Sweep/Pad Geometry with Curved Faces Problem

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dragon-architect
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Joined: Sun Jul 25, 2021 1:36 am

Sweep/Pad Geometry with Curved Faces Problem

Post by dragon-architect »

Hello! First time posting here after just getting started with FreeCAD literally this week.

I'm trying to model a thing that has geometry a little bit more advanced than I can figure out how to model, and the wiki documentation about the different functions of the pad and sweep sketch tools unfortunately seem to make assumptions that the reader will just know what it's talking about, so I'm as lost as last year's easter eggs trying to figure this out.
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The screenshots tell the whole story, but to decipher my terrible handwriting:
  1. The bottom sketch is the bottom face of the object I am trying to create
  2. The top sketch is the top face
  3. I want to sweep the bottom face along the datum line to the top face, following a function that results in rounded faces where edges between the two faces are not vertically aligned
  4. While I can technically round two of the edges over easy peasy, the circular arc edge is not one that the round tool will work on, because it is a complex curved surface bounded by two circular arcs of differing radii and centers.
I've already made attempts to use the variouspad types, but I cannot for the life of me figure out how the other types are supposed to actually work, and I don't know if using a formula in the "custom direction" z axis parameter is what I need to do, nor do I know what to actually input for the formula.

If I attempt to sweep the sketch along the datum line, I get absolutely nothing and I get either "Links go out of the allowed scope" or other warnings if I attempt to define the top face in either the Section orientation or Section transformation options in the sweep along a path tool. If I attempt to use the "loft through other profile sections" tool I get similar "Links go out of the allowed scope" warnings. I'm honestly at something of a loss here.

EDIT
Welp, I get to be slapped with the noobie stick. I figured it out. I had to break the geometry up into smaller pieces and use boolean operations, but I managed to model the part! The sweep along a path tool worked perfectly, too, with the sketch orientation set to Fixed along the sweep path. Now I just gotta make its chiral twin.
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blah006.png
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TIDE
chrisb
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Re: Sweep/Pad Geometry with Curved Faces Problem

Post by chrisb »

Hi and welcome to the forum!

Good to see you got it sorted yourself. Good first post, by the way; with an informative image. If you need help it is often helpful to attach the file too, showing how far you got or what you did wrong.
A Sketcher Lecture with in-depth information is available in English, auf Deutsch, en français, en español.
kisolre
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Re: Sweep/Pad Geometry with Curved Faces Problem

Post by kisolre »

dragon-architect wrote: Sun Jul 25, 2021 2:07 am TIDE
Please remove the Freecad version from your signature because when you update and change the signature all old posts will show the new signature/version and things will get confusing for later readers.
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Vincent B
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Location: La Rochelle, France

Re: Sweep/Pad Geometry with Curved Faces Problem

Post by Vincent B »

This is something from my understanding. As I'm not gifted with imperials, sorry about that, Its built it with millimeters.
And what is an eaters egg? :D
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