Rectangular coil

[ASanderson]

Can anyone suggest a technique for generating a rectangular coil?

That is, a coil of circular cross section wire wrapped around a rectangular former.

I think it needs to be a variable section sweep using trajpar, but I have not been able to make a working relation.

Any ideas thankfully accepted.

 

[dr_gallup]

Do you really need to model all the wire turns in your coil? I only model the lead-in and lead-out wires, the rest is just a solid lump showing the space the windings take up. Just like screw threads, somethings have too much overhead with too little benifit to model the geometry exactly.

 

[Brian_Adkins]

There was a really cool tutorial on this exact topic in Profiles magazine quite a while ago...


http://www.profilesmagazine.com/p19/tips-helixes-pg1.html


-Brian

 

[ASanderson]

Thanks, guys. that was quick!


In this case I do need to model the actual coil. I really appreciate the article URL. That is of course the way to go!





Looks like I have been guilty of linear thinking (again)


thanks once again


Adrian S

 

[kvision]

BEWARE of these methods. It does not necessarily produce the correct geometry. The intersection of the surfaces leads to wobbling. This is especially noticable if you make a flat spring in a rectangular way. Do a surface analysis and you'll see problems. The sheetmetal approach requires a lot more work and knowledge. There a straight forward and simple approach.


2004-11-18_224242_generalized_helix.zip





NO slope problems...


View attachment 520


Any shape...


View attachment 521


Much easier than sheetmetal to use.





Good luck.
Edited by: kvision