This exercise came about from a post on modeling an toroid inductor linked here: Toroid inductor coil . Although there are many ways to create this feature, this alternate method may help others determine the best course when this type of geometry is required.
In the previous post I created a simple patterned series of sweeps which to me was appropriate due to a break in the pattern. But I also knew this alternate method was possible depending on how real you need the end result to be.
And a disclaimer as even this method has deviations from what would really be created during fabrication and should not be used for non-cylindrical spring analysis.
These types of sweeps require a significant overhead on your system. Anything with swept round features along curvy trajectories seem to really clobber CPU cycles. In those cases, the patterned features may be much more appropriate.
This is the end result of the subject at hand. An intersected helical sweep with a form profile, bent using spinal bend. Pretty simple, right?
A list of feature alongside the model... Obviously I renamed them.
This video will walk you through the steps to create this feature...
...and the Creo 2.0 Parametric file is also attached.
Enjoy!
Edit... I created a similar model where I captured the trail file and ran it for this video. This provides a little more detail on the commands used.
Edit: ...and say you need to preload the spring (actually very common in application)? Creo now has Warp for this. After the Spinal Bend on the swept spiral quilt, the quilt can be twisted with the Warp feature (with some special care). The final sweep (wire feature) is applied after the Warp > Twist so the wire diameter is preserved. As a matter of fact, the Spinal Bend can also be replaced with a Warp > Bend. The Warp syntax is simpler but not as powerful as Spinal Bend when it comes to controlling the resulting feature. -If- PTC decides to replace Spinal Bend and Toroidal Bend with Warp, they need to do some serious upgrading of the Warp feature.
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