for this. Here's an example of a configured square spring, and some interesting notes on my implementation:

• I used the Contour Spiral custom feature that Simon mentioned which is written by @konstantin_shiriazdanov
• I used my own Profile Sweeper custom feature for the wire, which automates the creation of the circle, selecting of the tangent path, and sweeping of the circle.
• I used my own Linear Pattern Plus feature, which has the option to make a composite part when NEW is selected. This is nice, because you won't always know how many parts you want the pattern to make, so selecting them manually and using the native Composite Part feature is problematic.
• I also used my Part Name feature to configure the name with the number of turns, which can't be done with the normal property configs in Onshape.