Help on Revolve, please

[Maavhamt]

Hello,
I have 2 shapes I like to "Revolve" the faces to a curved solid joining them together to make a strut. From the instructions on the Part Workbench re "Revolve a Selected Shape" it should be possible to revolve a face to a solid, but nothing seems to happen. I always get the message, "Selected an object, first, even though I have tried selecting objects, faces and lines. Cannot make out what I am doing wrong.

OS: Windows 10
Word size of OS: 64-bit
Word size of FreeCAD: 64-bit
Version: 0.16.6703 (Git)
Build type: Release
Branch: releases/FreeCAD-0-16
Hash: 2ce5c8d2e3020d05005ed71f710e09e9aa561f40
Python version: 2.7.8
Qt version: 4.8.7
Coin version: 4.0.0a
OCC version: 6.8.0.oce-0.17

[quick61]

First you need an independent face/edge/point to revolve. FreeCAD does not recognize a face from a solid as being an independent object. First I'll take it you're wanting something like this -

Revolve.png (5.6 KiB) Viewed 2151 times

So what i did was to first use ShapeBuilder to create a face from the 4 edges of the end of Upright and then revolved the independent face with the values of Base X=0, Y=5, Z=141.5 with the Axis set as X and an Angle of -90*

Basicly the same thing for the bottom, except Base Z=-141.5 and Angle is 90*. After that, it's just a simple matter of Fusing the 5 parts if you are wanting them to all be one.

Strut(1).fcstd

(23.55 KiB) Downloaded 49 times

Mark

OS: Kubuntu 14.04.4 LTS
Word size of OS: 64-bit
Word size of FreeCAD: 64-bit
Version: 0.16.6703 (Git)
Build type: Release
Branch: releases/FreeCAD-0-16
Hash: 2ce5c8d2e3020d05005ed71f710e09e9aa561f40
Python version: 2.7.6
Qt version: 4.8.6
Coin version: 4.0.0a
OCC version: 6.8.0.oce-0.18-dev

[NormandC]

Hello Maavhamt,

I have 2 shapes I like to "Revolve" the faces to a curved solid joining them together to make a strut.

If you want a strut made of a single solid, This is not very efficient.

You can make it in ways that are easier and require fewer steps. Unless you really want this strut to be made of separate parts?

[jmaustpc]

So what i did was to first use ShapeBuilder to create a face from the 4 edges

Hi Mark
In the usual FreeCAD manner there is often many ways to do something. I just thought I would add that another method to get that face could be to use a Draft_Facebinder or perhaps mount a Sketch to the surface and use external geometry tool.

But of course your method and the above all have their advantages and disadvantages.

I have no doubt Norm also has some good ideas!

Jim

[NormandC]

I have no doubt Norm also has some good ideas!

I'm waiting for Maavhamt to reply before providing them. Maybe I'm mistaken on what Maavhamt wants to achieve, then they would be irrelevant.

[jmaustpc]

I have no doubt Norm also has some good ideas!

I'm waiting for Maavhamt to reply before providing them. Maybe I'm mistaken on what Maavhamt wants to achieve, then they would be irrelevant.

That is a good idea .....so I was right, again, as usual! You did have a good idea!

[quick61]

So what i did was to first use ShapeBuilder to create a face from the 4 edges

Hi Mark
In the usual FreeCAD manner there is often many ways to do something. I just thought I would add that another method to get that face could be to use a Draft_Facebinder or perhaps mount a Sketch to the surface and use external geometry tool.

But of course your method and the above all have their advantages and disadvantages.

I have no doubt Norm also has some good ideas!

Jim

Hey Jim,

And yet another tool that should be in Part. A Part > Make Face, along with Part > Array, maybe, (or maybe not), broken down to a Part > Ortho Array and Part > Polar Array with the nice Task dialog like we have with the other Part tools - no fiddling about with the Combo view > Data tab on initial invocation of the tool.

Mark

[NormandC]

Good idea Mark. And I personally find ShapeBuilder's greatest weakness is that it does not produce parametric objects. This is why I seldom use it.

[quick61]

Good idea Mark. And I personally find ShapeBuilder's greatest weakness is that it does not produce parametric objects. This is why I seldom use it.

While I find ShapeBuilder quite useful, I concur, it could be more, if only an code monkey,(and I mean that with the utmost affection), would write it that way. Sadly, I am not that code monkey, and most likely never will be.

Mark

[Maavhamt]

Guys,

Thanks for all the input! Sorry I haven't replied earlier, I have had a busy weekend (we are moving house soon). Yes, I do want the strut to be one part. We envisage it being made from a strip stainless steel bent to shape.

Maavhamt