Helical Truss

[BMWiley]

How is everyone this glorious morning!!!

Ok so im in a pickle. Having problems creating a helical truss/ shape. Ive managed to get a simple spline spiral. Which im still not 100 percent happy with. But it will suffice for right now.
Now one of my problems is extruding, and offsetting.
Im pretty ok at 3d modelling, but when it comes to complex shapes i fall flat on my face. Ive including a dwg that shows a plan view of the structure, as well as my 3d spine. the small circles are the truss cords. Its a 16" flat truss, ran parallel with another to create a spiral ribbon.

The plan view is from the designer, ive noticed but maybe its not true... their helix doesnt seem consistent.

I know im leaving a lot of info out, please ask all thw questions youd like. Ill be here all day.

Using, 64bit ACAD 2011 Nilla

[ReMark]

What will your truss be supporting?

[BMWiley]

Itself... Its an architainment piece. Imagine a walk way through the center, and scrim stretched between the paralleled truss. The red in the plan view is the open area.

[ReMark]

Were you thinking of using a tube shape (square/rectangular) or a cylindrical shape to construct the truss?

Could the multiple 3" diameter circles suggest you are going cylindrical?

Is there a kink of sorts in your spline or is it an optical illusion?

[BMWiley]

the cords are 3 inch aluminum and the diagonal pipe will be 1 1/2". Here is a image of one of their references. In the process of inquiring if a model exsists, and is available.

Truss Visual.png

[JD Mather]

Helix
Sweep
then a whole bunch of work for the connecting pieces
or
Helix
Curve driven pattern in a modern program like Autodesk Inventor.

Hmm, haven't they added a curve driven Array in AutoCAD? Might not be so bad afterall.

Measure or Divide if the curve driven Array isn't in there (but I think maybe it is).

[JD Mather]

Ive managed to get a simple spline spiral. Which im still not 100 percent ....

How did you get that - it doesn't look right to me. Look at end view - it should be circular.
Did you use the Helix command?

[BMWiley]

Is there a kink of sorts in your spline or is it an optical illusion?

Yes there is a kink, i copied one section multiple times. and havent smoothed it out yet.

[BMWiley]

When i tried the helix command the results werent what i was looking for. When laid on top of the designers plan, it didnt match, what makes me think either theirs may not be possible, or its not consistent. Or maybe im just wrong... which isnt a far stretch. What i did to get the kink was i mapped out one revolution with a spline, then copied, and tried doing little modifications to get smooth. But yes, its not exactly perfect, im not 100% percent happy, but i wanted to figure out the process.

[BMWiley]

Helix
Sweep
then a whole bunch of work for the connecting pieces
or
.

Ive managaed to create something a little better with helix... not sure what i did wrong first time around, but on a better track. Thanks. Still stumped but in a better place now.