I've been trying to figure something out for the last few days, on and off. It's driving me insane. I've managed to do this before, but this time, I cannot for the life of me figure out how to find my answer.

I need to know how many degrees to rotate the tube when bending it in a bender. I can visualize the two lines, and if I could only figure out how to draw them onto the sketch, I would measure the degrees, but I'm just so stuck on this, my brain has shut down.

Any help or pointers would be highly appreciated.

Thanks for your time!

 

Can you send me the part file?

 

To play around with it? Or because you know how to do it?

I don't mind, I'll send it, PM me your email address!

 

1st off i would try to bend the bar as little as possible thus avoinding the small "kink." Each bend weakens the bar. If i had to put that bend there I would offset it 90 degrees. From your drawing it look like a 15 degree or so bend would work. I wouldnt worry so much about drawing it in solidworks as I would making it. Once you have your bend start points just bend it and try to fit it. You can always unbend the bar a little if you need 2 anyway. I also try to go for a shorter leg on the back of the bar in the back if not eliminating it and making it straight.

 

I have a pipe program here at work, if you send me the file in a STP (or and generic format) format i can run it. It will tell you the straight length, deg to rotate and all the info. Need the tube dia and bend radius. I am using UG< NX5

 

I know with inventor i could show construction lines or use a work plane with projected geometry and measure that.

I am sure solidworks has something similar?

 

I decided to try with the measure tool, and came up with 28.72° of rotation. K24em2 also took a look at it and confirms this measure. I'm going to try bending it today, to see how it comes out. (I ran out of argon, so I can't do anything else today!)

Thanks guys!

 

Looks like you figured it out!

 

I thought I did, but I so don't. I'm still trying to figure out the bending angles. For some reason, I cannot figure out how to set a plane that is exactly 90° to the bend line. Reason I want to do this is to be able to add annotations in a 2d drawing. I'm having a tough time with this.

I really have to hand it to guys who do this. Local shops do full cages in 3 days. It takes me 3 days to draw it out on paper ...

 

I helped design and fabricate a whole tube frame chassis for a MiniBaja car, if i cant figure it out on my own i bet my captain could lend a hand, ill PM you my email

 

To make a plane that is perpendicular to the bend line, go to insert/Reference Geometry/Plane, then click on the bend line and one of the end points. Hope that helps.

 

You did all those sweeps and extrusions and are stuck on the reference plane perpindicular. Come on homie, you can make that happen.

 

I am learning solidworks as I work with it, and I am totally new at this. I did not use sweeps, I used structural members applied to a 3D sketch. Not sure if it makes things more complicated this way ...

I know how to add new planes, but I find it difficult to sketch in a construction line that is exactly perpendicular to the bend. (Which is very helpful, but not what I need to do). I want to be able to create a view that is exactly flat to the bend, so that I can place it on a 2D drawing, and annotate the bend angles.

I figured it out with enough dicking around, but I'm sure there are much simpler ways of doing it.

I would love to know how to make lines snap to a plane, instead of snapping to the default coordinate system. (I'm sure it's possible, but how?)

I appreciate all the help guys, maybe I should take a course in SW instead of trying to learn it the hard way.

 

I guess I'm confused whether you're trying to dimension the angle of the bends, or the angle of rotation. It looks like you already have the construction lines going from the end points of the bend lines to the centerpoints of the bends. On the drawing, if you dimension the angle between the construction lines as "true" instead of "projected", you should be able to dimension the angle without having to create a view that's flat to the bend. In 3-D sketching, you can add an "On Surface" constraint to snap the line (or point) to a plane [hold control while clicking on the plane and the line (or point) to bring up the constraints menu]. Sorry if this is confusing or not even what you're asking for lol.

 

No, that is totally what I'm trying to do. Sorry for the confusion, I've been playing around with this a lot today, so I forget that it's not clear in the thread that I have moved on to new issues.

I figured out the rotation, though it took me a long time. Now I wanted to dimension the bends, but thought I had to have a view tha was flat to the bend in order to dimension it. I didn't know what the difference between projected and true was. These few lines you typed out just taught me a bunch! I will try the constraints, because that was one area I always found was not "logical" to me. Now it makes sense.

Thanks so much. Back to work for me!

 

No problem. I just modeled something real quick to make sure what I was saying is right. On the drawing, the first view is "true" and the second view is "projected" using Plane 1 as the view plane. On the second view (rotation view) you'll have to use "select other" in order to select only the construction lines to dimension the angle.

 

OMG. That's what I was trying to do in my original question. I got my answer, but I definitely haven't been able to communicate it in 2D. Let me try and see if I can do that!

 

damn markku, you are putting a lot of thought into building a cage. lets see some work already!

 

yeah no kidding! lets see some pics!

 

Okay, now I'm getting a different angle reading.



I got stupid, and jumped the gun. I tried bending the a-pillar bar and everything is good except the rotation. The bar doesn't fit at all. The initial 28.72° sounds like it would be just about right. I know this is something I did wrong, but there are too many planes, and straight sections, I just get confused!

 

I only work on it when I have no other work to do (or an unable to do other work). And it's not so much "thought" as it is me trying hard not to waste tubing by making mistakes. (Which I am doing anyway). I want to be able to measure a car, draw it out in SW, and then pop it out without having to make cardboard templates etc ... (Nothing against those methods, just want to do things once, not twice).

I guess that bit me in the ***.

 

So if i understand you correctly for the secont question, you want to view the bend from "straight on" to do this, atleast how i did it:

1.) Reference Geometry>plane

2.) Select through lines and points

3.) Then select the center line on one side of the bend, and the center point on the other side of the bend. See picture:



4.) confirm the plane, one that is done, right click on the plane and select the normal to button, it should rotate the model to be straight on to the bend, now you can create a drawing and just select current view and dimension

if i am completely off let me know ill take another stab at it.

 

That I can do. The second question was almost this, but at a 90°. I want to see the bend from the side, so I can dimension it. But I think using the projected view instead of true fixed that for me.

Now I'm still trying to figure out how many degrees to rotate the tube while it's in the bender. I came up with 54.xx° and it was wrong. Now I would like to try 28.72° but I hate guessing. I would like to find a way to confirm it really is that. I feel so dumb.

What does everyone else do? Throw it in the bender and do it by eye?

 

Okay, I used 28° as the rotation, and the bar came out just about perfect. I snapped a few pics. Keep in mind that it is sitting under main roll bar, that's why it looks like the angle is off along the a-pillar.

Thanks for everyone's help, you guys are a good bunch!!

 

your time spent figuring out solid works now will pay big down the road.its not time wasted.soon you will be able to draw it and bend it like you want.good job so far