Curviloft Skinning Help Please

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Hi, I am working in 3D printing mode (mm) and I am having trouble skinning this particular surface shown in the picture. I have used Curviloft in the past for a similar shape and it worked fine. I’m not too sure why it wont show a preview/let me click the green check mark this time. Any ideas/pointers.

Thanks in advance for your help!

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A3 Latch.skp (1.2 MB)

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Is this what you are after?

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I scaled the model up by a factor of 100 before trying to run Curviloft.

Keep in mind that knife edge at the top will be problematic to print.

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Hmm, thanks DaveR! I tried scaling up 100x and I am still haveing the same issues. Very odd… I suspect it could be my computer. I was having issues with lag + particular Windows 10 updates. Would it be too much to ask if you ran Curviloft on this file for me? Thanks

A3 Latch Scaled 100x.skp (1.2 MB)

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You might want to do some model maintenance. I downloaded both of your models, and if I turn on hidden geometry in your latest one, there’s a bunch of weird stuff happening with your surfaces.

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As far as the Curviloft problem, since Dave has gone to bed or something, I was able to skin that section by duplicating all the geometry (your whole structure, whatever you call it), then in the copy, deleting all the rest of the lines except the ones you want skinned and running Curviloft. You can then move the group back into its original context. Not saying this method is good, and definitely can’t explain why it works (I’m totally new to Curviloft), just saying that I was able to create the skin that way.

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Out of interest I went back to your first model and tried it. I followed the same method of running Curviloft on duplicate, and it worked fine – didn’t even have to scale up.

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Maybe @DaveR can enlighten us when he comes back.

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I had troubles unless I copied the shape over like you mentioned. You bring up a very good point that my surfaces is looking very weird. I need to try and clean that up a little as well. @MobelDesign, you are my hero. @DaveR, thank you for all of your help.

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In addition the unit is not symmetrical, there are problems with the surfaces in the rectangles area that need intersection correction ( scale up may help) don’t know if you care.

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Yeah it seems like things kind of get warped when I scale up and down. I cleaned it up and it turned ugly again when I changed the scale down. Any tips on that? This community is awesome. You guys make it so easy to learn. Thanks!

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Are you making it into a component before you scale up (a copy, ideally, so you can just delete the scaled-up copy, and leave the original normal size)?

If not, you might miss some geometry when scaling.

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Can you give a little more detail what the object is. I did search for A3 latch and got bunch of PR of A3 Audi car. I can not visualize the " latch function" and there are probably several ways to SU model this and none may not be the real correct item. I think the top part is hinged, the side parts are for like finger pulls attached to it and the two rectangular sets are where the hinge part latches too.
As you can see I am way out in left field but would like to know how far: slight_smile: not the first time however.

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I also have preconceptions. I worked under the assumption that it is some accessory for a printer, since A3 is a paper size.

Guess we’ll see who’s farther out :wink:

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