SolidWorks & wings

[pbrantuas]

I needed this thread a few months ago. Nice work guys.

[Spooky]

O.K., here's the "loft-Ribs" SW 2004 Part file... I used the same basic shapes for the sketches, nothing dimensioned or fully defined, that way you can modify these sketches to suit your needs or use your own. The pic shows the file.
I had to zip it to upload it... Let me know if have any ?'s.


Edit: I downloaded this file and when I unzip it, It says it's corrupted..GRRR, what's with that... I'll try a few things to get it to work... stay tuned.

Edit2: I tried putting the file in a folded and zip it (Loft-ribs1.zip), but no luck unzipping... to be continued.

Edit3: Well, I tried changing permission on the file and zipping a couple ways, but no go; the problem seems to be on the upload side, corrupting the file somehow... Any Ideas?
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Until we can upload SW files, if you would like a copy, PM me and I'll E-mail one to you.

Dean

[SUNSQUINT]

try changing the file extension to something like .txt ot .pdf before posting it here and change it back before opening...
just tell us what the extension is when you post.

[Spooky]

I can't remember if I tried that or not, but let's give it another shot, just in case .

It's a 2004 SW part file renamed as a txt file and zipped, so unzip and rename the file extension to " .SLDPRT " and we'll see if it works.

Dean
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Didn't work, when you try to unzip it, same thing happens, says it's corrupted..... It's too large a file to upload without zipping.

[SUNSQUINT]

Didn't work for me either...I don't know anymore. I know it works on RCGroups.

[Spooky]

OK, made the SW file smaller and renamed it to a PDF ext. and didn't zip it....

Same routine, change it from the .PDF to .SLDPRT extension.

Dean
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Downloaded it and changed the ext. and it works, yahoo .

[stardvd555]

I have the airfoil in .dwg format, and insert it into a sketch. I didn't generate the airfoil, a friend of mine did. I may re-do it and change the outline to a polyline and see if that will work. For some reason, SW doesn't like the curves in the airfoil.

[Spooky]

Check to see if all the curve ends are all connected, misalignment can happen when importing a dwg file into SW or trace over the curves with a spline, then delete the original curves and use the spline(s).

[Thomas_W]

	Quote: Originally Posted by Spooky
	Nice work Mithrandir, Here's a quick and dirty way to make some ribs in SW... by that I mean I did this in less than an hour with pics; no dimensions, and very basic shaped sketch's, just as an example. You can detail out the sketch's for better overall design and fit (notch's, cutout's, etc.) Step 1) I made a very basic airfoil sketch on the RIGHT Plane, and another sketch on the same plane with lightening holes as a template for later on. Step 2-3-4) Added a Plane at a distance (length of wing) off the Right Plane; insert sketch and converted entities from Sketch 1 (airfoil sketch), and scaled it down, I used 75% for this example. Step 5-6) Inserted a sketch on the Top Plane and connected the 2 Airfoil sketch's with lines (guide path for lofting). Make sure to use the Peirce relation where they intersect. Step 7) Loft the 2 airfoil sketch's, using the outline sketch as the guide curve. Step 8) Here's were you make your Plane's to use to cut up the model (wing). Used "Plane at a distance" with multiple copies (rib spacing) for these, making sure to make "rib thickness " Plane's at each end. Step 9-10-11) Now comes the slice and dice... You split the solid body (wing) with all the Plane's and pick the parts you want to keep and you have basic ribs. Step 12-13) Here's where those earlier hole sketch's come into play; Roll back the feature manager tree to before the "Split Body" so you have just the wing, not ribs. Insert new sketch's and use convert entities for each hole on the 2 end faces or you can make new sketch's. Loft-cut these sketch's to get the lightening holes, or whatever shape you want. Step 14-15) Roll forward the feature manager tree and you have ribs, (15) now just pick each rib and save it as a separate part which can be assembled later. You can "Mirror" all the ribs to get the other wing if you want. Like I said, just a very basic layout to use as an example.... and just one of the way's to do it.

I just tried this, and amazingly my simplest mind figured most of it out. now could you explain how you go about making the cuts in the wing ribs on the underside of the "loft" / wing skin. I tried to use an extrusion cut, but it went from the center line of the end planes.

[Spooky]

	Quote: Originally Posted by Thomas_W
	I just tried this, and amazingly my simplest mind figured most of it out. now could you explain how you go about making the cuts in the wing ribs on the underside of the "loft" / wing skin. I tried to use an extrusion cut, but it went from the center line of the end planes.

To make the slots and the LE or TE cut-outs, you make a sketch (square, rectangle,etc.) on both end planes where you want the notches and loft-cut the two. You can just copy/paste the first sketch onto the other plane for the other, or just use one sketch and use swept-cut using the edge as a guide curve or use the guide curve from the wing-loft.
When I used this on my build, I did everything in the one file (LE,TE,slots) and saved off each solid body to a separate part file to use for the cut-file layout. I re-used the cut-out sketches to make the LE,TE and support , and just sweep those to get the solid bodies.
Here's a couple before and after pics.

Hope that helps,
Dean

[Thomas_W]

	Quote: Originally Posted by Spooky
	To make the slots and the LE or TE cut-outs, you make a sketch (square, rectangle,etc.) on both end planes where you want the notches and sweep-cut (swept-cut) the two. You can just copy/paste the first sketch onto the other plane for the other. When I used this on my build, I did everything in the one file (LE,TE,slots) and saved off each solid body to a separate part file to use for the cut-file layout. I re-used the cut-out sketches to make the LE,TE and support , and just sweep those to get the solid bodies. Here's a couple before and after pics. Hope that helps, Dean

makes sense. i'll have to give it a try later tonight. any quick an easy tips for importing PDF scans of plans into solidworks? I'm assuming a file converter would be necessary?

[Spooky]

	Quote: Originally Posted by Thomas_W
	any quick an easy tips for importing PDF scans of plans into solidworks? I'm assuming a file converter would be necessary?

Haven't tried to import a PDF file, I usually use a TIFF or JPEG image. I'll have to take a look and see, been pretty busy building, which isn't one of my stronger points, yet.

Dean

[Spooky]

	Quote: Originally Posted by Thomas_W
	I just tried this, and amazingly my simplest mind figured most of it out. now could you explain how you go about making the cuts in the wing ribs on the underside of the "loft" / wing skin. I tried to use an extrusion cut, but it went from the center line of the end planes.

Wasn't thinking when I answered your question, so I edited the above post to make it clearer, swept-cut should have been loft-cut, my bad . And when I looked back at how I did it, I used one sketch and swept-cut that using the wing-loft guide curve for the LE & TE swept-cut guide curve too.

Dean

[t.muehlnickel]

has anybody experience to design a complex fuselage(cross sections not rectangular) with solidworks? My way is too heavy; it generates a very complex model and then it´s not easy to work with.

Kind regards Torsten

[Spooky]

	Quote: Originally Posted by t.muehlnickel
	has anybody experience to design a complex fuselage(cross sections not rectangular) with solidworks? My way is too heavy; it generates a very complex model and then it´s not easy to work with. Kind regards Torsten

Not sure what you mean by heavy and complex, do you have any example's to show? I've designed a couple planes in SW, and everyone has their preference on how they design stuff. I think it comes down to how familiar with you are with the software and how you are going about making your parts, there is no easy button, it does take a good amount of effort and planning.

Here's my latest design, which has already been sent out for laser cutting.

Dean