I’m at a loss for making this shape. Thoughts?
first I would draw the shape, flat. I used a 2pt arc that I then rotated (with copy)
I cut it from peak to valley. that way I know my piece starts and ends horizontal.
mirror + copy as many times as you need.
in your example there are 8 hills and 8 valleys.
clean and weld.
from there, I group the shape, use truebend (free on the extension warehouse), then it’s a simple follow-me.
if you want to adjust the height of the curve, I’d advise to do it before the follow me. simply scale your shape.
then it’s simply a matter of mirror again.
as you see, scaling after the follow me squishes the tube. so be careful.
I used a circle, you could use whatever shape you want.
Truebend or other bending extension is certainly the easiest way to achieve this as @ateliernab has demonstrated. Acquiring a bending extension and learning to use it will have great benefits for your future modeling, so do that and Job Done.
However, I enjoy the challenge of working out a native tools only solutions to modeling problems, practices that can be applied by modelers using the web and ipad versions that do not support extensions. Here is a method of intersecting the sine wave path with the surface of cylinder that distorts the wave slightly but yields a passable version of the lamp shape. Illuminating .
noice !
oh well truebend also distorts. it cuts the shape in 24 parts and rearrange them around a 24-sided circle. so the arcs are pre-cut then re-cut.
your method also has the advantage that you can control the level of detail of your big circle.