Hello
I would like to make a protective bellows with solidworks (to protect the "lifting" system I mentioned in a previous post).
I found tutorials to make very simple ones with a regular shape (a cylinder basically), but in my case I would like to do it with a rather particular shape. I'd like to do something that comes as close to this image as possible, but I'm totally frustrated on how to do it. Anyone have a suggestion?
With the smoothing or sweeping function...
Draw several sketches, the section, the high trajectory, the low trajectory, if necessary some guide curves.
symmetry!
and presto! It's simple to write, but you just have to do it:p Laughing out loud
and you want it to deform or not
if it has to deform what are the mini and max sides
and the directions of deformation
@+
Yes, ideally I would like to be able to deform it. In minimum dimension 6cm in maximum dimension 25cm, and for the direction of deformation I'm not sure I understood what you mean, because for me it seems obvious to me that it's vertical:D
Hello
I don't know if it's a good idea but it's quick.
I will do the complete volume shape with a smoothing with a low profile in the middle and a profile at the top same as the bottom one, all guided by a guide curve, a shell function and I will make the separations with a material removal and finishes between the material removals
Otherwise even more rude:
I will make a paving stone, a removal of material on the front plane for the front silouhette, a removal of material on the right plane for the silouhette in right view, 4 large leaves to give the roundings and removals of materials that I described above.
It all depends on the need and the detail.
If you don't need details, there's nothing better than putting the photo in the background and going for smoothing.
Hello
Does the part have to be manufactured or is it only there to render?
Yes, the goal is to make a part that can be made (probably in rubber).
For the rendering it will be with the pixelated photo that I attached to the post:D
In any case, I'm trying with the smoothing, the shell etc. It starts well but I have no idea how I'm going to make the room flexible after...
Do you want it flexible or that it follows the different positions of your assembly?
In this kind of case, I use a "stretched" configuration and a "compressed" configuration in which I vary some of the dimensions of the smoothing sketch. Making it truly flexible would require a lot of resources for relative usefulness. The smoothing solution is already quite heavy itself.
Yes I would like to make it flexible, if I can't I fall back on a system with 2 or 3 configurations.
If you want to make it flexible, you have to link the dimension (height for example) to the distance dimension between your parts where the bellows is housed in your assembly.
As soon as you move your parts, the bellows will come up to date (with a reconstruction anyway).
To show the "flexibility" of a bellows, I had broken down the bellows into several pieces and I had put a simple constraint between the edges to create a pivotal connection between the different parts:
(in red the links)
[EDIT] with this solution, you also have to constrain some points of the bellows between them on the verticality because otherwise it can jump in all directions
[EDIT] Example with exquisite
Aurélien's solution seems to me to be the only one capable of animating flexibility in assembly.