How to draw a spiral?

I have problems to find out howe I shall draw a spiral

Use one of several plugins, depending on what kind of spiral you want.

One of the most versatile is Spirix, by Jim Hamilton (@jimhami42) from GitHub - jimhami42/spirix: Code For SketchUp Plugins.

For a simple helix, try the SketchUcation Plugin Store SU Parametric Shapes at SU Draw Parametric Shapes | SketchUcation.

Or if your needs are simple, draw it yourself using the native SU tools.

Also look at Curve Maker in the Extension Warehouse.

Thanks You for Your help, I will try that // Mats

Thanks for Your help, // Mats

A better source would be: spirixcode

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Sorry Jim. The link I gave is what Google found for me. Tx for the better link

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Rats!! Now it’s bothering me because I know I did one 11 years ago (SU 5.0.262) without using any plugins, and I can’t remember what I did.


So, this should be a challenge for the masters: Make a helix without using a plugin in the simplest way possible.

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VERY elegant and very quick, @DaveR. Brilliant.

Yes, that’s it. I remembered something about twisting a cylinder, but couldn’t remember the rest. Thanks.

Here’s a version with a twist in the tail.

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People often forget Fredo’s excellent CurviShear.
Curvishear

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Since the OP asked how to create a spiral (not a helix), I thought I would chip in:

2017-11-26_19h49_13

Can it be done with 3-point arc tool?:

The catch lies in adjusting the height of the cilinder, it needs to be the length of a segment, not?

@MikeWayzovski, I’m sorry to say that this is’t going to work accurately Mike.
All vertices aren’t at equal distance from the center line. Nor do all the segments have an equal slope.

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Oops!! Need to be half the height, then? What is the catch?

No, Any two or more subsequent (connected) segments will face this problem when trying to solve this by simply rotating that curve. Each segment ought to have the same angle of rotation which can’t be done in one operation. So each segment needs to be rotated separately. Getting you to the previously presented methods, either manually or by extension.

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Try and compare a rotated part of a circle v.s. using Curvishear (see quote below) on that same circular curve.

Zoom in on the two resulted curves to notice the difference.

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Kloink! :curly_loop::white_check_mark:
Penny dropped!!

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