End conditions for a sweep?

øyvind_kaurstad

This may well be a stupid question, but as a CAD newbie, I think I can get away with it.  :-)

Why are there no explicit end conditions for a sweep? Earlier today I was doing something very simple, I wanted to make a pipe from a simple arc, but this pipe was going to have a lining, so I wanted to just make a small internal collar/ridge at the end of the pipe to stop the lining from going all the way through.

I started with a sketch of the pipe profile (just a circle), and then I sketched two more circles inside, one for the hole and one even smaller for the collar/ridge (don't know the proper name for it). Then I sketched an arc on a plane normal to the first one, and used that to sweep the pipe.

Now I wanted to sweep the internal ridge, but I wanted it to stop after just a small distance of the sweep. However, since the sweep insists on following the entire sweep path, that seems not possible. I don't see any other way than to create an identical arc to the first one, but of course a lot shorter, and then use that for the last sweep. That seems cumbersome, so I am wondering why there are no end conditions for a sweep? It could be up to plane, up to vertex, even as a length variable (along sweep path). At least I think that should be possible...

Am I making any sense here?

NeilCooke

That does make sense, but adding another arc to the same sketch, or a new one, is not too onerous. Plus you can also dimension the length of an arc or spline to control the length of your sweep.  Dimension an arc length by clicking the two end points then the arc itself.  Dimension spline length by clicking the spline. 

øyvind_kaurstad

Thanks for the tip on dimensioning the arc length. I hadn't noticed that.
It still might be a good idea for you guys to implement end conditions for sweeps, though.  :-)

jakeramsley

øyvind_kaurstad said:

Thanks for the tip on dimensioning the arc length. I hadn't noticed that.
It still might be a good idea for you guys to implement end conditions for sweeps, though.  :-)

In the meantime, I use the replace face feature to do my sweep end conditions.

øyvind_kaurstad

jakeramsley said:

øyvind_kaurstad said:

Thanks for the tip on dimensioning the arc length. I hadn't noticed that.
It still might be a good idea for you guys to implement end conditions for sweeps, though.  :-)

In the meantime, I use the replace face feature to do my sweep end conditions.

Aha, yet another tip that is easily forgotten. Do you then create an explicit surface where the sweep should end, and then use replace face with that?

jakeramsley

øyvind_kaurstad said:

Aha, yet another tip that is easily forgotten. Do you then create an explicit surface where the sweep should end, and then use replace face with that?

Yes, or take advantage of geometry is already there.

For example, if I want to create a swept profile that joins these two parts, rather than do a loft I would make a sweep then replace the end faces.  This way I'll just re-use the surfaces that are already there.