Surfacing the back of an iPad in SolidWorks

This is the classic "crowned" surface used in all kinds of industrial design scenarios. Check out cadjunkie.com for more!

Category:

Education

Tags:

• solidworks
• tutorial
• ipad
• surfacing
• class-a

[metalgastjaap]

is there a reason why you are using a mac for rihno and windows for solidworks ?

[cadjunkie]

@metalgastjaap

I'm a cross-platform user. I use both OS's on a daily basis, so I record my tutorials in whichever OS is most convenient for me at the moment.

For what it's worth, I would LOVE to use SolidWorks on the Mac if it were available!

[cadjunkie]

Great points, KevBoy3D. Thanks for keepin' me honest!

The alignment options are great, but unfortunately not enough control to be certain that the Boundary surf will be tangent to one another at the point where they meet. The main reasons I use sketches are a) to have more intuitive control of the shape of the blend, and b) to tell the Boundary surf to be tangent to the sketch normal.

SW is amazing in terms of ease of use, but leaves much to be desired when it comes to surfacing control.

[SOR4]

@adamohern1107 No, when you need to create a perfectly smooth transition from flat surface (GO) you HAVE TO USE curvature (G2 or higher) as it will consist of 2 rows of control points that will be at the exact same plane like the flat surface. Tangency (G1) is working better than curvature (G2) in 95% of the cases when you want to create a smooth transition from nearly round surface (G1).

[SOR4]

When you are trying to smoothly connect a flat (G0) surface with another surface, sometimes Curvature (G2) won't work properly, so you have yo use higher continuity level such like G3 or G4. Rhinoceros 4 works with up to G4, but since I'm only a Rhino user, I really don't know whether SolidWorks supports more than G2.

[Hinloopen]

@adamohern1107 I see your point when it comes to curvature coming from a flat surface, had not realized that detail, thanks.

[adamohern1107]

@Hinloopen

I agree that the limitations of SW surfacing can be frustrating, but in this case I think it's worth pointing out that curvature continuity is not automatically better than tangency, particularly when you are continuing a straight line. Since our main surface here is planar (i.e. has no curvature), "curvature" continuity is a misnomer. Tangency is perfectly sufficient in this case.

Point taken, however. Achieving good continuity in SW--despite their claims to the contrary--is hard.

[KevBoy3D]

You could try to add "connectors" inside boundary, when inside the command you can rightclick on a surface edge and add one. This allows you to shape the interior of the surface, two might help boundary better go around the curve.

[Hinloopen]

Great tutorial, but why would a modeller be satisfied with tangency continuity when curvature continuity is also available? I would be quite frustrated knowing my surfaces could be better...

[KevBoy3D]

Ah yes, in order to maintain smoothness you won't be able to use the alignment options, good point!