How difficult a project would it be to make bent corrugated drinking straws?

Technical Problems SketchUp
1

I would like to be able to make corrugated drinking straws that are curved into various shapes, to be placed into KeyShot scenes that already exist.
I have been using SketchUp for a short time, mostly to make simple lathed shapes like drinking cups and glassware.
We have an engineering department here that uses SolidWorks to make our files, but they are unwilling to make the straws that I need to complete the scenes.
Can anyone give me advice, or let me know how difficult a task making these straws would be?

2

Are you thinking of the corrugations just at the elbows like standard drinking straws might have?

3

The straws we use have the corrugations all the way along the straw, with a straight section on both ends

4

Here you go.
Draw the profile of your straw.
Use follow me to make it.
Then use Fredos Radial Bend to bend it.
I used too many segments in this, so it’s a bit slow.

2 Likes
5

Box has got a better example than I do so I’ll leave you with his.

6

That’s perfect! Thanks so much for the response.

I don’t recognize “Fredos Radial Bend”, is that an extension or a third party plug in?

7

It’s a tool found in the extension called FredoScale available from Sketchucation.

1 Like
8

Yes it is an extension which you can find here.
Note that you will need to install his Lib file also.

9

Great! I will look for it. Also, how did you make the corrugated sections, did you just draw the shape and duplicate it, or is there a quicker way?

10

Box used SU’s Follow Me tool. Read up on it, paying special attention to the section on creating a lathed model.

Also read on making a linear array with the Move tool.

11

The linear array that @catamountain mentions.
I’ve made this with 5 sided arcs and a default 24 sided circle, you could use far fewer so you have less file bloat.
Experiment and see what works best for you.

12

Thanks everyone for the quick and extremely helpful responses! You all have been great!
I will definitely be hanging around this forum on a regular basis.

13

Hey all, I have been trying to install the fredoscale extension, but am hung up on the Sketchucation site.
While i am waiting for the site to respond, do I understand correctly that I need to subscribe to a monthly fee to be able to use the extension?

14

No. Scroll down a bit to find the link to register free.

15

thanks, just found it.