Page 243 - 02. Subyek Computer Aided Design - Beginner’s Guide to SOLIDWORKS 2019- Level 1 by Alejandro Reyes

Special Features: Sweep, Loft and Wrap

Chapter 3: Special Features: Sweep, Loft and

Wrap

There are times when we need to design components that cannot be

easily defined by prismatic shapes. For those features that have 'curvy' shapes

we can use Sweep and Loft features, which let us create almost any shape we

can think of. These are the features that allow us to design consumer products,

which, more often than not, have to be visually attractive and pleasant to

touch, making extensive use of curvature and organic shapes. These products

include things like your remote control, a computer mouse, a coffee

maker, perfume bottles, appliances, etc., and very often, their commercial

success can be directly attributed to their appearance. They have to look

nice, 'feel' right, and of course perform the task that they were intended for.

Sweeps and Lofts (also used to create "organic" shapes like those found in

nature) are widely used in the automotive, consumer products and aerospace

industry, where cosmetics, aerodynamics, and ergonomics are a very important

aspect of the design.

Sweeps and Lofts have many different options that allow us to

create anything from relatively simple to extremely complex shapes. Considering

the vast number of variations and possibilities for these features, we'll keep these

examples as simple as possible without sacrificing functionality, to give the

reader a good idea as to what can be achieved.

Sweeps and Lofts are usually referred to as advanced features, since

they usually require more work to complete, and a better understanding of the

basic concepts of solid modeling. Having said that, these exercises will

assume that commands that we have done more than a couple of times up to

this point, like creating a sketch, are already understood and we'll simply

direct the reader to create it providing the necessary details. This way we'll be

able to focus more on the specifics and options of the new features.

The Wrap feature is a special tool that helps us, as the name implies,

to 'wrap' a sketch around a cylindrical surface. This tool helps us create features

like cylindrical cams, slots on cylinders or cylindrical surfaces, projected

profiles on irregular surfaces, etc.

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