How to create a lofted solid from external parts?
Hello. I'm trying to build a wing for an RC airplane. I have some ribs made up in separate parts files and now I want to draw the skin. I've been able to use the loft feature along with a 3d sketch to do this, but I need to reference the sketches from my external rib part files. Is there a way to make a lofted part from an assembly?
In the attached image you can see that I've got my ribs loaded in an assembly and I've created a new part that has a 3d sketch with planes coincidient with the rib faces. I can't figure out how to pull the geometry for the ribs into this 3d sketch so that I can then loft it... assuming that's what I need to do.
3 Answers
OK, I think I'm on the path now. I was able to create the skin by making derived sketches in the new part ... one sketch per plane per rib. I wasn't able to derive a sketch into a plane within a 3D sketch, but a series of 2D sketches worked fine. I could then setup my guide paths and do the loft. I still need some practice to make it clean, as you can see in the attached image, but I think I know what needs to be done.
Answered with a tutorial: https://grabcad.com/tutorials/how-to-create-a-lofted-solid-from-external-parts
Have you tried going to Insert Component>New Part then using sketches or convert entities to lines then going into the features option and use "Lofted Boss/Base"
Let me add a new approach to the same problem. When creating a wing, I'm allways modeling the real proceedings of an aeromodelist who makes a wing:
Aeromodelist / SolidWorks modeler'
1. Draw the profile / 1' Download the profile data, sketch the profile
2. Draw and cut the balsa rib / 2' From the profile create the rib
3. Build the wing structure / 3' Create assembly
4. Cover the structure wth Oracover / 4' Apply a surface between profiles
On the first slide you see the profile with the rib. On the second you see the wing structure with the covering surface.
