Extrude or Sweep?

[Oxygen454]

Here is the polylines...

Sk3D_5.dwg

[nocturne00]

Ow its acad2004 ur using, and the default is 3points.

in 3points, you must establish a sort of triangular slicing plane using three points. ill post a screen.

the yellow line was created using 3P (3d polyline)

thats the sort of slicing plane im talkin about.

[Oxygen454]

Exactally what I am looking for now how did you do that? haha

[nocturne00]

Take note, you dont really need that triangle i drew there, you can establish that slicing plane depending on the orientation of your cross hair

[nocturne00]

See the yellow triangle? its just a figurative to show how to establish your slicing plane using 3 points. its the simplest for me. the other slicing methods are a bit limited on how to orient your slicing plane.

[Oxygen454]

Okay so I dont need to use a poly line? Or I do?

[nocturne00]

well maybe as just a guide on where you intend to slice the object. but this is just on a case to case basis, for example you want to slice an object in the middle, you dont need a polyline coz there are already the ONSNAP>Midpoint points where you could locate your slicing plane.

 

But for the object in your drawing, yes you will need a guide on where to snap the slicing plane

[Oxygen454]

That part I got but I cant seem to slice this beam because there is many different levels, Im not sure how you did it. Somewhere when I pick the 3 points and then click for the last info to enter... it cuts on the wrong places.

 

Every time I try and slice, I either cut the beam in half or I get the right cut but the piece I want is gone and the piece that should be gone is still there.

[ReMark]

I use SLICE with the 3-point option. It might help if you change your UCS and using a polyline construct a visual reference.

 

When the command prompts for which side to keep take the safe approach and select the option BOTH. Then YOU decide which side to keep by erasing the one you don't want. Simple.

[shift1313]

it always helps me to orient the object looking into the cutting plane. For instance if you hide the right or left side view plane you should be looking at the beam in a way that your plane would slice in the +- Z direction. Then i take my free orbit and rotate the part just a little so i can get to snap points needed to create the plane, or my reference lines like nocturn was mentioning and how he was looking at the beam in his screen shot. If you change your shade mode to wireframe sometimes its easier to see your snap points(depending on the object). If things start to get really complicated with your part you can right click on the Osnap button on the bottom and set what snap points your interested in(endpoints) and you have an osnap toolbar which i use often.

 

good luck

[Oxygen454]

I tried similar steps as you guys mentioned but it was doing really weird cutting planes. I think my points are wrong where I choose to cut the beam and also I havent tried the Both option when Im done picking my points. I start from the middle of the beam looking at it from just the side, then across down to the bottom flange and back up to the starting point on the end of the beam. Then I click on the beam and the beam disappears or if I click on the end piece I want to cut out, the beam splits in half lol.

 

Having the view nocturne showed has given me the closest result. Result of having the piece I dont want left over haha.

[shift1313]

okay i opened up your drawing and used your line to slice the beam and it works. I think the issue you are having is with that third point.

 

First thing i did was move the UCS to the end point of your line. Then I type in SLICE. select the object and hit enter. then i select the end points of your line and for the third point i manually entered 0,0,-1 because i knew this was how you wanted to slice the object. , keep both sides and it worked fine. The two points on your line are selecting two points on your plane, if your third point isnt one of those two coordinates with a + or - value in the z you will be in trouble.

 

Another thing you can do is rotate your ucs.

follow these steps.

 

Type UCS, M for move, then click on the end point of your line all the way to the right of the beam. Now your 0,0,0 is located at this point. Now go to your Tools menu up top, New UCS, and select Z. This will prompt you for a degree you want to rotate your ucs around the Z axis. Type in 35(if thats the degree you want to slice the end of your I beam off. Your line is actually at 11degrees.

 

With your ucs located at the point you want to slice your beam and rotated at 35 degrees you can now use your slice command again.

 

SLICE, select your Ibeam. For slice plane type ZX for the z-x plane. It prompts you for a location on the plane, since you moved your ucs(didnt have to) you can say0,0,0 which is default. If you did not move your ucs you could enter a coordinate or select that line end point you previously drew. B for both sides and you should have achieved a slice.

 

using a pre-existing plane makes things relatively easy, especially if you are drawing things in a planar fashion. Once your objects and slices become irregular you will need to create reference geometry to slice object or other objects.

[Morgan]

interesting read, you guys seem to use your ucs more than I do.

[shift1313]

just as another note. on these older versions i am constantly moving the ucs around, using 3 point or z-axis vector to align it in an abnormal fashion. on 07+ i use the dynamic usc or dynamic input which most of the time is very useful.

 

after you are done slicing your beam if you want to move the ucs back you can rotate it -35 degrees using the same method or just type UCS, W for world. World will move the ucs back to its original point and orientation in the drawing(which is where it starts when you open acad).

 

good luck

[shift1313]

Morgan, do you leave your dynamic input on(button at the bottom) and dynamic ucs(DYN and DUCS)?

 

There are several drawings i design or work on that will have passages and things internal to a part that are rotated off axis and moving, rotating and aligning the ucs is very handy.

[Morgan]

Shift, I don't use either, but I think most of the things I've modeled haven't been complicated to the point where I needed to use the UCS a lot.

[nocturne00]

interesting read, you guys seem to use your ucs more than I do.

My main reason for having to reorient the ucs a lot coz in 3d modeling you almost always have to rotate solids. I hate using rotate3d and only use it on a case to case basis where i need to rotate on an object or 2 points, but most of the time I just use Rotate with the proper UCS orientation.

I work with 4 viewports, the Four:Left or Four: Right option. main window in iso 2d wireframe, one window in plan view, one in another iso view and one in 3d orbited shaded view.

start on the plan window, then move to the main iso window and so on, the other two windows are for position checking.

 

oxygn, you might want to try out this technique.

just a tip

[Oxygen454]

Wow that's a pretty crazy 3D drawing Nocturne! I am just discovering these viewports and I wished I knew about them a long time ago even tho I was only doing plain 2D.

 

Swift, thanks for the tips, Im going to try that out, if I work with it enough I may just get it.

[Oxygen454]

I dont believe it, I set up the slice exactally as nocturne showed and it worked! I was making the cutting plane on the side of the beam, his was on the more side and down view which worked. Sweet now on to the next new dilemma eventually haha.

 

PS my beams are too small, how to I make them bigger, they should be 12 inches lol.

[nocturne00]

Thanks .

I also use vports in 2d, a very helpful tool in doing multiple plans.

 

beam is too small you say? you could also use scale in solids. try to use the reference option but draw a guide first, maybe a pline with a 12" length to onsnap your grips during scaling.