Help creating an helix-like ramp for a mine

Hello all, greetings!

Have tried all before posting and I simply cannot get this thing done:

I need to draw a tunnel that rides along an helix-like path.

- Using 'sweep' creates a constantly twisting section, but in the reality the bottom of the tunnel (called invert also), must be horizontal (with a slight inclination for water drainage).

- Using loft doesn't function.

- Using extrude ends in a sweep command, with equal results as before.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance

Mine Ramp.dwg

sorry man ..... ehat 's the new wz ur file??

is this part of a much larger model? your curves are located very very far away from the origin and each other. one is located at -854031,5764052, 20 and the other is at 454692, 7197436, 1 E +06

When i try to rotate the model its like an earthquake:)

your "tunnels" arent valid(they are regions) for a loft and your path isnt valid either. I moved your model to the origin first. then i did UCS>OB and selected the first cross section. this aligned the xy plane with the object, i then exploded your region and used the PEDIT command>Multiple>Join and make your cross sections polylines. Your last section isnt closed and needs to be, also a few of your cross sections have copies underneath themselves. After i moved the UCS to each cross section, exploded and PEDIT i then redrew your path using a SPLINE. you can do a loft without using the path but it wont give you exactly what you want(but close).

How are you defining this path?

Thanks a lot, shift1313:

You're right, this is part of a larger model, but, as I managed to sweep the profiles for the rest of the mines, I decided to ask for help only for this part.

Now, I'm trying to understand the way you lofted the profile:

- I forgot to erase the two regions, so forgive me.

- How can I know when a polyline is closed?

- Why isn't my path valid?

- "a few of your cross sections have copies underneath themselves". I erased all polylines and couldn't found a copy underneath them. I don't understand.

- The path was defined by the client, and cannot be modified, that is why I need the profile to follow exactly that route.

- How did you draw a 3d spline?

Thanks for your help. If you could asnwer those questions, in order to understand how to do the job, I will be very thankful.

- How can I know when a polyline is closed?

After I exploded all your cross sections and began trying loft it gave me an error. I then tried the loft one section at a time until i got all the way to the end and realized the last one was giving me the error. When you click on the profile you can sometimes see the blue snap points dont meet in one corner. I just used PEDIT>Close to take care of it. I think there is a command but i dont recall what it is because ive never used it(but have seen it on here) I used the PEDIT>Close on all cross sections. Im guessing you drew one then copies it around to the other positions? If i had to guess id say your bottom right corner points arent touching.

- Why isn't my path valid?

It needs to be converted to a polyline. If you select it and right click>properties it will tell you what the selected object is. If you type PEDIT, select your line then Spline curve it will convert it BUT it will change the curve slightly. It worked as a Path for me only using the first and last cross section but it wouldnt let me use it for all the cross sections so i'd have to play with it a bit more. My guess is that it doesnt hit the midpoint of all your cross sections and this is making it invalid as a path.

- "a few of your cross sections have copies underneath themselves". I erased all polylines and couldn't found a copy underneath them. I don't understand.

if you select and delete your starting and ending cross sections, there was a copy beneath them of the exact same thing. I just mentioned it because this can cause you issues down the road with extraneous lines.

- The path was defined by the client, and cannot be modified, that is why I need the profile to follow exactly that route.

- How did you draw a 3d spline?

I just used the SPLINE command and used your green path to snap to.

I played with it a little more. For some reason it doesnt like your second cross section(from the top of the tunnel). After I converted all your cross sections to polylines, and converted the path to a spline curve, i deleted the second cross section and copied the first one over to its location and it seemed to work fine. Here is a copy of the file. Because of size limitation its only the path and your guides. You can loft through them selecting your cross sections in order then P for path and select your green line. Let me know if this does not work

Mine%20Ramp[1].dwg

I followed your instructions and worked perfectly. I also checked your dwg and everything is ok.

Thanks a lot, you saved me a lot of time.

glad it worked out for you. I am by no means an expert so check back and someone with more knowledge may give you another/better way to do this.

good luck

Shift1313

You did all those in AutoCAD 2005?! If so, then nice

Nobody will force you to update your profile and you may even delete that info. But it's for your convenience to receive answers you can use in your software.

well im at work and i have 07. at home i have a full version of 05, and a student version of 09. maybe i should put the software in my sig:) that was done in 07 as loft wasnt available in 05 without some sort of master lisp writer at the helm

okay fuccaro i made a profile. to be fair you are using 07 now and not 06 right:)

No, I still use 2006. I had a chance to try 2007 once, and probable I will have a few more in the near future. But at my job they don't intend to upgrade...