how to model a coiled cord...

[PaulMailloux]

Okay here's a challenge... does anyone have any slick ideas on how to
create a coiled cord, such as a telephone cord?

It's one thing to create a helical sweep but another thing to bend and
twist this helical sweep to mimic a relaxed coiled cord dangling between
2 points or lying on a table.



I thought about using a variable section sweep but not sure how to put
that all together using equations... I also thought about a spinal bend
but that didn't seem to allow for crazy bends and loops of this coiled
cord.



Any ideas would be appreciated

Thanks

Paul





Paul Mailloux

Cad/Cam Applications Engineer

NyproMold Inc

144 Pleasant Street

Clinton MA 01510

Phone: (978) 368 - 4598

Fax: (978) 365 - 4548



www.NyproMold.com
This thread is inactive and closed by the PTC Community Management Team. If you would like to provide a reply and re-open this thread, please notify the moderator and reference the thread. You may also use "Start a topic" button to ask a new question. Please be sure to include what version of the PTC product you are using so another community member knowledgeable about your version may be able to assist.

[IainLewis]

Please find an example attached.



Regards



Iain





Iain Lewis
Principal Application Specialist
iCentre UK
PTC
+44 (0) 7753 915635



<

[PaulMailloux]

Thank you very much Thomas and everyone else for the terrific assistance
here. Amazingly quick replies and great solutions!
I went with Thomas' solution below as it was the first one to reach my
inbox and it worked great!
All the other options seemed impressive and viable and in some cases,
very similar to Thomas' but I did not get a chance to prove them all
out.

Thanks again all

Paul

[pfariello]

Hi Paul,

Here is another reply, maybe late. I am thinking that this is similar to your question. I can across this situation when looking at connector termination to twisted pair wires. Just wanted to share my solution as aspects of the solution came from help from the user community. Enclosed is my example file.

The trajectory is done as both a projected curves and curve thru points (just for variety). A curve length measure (#15) allows the total length to be known and is used in the relations so that the twist/length can be controlled as the wire length changes. Also look at the "trajpar" relation in feature #16.

Regards,

Patrick Fariello

[cid:image002.jpg@01CB53F5.41BF4C60] [cid:image006.jpg@01CB53F5.41BF4C60]