Filling up voids: when mating no longer helps

[jpolihro]

Dear All,

I am trying to fill up the void seen in the pictures. The void is between 2 solids which are mated

and are constrained so the void can't be filled by rotation of one of the bodies.

 

The crack is long and narrow and I don't have an idea how to "grow" one of the solids into the other.

Filling surfaces and forming a closed volume also seems quite difficult to me (next to impossible).

Perhaps someone can help here (having in mind I am quite new to SolidWorks).

[shift1313]

how was the solid drawn, i see some blue sketch lines in there. can you go back into the sketch and add a coincident constraint?

[jpolihro]

the blue line is only an edge of one of the solids.

I would make the 2 faces coincident, but the solids are already constrained.

[jkristia]

now I'm now to SolidWorks too, so this might be a silly question, but why don't you just modify the part?, If the 2 parts are supposed to be mated together, then I would think it is the part that needs to be modified - not some workaround added in the assembly.

 

Jesper

[jpolihro]

Hi Jesper,

I agree with you, and I tried. My parts come from custom programmed curves, which are used to create sweep surfaces, which are then lofted. It is very hard (to me) to match the parts, hence I need a quick fix.

 

 

I tried to build a simple part file which illustrates my problem. I am trying to connect the ends of the ring.

mismatched_ring.zip

[jkristia]

is this what you are looking for, I added a loft between the 2 faces on the solid

[jpolihro]

yes!

would you know how to select the faces for the loft (when the gap between them is very narrow)

[shift1313]

if they are separate parts you can hide one of them. and you can extract the edges by creating a sketch(using the face of your part as the plane) and select your line, and use convert entities button. you will be asked if you want a single line or a closed sketch. do this for both sides and use those for your loft. ill open your zip file when i get to work tomorrow.

[jkristia]

yes!

would you know how to select the faces for the loft (when the gap between them is very narrow)

 

The loft will only work if it is one part as the one you have attached. If there are multiple possible 'items' for selection available at the point then you can use the "Select Other" on the context menu, it will give you a list of other possible items for the given point.

[shift1313]

in the zip file you posted, how do you want the fill to look? the part looks like a lock washer(which should not be closed). Do you need a smooth sweep to close the object or do you need a straight line segment?

[shift1313]

i did this real quick using your geomerty and one extra line i drew to help align lofting faces.

 

i selected the faces defined by the end of your part. and selected start and end constraints tangent to the front face. is this what you want?

[jpolihro]

yes, thank you very much for your post, Shift1313. This is what I need to do. I will try this one for sure. Though, I don't know how to select the mismatched faces when the crack between them is long and narrow, as in my pictures above (the first set of pictures I posted).

Again, this has to be a loft between 2 planar faces. Face1 is on part1; face2 is on part2.

 

Regards.

[shift1313]

just like stated on the other page you dont have to actually click on the face, you can use the select other option. if you over your cursor around the face you wish to select, right click and use select other it will be fine. here are a few screen shots

 

edit, the images loaded in reverse order, sorry

[jpolihro]

In 3 or so hours I will get to a computer with SW and will definitely work on achieving this loft. Really appreciate your help.

[shift1313]

no problem, what version are you using?

[jpolihro]

The university here is a subscriber for SW2008

[jpolihro]

Yes, this really works. I was also able to delete the small faces after the fix was done.

Thank you again for all your suggestions!!!

[shift1313]

im glad it worked for you! There may be certain instances that the loft will fail, just keep playing around with the start and end constraints. sometimes if SW may have an issue trying to create a tangent with a plane and a spline. good luck