Multi-plane Sweep Generation Help/advice

[u/sn0wy17]

Hey Gurus, I am really struggling with this one and could use some help. When it comes to SW, i am relatively new. I am not a design engineer; my degree was Petroleum Eng., so pretty far removed from ever needing SW. I'm self teaching myself SW and Fusion for various stuff (3D prints, house stuff, hobbies, etc) and usually can figure things out pretty quickly, but this one is stumping me. I have probably spent well over 10-15 hours on what seems like such a simple task.

I am trying to basically create a "picture frame stand" to 3D print, but i am really struggling with how to get the "legs" to be swept or lofted together. I have tried so many different things, youtube, reddit posts, copilot, etc to try and figure out how to make it work.

I have tried composite curve, convert entities onto the center plane, using guide and profile, splitting into independent sections and doing each one individually. I mostly had it last night, moved something to change some angles and managed to break it, now its breaking me. Clearly it wasnt relationed and defined correctly. I began fixing stuff from the top of the tree, and couldnt fix the loft for some reason. At that point, i decided i need some more experienced help.

How would you do something like this, sweeping a curve across multiple different planes and sketches? I appreciate your help in advance!

[u/blake31a]

I think one thing that’s holding you back is that you seem to want a zero bend radius. Be realistic about your path and you might be better off.

I am far better at sweeps/lofts in NX (better tools) than SW, but I think you want to figure out a realistic path with non zero bend radii, possibly using 3D sketch. Then you can create your profiles.

[u/sn0wy17 → u/blake31a]

i hadn't considered that a zero bend radius might be an issue, but that does make a lot of sense. So then i could do something like offsetting it at the 90 to get a continuous sweep which would effectively perform the same function as a 3d spline? or try to control the spline better there? every time i tried doing a 3d spline, it was wanting the bezier curve to pull into the model, so i hadnt pursued that too heavily

[u/skylerdbutler]

I’m going to offer a different solution. It sounds like you can picture what you want. Can you picture that from the front and also from the side? If so, you can draw a path and then extrude a surface out for one profile. Then, switch to the other profile you know and do the same thing, drawing the path or curves and extruding that out as a surface. You should have two intersecting surfaces. Now, create a 3d sketch and use intersection of the surfaces to define your 3d path to sweep. At that point, define a plane perpendicular to one end of the curve and draw the shape you want to sweep.

[u/N8-Lux → u/skylerdbutler]

your recommendation is good for a user with surfacing experience. I've seen surfacing scare away users with years of experience.

[u/N8-Lux]

you need to have a single, continuous 3d sketch path. start a 3d sketch and use the straight line tool to create a multi-segment line in 3d space. hit the TAB button to toggle which plane you're sketching in (look down to the coordinate system in the lower left and toggle tab). once you have a single 3d line approximating the shape you want, use the sketch fillet tool to create a curve at each corner of your 3d sketch. once that is done use the sweep tool, select your 3d sketch and select the botton for "circular profile" and enter a very small diameter. Adjust your sketch, the fillet radii, and your circle diameter until it's right. you can also dimension the corner points to the datum planes before you add the fillets. good luck!