i whish there was a spiral inside 2D sketch feature/mode

why do I have to separate the spiral from its related sketch? this makes no
sense because spirals are in two dimensional space unlike helixes.

I find it cumbersome to:
1. make a sketch (1); afterwards make a circle inside second sketch (2) for
start radius of spiral,;afterwards construct the appropriate spiral from it
when it has no relations/constraints to the original sketch (1) were I
wanted to put the spiral in the first place; afterwards duplicate edge of
spiral curve into a "spiral/spline" + duplicate original sketch (1) forming
the final resulting sketch (3).

Does anybody else share my point of view?

 

It's certainly not slick. In I-DEAS, the "revolve" command has a
"translate" option which allows you to make a solid spiral in a single
sketch/feature.
Maybe you should put it forward as an enhancement request.

John Harland

 

Gil,

I guess I don't understand why you must construct an approximate
spiral.
This is the way I did it. I constructed a spiral exactly where I
wanted it with the base circle sketch located and constrained where I
wanted it.
Then I opened a second sketch and converted the spiral edge, and added
the rest of my goemetry and relations to the part. Yes it requires two
sketches, but they are both fully constrained, the second by the first
and the first by its geometry. Easy to edit, the spiral feature is
never consumed by another feature.

Timelord

 

Timelord,

I don't understand you!... please explain me how can I construct a sketch
with a quarter spiral (90 deg) which has a pitch of X and to which both
sides there are lines/arcs who are tangent to it, without losing the
parametrics/constraints of all entities when changing one of them?

 

Timelord, I red your post again and now I understand it - that is how I do
it today. however, I find it very cumbersome, I would rather love to see the
spiral inside the 2D sketch feature so I can see the whole sketch updating
with its relations/constraints without exiting and jumping between the two
sketches and the spiral curve feature - this way doesn't make sense (it is
not in line, even with the solidworks principles - keeping things simple and
strait forward).

 

Gil,

Open a sketch and sketch the base circle for the spiral. Insert the
spiral curve. It becomes a feature in the feature tree and consumes
the base circle. Set the spiral as visible, then open a second sketch
and convert the spiral into a sketch entity (if you need the base
circle, make the sketch visible and convert it also). Now you can
construct
your tangent lines/arcs and any other required geometry and constrain
it to the spiral/base circle and then extrude or whatever. The sketch
is fully editable. If the spiral parameters or its sketch need to
change, it has to be done in the spiral feature, but all the changes
will propagate to the second sketch. All other changes can happen in
the second sketch. Seems kinda basic to me, maybe I misunderstood your
needs.

Timelord

 

That's a good point, Dale. They can't even handle tangency
consistently (too many cases cause sketch elements to flip or get
strangley overdefined) I just don't expect much from D-cubed - they,
um, er...how do I put this delicately... um... they suck.

Gil, if you want to make an enhancement request, I say go for it, but I
suggest that you make a strong business case for it at the time of your
submission if you want any action on it. To SWx, you have a viable,
yet cumbersome, workaround. If you can explain how you and loads of
people in your industry need to make 2D spirals day in and day out you
have a better shot at getting a proper hearing. As for me, I have only
used a spiral once in my 8 year SWx career, and it was a 3D tapering
spiral. I am not going to say that my experinece trumps yours, but I
work for lots of different people across a bunch of industries and it
just hasn't come up. You need to make SWx understand that it's
important, persistent, and effects a lot of folks or they will
backburner it (unless it's really easy to implement, like skins, which
are frivolous but were added -as I was told by a VERY reputable source-
by a developer on his own time on a weekend because he/she thought it
would be fun)
Good luck with your request,
Ed

 

Dale, You made a good point - never thought about it, but maybe it is the
fault of the D-Cubed constraint manager from UGS.

Thanks for the reply,

Gil

 

Ed, Thanks for the advice. it is hard for me to persuade SWx as to how many
people need that enhancement (I guess only a few). I'm coming from the
jewellery design business, and often I need solidworks to construct a
partial spiral curve inside a single sketch for a sweep guide, which will
result in a smooth transforming shank of a ring (or other similar jewellery
features).

I guess that mechanical engineers don't need this feature as much as I do
(although I'm certain that industrial designers need it much more often then
I do).

cheers,
Gil

 

Timelord,

Thanks for your patience with me. as for the way you describe: that's the
way I do it so we are definitely in-sync.
My second response to your first post in this thread, describes exactly what
I don't like about this way.

Thanks anyway,

Gil