Stuck on Loft tool use

alex_giuliani

Hi, been stuck on this loft problem for 5+ hours now sadly. Just trying to connect these two profiles. Immediately get the self-intersecting body error although it appears that the region shown does not intersect itself by design. Also, when I put a fourth guide line down, it gives that error that suggests it is not intersecting the profile boundary, despite the fact that the bridging curve or spline was placed with the profile vertices as its endpoints.
https://cad.onshape.com/documents/e9b081d988abf5d0e12f7f20/w/e8e019799cc004b46ea168b8/e/324e54bcf34f2d9bd0c5205a?renderMode=0&uiState=6629d0f9e2ec4b7fda863562

dirk_van_der_vaart

Have a look at this
https://cad.onshape.com/help/Content/loft.htm?Highlight=Loft

john_lopez363

@alex_giuliani
Hey Alex, good job figuring things out...I took a look at your doc and it seems like you have the Lofts figured out. As is almost always the case with OnShape there are many way to get the end result you need.  In the end that is really all that matters....so two thumb-up for you!

So for a bit of feedback, you have a LOT of stuff going in your model (59 Features)...there are a many extra steps that could be eliminated with a different approach and some forethought about the overall workflow of your design (and perhaps some techniques you haven't yet learned).

I modeled this with just 18 Features.  If you'd like to take a look at this approach hear is a link to my doc. 
https://cad.onshape.com/documents/f8910bd718017fcf6040775a/w/b060c7d5093c677fd4d210fb/e/801428ecf1253f12a14224c2

OR perhaps, the top faces of the Lofts is not quite what you want...in that case, check out option #2 (Opt2 tab) in the doc.

alex_giuliani

Thank you so much @john_lopez363!! I kept fiddling with the lofts and adjusted things until I got a surface that would generate because I wanted a 3d print for today. Never figured out what was wrong with the other approach. I will take a look at your models tomorrow when I have some more time. I have so many features and entities in my model because I haven't touched onshape in a while and had to fiddle a lot to get up and running again.