swept surface not showing up

Discussion in 'Pro/Engineer & Creo Elements/Pro' started by dakeb, Oct 24, 2003.

  1. dakeb

    dakeb Guest

    Guys,

    I am making a simple cable assembly, a atraight piece of wire between two
    connectors. I don't want to use ProCable for this, so though I would use a
    solid pipe feature. Trouble is the pipe only shows up as a centre line, no
    surfaces displayed.

    I have my Environment set to show Thick Cables.

    So then I tried it as a swept surface. I created a straight datum curve
    between two points. Then tried to create the sweep. It wouldn't let me
    select the curve as a valid trajectory. I guessed it was because it was a
    single segment curve, so I recreated the datum curve as a sketched curve
    with two straight segments. This time the Sweep was happy with the
    trajectory - go figure! Trouble is, the surfaces still don't show up!

    Finally, I created an circular extruded surface between the connectors, and
    this time the surfaces did show up. Phew.

    But what is wrong that sweeps and pipes don't show? If I create cables using
    ProCable they show up fine.

    Dave
     
    dakeb, Oct 24, 2003
    #1
  2. dakeb

    David Janes Guest

    : Guys,
    :
    : I am making a simple cable assembly, a atraight piece of wire between two
    : connectors. I don't want to use ProCable for this, so though I would use a
    : solid pipe feature. Trouble is the pipe only shows up as a centre line, no
    : surfaces displayed.

    This question of substitutes for their routed systems packages has come up a few
    times. One of the last times, someone pointed out 'Insert>Advanced>Pipe' as a way
    to create pipes without first creating a curve trajectory 'thru points'. It is
    pretty handy: just create a bunch of points, actually, one at each place you want
    the pipe feature to change direction, then select them to create the pipe. But, as
    you point out, Dave, sometimes you don't get geometry. It seems like you created
    your pipe in assembly mode. You might have noticed that there was no menu
    reference to geometry. Now try creating the pipe in part mode. Besides prompting
    you for values for diameter and wall thickness, it gives you a menu selection for
    geometry. Geometry in part mode, no geometry in assembly mode (but parametric info
    does show up in a drawing). Oh, yeah, and I thought it might be a neat thing to
    have in sheetmetal to run some tubing around the outside of a housing: NO pipe
    feature in sheetmetal.
    :
    : I have my Environment set to show Thick Cables.
    :
    : So then I tried it as a swept surface. I created a straight datum curve
    : between two points. Then tried to create the sweep. It wouldn't let me
    : select the curve as a valid trajectory. I guessed it was because it was a
    : single segment curve, so I recreated the datum curve as a sketched curve
    : with two straight segments. This time the Sweep was happy with the
    : trajectory - go figure! Trouble is, the surfaces still don't show up!
    :
    Seems to me I remember the surface collapsing (but oddly, not failing) if the
    corner radius was too small.

    : Finally, I created an circular extruded surface between the connectors, and
    : this time the surfaces did show up. Phew.
    :
    : But what is wrong that sweeps and pipes don't show?

    I don't think it's one thing that's wrong. You have your choice of partial
    solutions outside of routed systems and they don't want to make them too good or
    you won't have to spend another couple quid on the good stuff.

    David Janes
     
    David Janes, Oct 24, 2003
    #2
  3. dakeb

    dakeb Guest

    We have the routed application, but I don't want to use it for a simple
    point to point straight cable. Why? Because it means I have to create lots
    of extraneous files to be stored in I-link that won't have proper part
    numbers. And it will take longer. So we have the 'good stuff' already. I
    wan't a simple solution to a simple problem.

    It looks like 3D swept surfaces cannot be created in an assembly. I know I
    can create a 2D swept surface, because it works for a sketched curve. Why
    does ProE let you attempt to create 3D sweeps if it can't display them? Why
    can't ProE display 3d sweeps in an assy? What other types of surface are
    useless in an assy that ProE lets you create but not display? When is ProE
    going to allow 3D solid features in an assy? I really don't want to store
    part files of assy features.

    And another gripe! When is PTC going to allow us to measure the length of a
    trajectory created as a sketch during feature creation?
     
    dakeb, Oct 28, 2003
    #3
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