Hi, I’m trying to recreate a dishwasher wheel…and it has a curve…or inner camber shape…ie. it isn’t just flat…it curves gently into the middle where it sits on the rail.
.I’m not sure how I would go about making this? See this picture to get an idea. Thanks for any clues on how you can achieve this shape.
Create a cross section of the wheel and then use the follow me tool around the path of the circle. In this case it’s eyeballed but you can of course use accurate dimensions.
Another eyeballed option, whatever shape you make the profile is the shape you’ll get in the pulley.
I would start with a perpendicular photo and trace the shape from the imported image…
Thanks so much…I’ll give these methods a try! That is awesome…much appreciated!
Thanks for help. In the first demo videos there are a couple of things I can’t figure out that looks like some sort of shortcut is being used.
A circle is drawn…and then somehow it gets drawn using a green dotted line…and appears at right angles to the first square…when I draw mine it stays on the same axis.
Also when the line is drawn diagonally down on the square…a rotate tool is somehow orientated to the bottom axis…I can’t get it to get there with my 2d square…I’m assuming some kind of shortcut is used?
Anyway I’ll watch that other video…but there seems to be some technique I haven’t learned yet. Thanks!
Edit: Actually kept experimenting and think I figured this out…the secret was using the arrow keys to change the axis. Managed to get this working…thank you! Now just need to spend time getting the dimensions spot on…that follow me technique is amazing. Thanks!
You got there before I could reply, yes the circle was done by using the left arrow to lock it to the green plane.
That works with the rotate tool and up arrow, but I did that the old way by click and drag down to set the axis. The rotate tool can be set to any angle by click and drag along an edge or direction to set the axis of rotation. Very handy when you want to rotate something that isn’t following one of the three main axes.
Thanks Box…also had a bit of problems with copying the diagonal line…but found you have to click first in middle bottom…then left corner…then right corner…anything else and it doesn’t work.
Getting there steadily! Thank you for all the help here everyone.
Here is the result…now to print and see if it actually works!
The screen shot shows the circular path was composed of a smallish number of segments, perhaps the default of 24. SketchUp’s automatic smoothing of the edges between adjacent facets of the “curved” surface makes the result look nice and smooth. But it won’t print that way - it will print with hard edges corresponding to the actual edges in the model. To visualize that better, you can put the Face Style into Wireframe mode (View menu) and enable Hidden Geometry (also on the View menu), then do a drag-select of that part of the spool. Then with all the edges (and no faces) selected, in the Entity Info window turn off Smooth and Soften.
If you decide that you want more than 24 (or however many) segments to the circular path, you’ll need to re-do the Follow Me action (starting with the same flat profile) using a circle created with more segments. You can change the number of segments in a circle before creating it by activating the Circle tool, typing a number followed by the letter s (e.g., 120s) and then draw the circle. You can modify the number of segments in an existing circle - so long as no other edges touch the circle - via the Entity Info dialog box; simply type in a new value into the Segments field in the window.
In the interests of accuracy, in that specific instance you don’t need the s.
When first activated the default for anything typed will be the Sides. After you have drawn the circle then you need the s because it has defaulted to Radius. You can see which because Sides or Radius will appear in the measurement window.
Oh, thanks, Box - good to know!
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