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How would you approach this Torus Coil in Alibre?

DBC

Senior Member
Hello Harold,
well it took me less than 30 min. from reading to posting...i had to hurry, wife was waiting with dinner ;-)

I'll try:
The Turn density represents a value of how many wraps will be done. Greater values will make the coil wraps tighter, but too much and the "helix" will intersect itself...
The Major Helix Width Scale is a value which is calculated with a cosine and starts at a "radius" of "x"-model units.
The Loop Scale is the diameter of a wrap of the coil, also given in medel units
HeightScale was used in the original slinky to give the slinky a "length". As far as the coil is on the same plane/level the "length" is not needed.
The Angle increment is used for the accuracy of the wraps.
The wire diameter should speak for itself and is also in model units ;-)
So if you use the prefilled values and you edit the path sketch, you should be able to measure the distance between the start point of the helix and the z-axis. It should show as Loop Scale + Width Scale in model units = 1 + 2 = 3 (for me mm, for you maybe inch)
Regards
Stefan
Hello Don,

It was a pleasure for me.
Regards
Stefan

Thanks for supplying field definitions Stefan, and thanks again to everyone who participated in this little adventure. Amazing what can happen when a group of folks come together with a common interest.
 

DBC

Senior Member
Yeah AD really isn't the best tool for this. Best way (for me at least) is to use the flow tool in Moi. AD is just too basic for this sort of thing.

Yep, super easy in MoI. Even easier than SolidWorks. Thanks for the reminder Sebastian. Good to have all kinds of tools in one's toolbox. Rotated and ends added in Screen-0008. Screen-0007 is screen capture before selecting done with stretch checked.
 

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DBC

Senior Member
Yep, super easy in MoI. Even easier than SolidWorks. Thanks for the reminder Sebastian. Good to have all kinds of tools in one's toolbox. Rotated and ends added in Screen-0008. Screen-0007 is screen capture before selecting done with stretch checked.

Don't know if anyone is interested, but I took that MoI version, opened in Alibre and rendered with KeyShot. Too bad we can't get a flow/deformation tool in Alibre. I could see this as a handy tool when traditional sheet bending is not practical.
 

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HaroldL

Alibre Super User
Yep, super easy in MoI. Even easier than SolidWorks.
That looks real nice, Don.
If I am remembering correctly, I think in SolidWorks it would be a function of the Swept Boss with the Twist Along Path option selected. I'll have to give it a try when I'm back at work next week.

You would think it would be not too big of a challenge to add a Toroid function to the Helical Boss tool in AD. Maybe it should be an enhancement request, if it hasn't been already.
 
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DBC

Senior Member
That looks real nice, Don.
If I am remembering correctly, I think in SolidWorks it would be a function of the Swept Boss with the Twist Along Path option selected. I'll have to give it a try when I'm back at work next week.

You would think it would be not too big of a challenge to add a Toroid function to the Helical Boss tool in AD. Maybe it should be an enhancement request, if it hasn't been already.

There were a couple ways to do it in SW, if I remember correctly, but I did it with a line on a circle using surface sweep that provided a twist object that one could select the outer edge to project to sketch. Here are some screen captures. PS: There are SW tutorials on YouTube for this if you need more detail.

Yes, basically need a sweep with a twist. That is what TurboCAD has as well. Sweep tool with a twist option.
 

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