Learning CAD with Alibre Atom3D

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

I think Rob is going to cover it as the popularity of the series means we are likely to extend a little beyond 4 parts.

Neil

[Chris GillParticipant @chrisgill22114]

I may be missing a trick, but …

I'm trying to model the top end of a piston rod. It consists of a cylinder with a slot cut most of the way along its axis. Then it has a hole drilled (extruded) through near the top. All OK so far.

Finally I want the top to have a half-round profile when viewed from the cross-hole side but square when viewed from the slot side. I've tried chamfer and fillet but, of course, they apply all the way round the edge. Is there a straightforward way to do this? Or do I need to create the top using separate sketches and extrusions?

Thanks

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Chris if you draw a circle on the plane you want and then draw a "box" as below which can be any shape and then trim half the circle away you get this shape

You can now cut-extrude that through all which will result in this

[Chris GillParticipant @chrisgill22114]

Thanks Jason

I was trying to think of a way to do that and kept getting it muddled up. That solution looks perfect

[Tim Taylor 2Participant @timtaylor2]

You can do some really neat things with the helical functions once you figure out how they work. This a coil of 0.125"OD x 0.063"ID tubing centered on a 0.5" radius….

[John McNamaraParticipant @johnmcnamara74883]

Hi Chris

I don't use Alibre but i think drawing a right angle pipe can be done with the sweep command. I use Autocad which also has a sweep command. so I checked on google and found this:

**LINK**

Regards
John

[Tim Taylor 2Participant @timtaylor2]

John,

You are correct, it can be done using a combination of the sweep boss and sweep cut functions. One caveat is that Atom3D is a somewhat stripped down version of what was shown in the video, and doesn't include all of the full package's functions.

Tim

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

It is not a right angled pipe that Chris needs, he wanted to round over the end of a piston rod from something like a small oscillation engine so it would look like I showed above, complete thing below which is just a cylinder and then two cuts as the rounding can be done in the same sketch as the hole.

[Cam McKeownParticipant @cammckeown83231]

Hello all, just a general question. Can Atom3D create draft angles on surfaces after modelling. This is
particularly critical for those that would use this type of software for pattern making.
Cam

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

You should be able to go back and edit any extrude or cut and enter a draft angle. You can also scale it to take shrinkage into account and extend the extrusions to give machining allowances. Though ideally do it at the time you are modeling the part.

[David JuppParticipant @davidjupp51506]

Cam, to add to Jason's answer – to be able to add draft to individual faces, you'd really need Alibre Design. The higher versions include a Draft command which can be applied to individual faces after creation.

There are always alternate workflows that can be used to give the equivalent effect without using the draft tool – they just take longer.

[Cam McKeownParticipant @cammckeown83231]

Thanks for the reply guy's. It's so much easier putting the draft on surfaces in one pull operation once the pattern or core box has been modelled particularly if it’s fairly complicated. Those of us who are hobbyists that do pattern making on a 3D printer or router for our models and projects would miss this functionality. I do use Fusion 360 for this work but like others would prefer not to have my work stored in the cloud. Maybe this is a function that could be included in further updates?

Cam

[Lionel PullumParticipant @lionelpullum53107]

Hi Guys

Is there a way in AA3D to create a user function, like cos(x), so that you can draw a line defined by this user function? I cannot see how to do this with the equation editor as that only appears to create a single value. Or is there a way of importing a set of coordinates, from Excel say, for use with the spline function in the 2D modelling mode, rather than entering a load of points and then having to seperately dimension each point? Or is there another way that I'm completely missing?

Thanks

Lionel

[David JuppParticipant @davidjupp51506]

Lionel, creating a spline from imported points is only supported in higher versions of Alibre. It isn't available in Atom3D.

[Paul AbramsParticipant @paulabrams18342]

Help please……My computer went down yesterday and I eventually got my Alibre restored last night. On opening this morning when starting a new part (and also on my existing drawings) there are no planes showing in the main panel. The 'Design Explorer' panel has the AXES and PLANES greyed out. When clicking on the 'XY-PLANE' it changes to blue but nothing happens.

Do I need to re-enter the programme again and if so how. I've tried re-starting the software but it remains the same.

A frustrated Paul

[David JuppParticipant @davidjupp51506]

Paul, Visibility of Planes and Axes is probably toggled off. Go to the Vieweing & Analysis tab of the Ribbon and click on Toggle References.

[Paul AbramsParticipant @paulabrams18342]

Thanks……….So simple when you know how!!!!!!!!!!!!!!..Paul

[TomkParticipant @tomk39956]

Hello Been learning Alibre Atom3D. have run into a problem with creating a hole in a cylinder at an angle.

Can anyone show me how to put a hole half way along a tapered cylinder at an angle of 25 degrees to the axis of the cylinder to a depth of half the cylinder diameter..

Cylinder is 0.5" dia at larger end an 0.25 " dia at small end.

Thanks

Tom

[Tim Taylor 2Participant @timtaylor2]

Posted by TomK on 10/01/2019 23:18:22:

Hello Been learning Alibre Atom3D. have run into a problem with creating a hole in a cylinder at an angle.

Can anyone show me how to put a hole half way along a tapered cylinder at an angle of 25 degrees to the axis of the cylinder to a depth of half the cylinder diameter..

Cylinder is 0.5" dia at larger end an 0.25 " dia at small end.

Thanks

Tom

Let me take a swing at it..

1.Create a new plane parallel and tangent to the tapered cylinder surface using the 3 point method.
2.Create a horizontal axis through the new plane using a reference point at the center of where the hole will be and one other reference point on the plane at the same height – this is the axis the new plane will pivot about
3.Create a second plane using the plane/axis option – select the plane created in step 1 and the axis in step 2, then select the angle of the new plane. It will display graphically…get it where you want it and hit "apply".
4. Select the plane from step 3 and enter 2D sketch mode
5. Use the circle function to create a sketch on this plane centered where the hole will be.
6. Use the extrude cut function with dual depth option to create the hole.

There may be a faster way using constraints – I haven't played with them much….maybe David or Jason would have an easier approach…..

Tim

[David JuppParticipant @davidjupp51506]

Tom, you'll need a plane to place the sketch for the hole on, so first task is to insert a new plane, at the correct angles to give required hole direction (there are other options to set the cut direction). There are several options for relating new planes to existing geometry (in the insert Plane tool). Sometimes it can be easier to insert a new axis first, then use that to help define the new plane.

I don't follow exactly what you want to achieve – in terms of hole depth, you might find the 'to geometry' option useful in the extrude cut for the hole.

[Tim Taylor 2Participant @timtaylor2]

My bad – the above will create the hole at an angle relative to the tapered surface. Creating relative to the cylinder centerline is easier. If you draw the center around the origin, then the first step is to create a plane parallel to and offset from the vertical axis that passes through where the center of the whole will be….then follow steps thru 6…..

Tim

[Tim Taylor 2Participant @timtaylor2]

2 thru 6…….can't type tonight….

[David JuppParticipant @davidjupp51506]

Tim, what I assume to be the first plane in your description can perhaps be created more easily – see image.

Apologies in advance if I mis-interpreted your method.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

A lot will depend on how you want the hole to end , for a flat end I did this and Iassumed your hole angle of 25degrees is not the same angle as the slope.

Create a plane at 25degrees to the vertical

create 2nd plane where you want the hole to end parallel to the one you just created

To make it easier placing the circle create an axis where the two planes cross

Draw circle on 2nd plane using axis to locate

Cut extrude to beyond the outside of your cone. I have made the part transparent so you can see extent of hole

If you don't mind how the hole ends then just create the first plane and draw the circle on that and cut to vertical plane

result

Edited By JasonB on 11/01/2019 08:26:49

[Tim Taylor 2Participant @timtaylor2]

David,

I think what Tom is after is something like this pic (transparency set so hole is visible)

[Author]

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