SolidWorks Curves and Flex Features

[matt]

I think a lot of people don't use curves because they don't know they're there or how to use them. Or maybe they just make straight parts. Anyway, here's more than you wanted to know about curves and the Flex feature. My movies are always about 3x longer than you want them to be, so as a tip, just skip to the last 1/3rd. That's the best part anyway.

[mike miller]

Youtube is blocked here. But I have more experience with Flex than I wish for. Try using it for laser-cut square tubing that is hand bent to 90 degrees after cutting. Ouch!! That is messy!

[linsd]

Very well explained!

[matt]

Youtube is blocked here. But I have more experience with Flex than I wish for. Try using it for laser-cut square tubing that is hand bent to 90 degrees after cutting. Ouch!! That is messy!

Yeah, it's not meant for real production geometry. I limit it to "looks like" parts - like rubber parts bent into position.

[mattpeneguy]

Yeah, it's not meant for real production geometry. I limit it to "looks like" parts - like rubber parts bent into position.

Yeah, I played with it and could not create the feature in your book with the part from the book. For whatever reason Flex was broken in the release I was using. I even had the VAR confirm it and they pretty much told me the same thing.

Just out of curiosity does SE have an equivalent and is it for real production geometry?

[matt]

Yeah, I played with it and could not create the feature in your book with the part from the book. For whatever reason Flex was broken in the release I was using. I even had the VAR confirm it and they pretty much told me the same thing.

Just out of curiosity does SE have an equivalent and is it for real production geometry?

No. Flex asks a lot of the software. It is generally a better idea to just model what you want. I think you can do this in NX synchronous, but not sure about that.

https://community.sw.siemens.com/s/ques ... ex-command
https://dezignstuff.com/how-to-build-impossible-models/

[matt]

Yeah, I played with it and could not create the feature in your book with the part from the book. For whatever reason Flex was broken in the release I was using. I even had the VAR confirm it and they pretty much told me the same thing.

Just out of curiosity does SE have an equivalent and is it for real production geometry?

Did I supply the spoon file? You couldn't get it to flex at all? What version were you using?

[Glenn Schroeder]

I've needed to modify existing Parts a couple times lately (twisting and bending guardrail). After trying to do it with the Flex feature in the past I finally gave up and instead cut out a section leaving two bodies, used the Move/Copy bodies feature to re-position one of them, then lofted between them. That works pretty well.

[mattpeneguy]

Did I supply the spoon file? You couldn't get it to flex at all? What version were you using?

So @matt,
I found the file, it's not the spoon, it's some weird part from Mastering SW. I opened it in 2019 and saved it after trying to recreate the feature. It still won't work the same, it asked me if I wanted to convert it to 2019 when I saved it. So, I'm guessing I was using 2017 or 2018 when I originally tried. 2019 at least lets me create the Flex3 feature, but I can't get it to look like the Flex2 feature that you created.
Maybe I was doing something wrong, but in October 2019 probably using SW 2017 or 2018, IIRC, I couldn't create the feature at all. I found the emails with the VAR and in it I'm just being instructed to start with simpler geometry.

I've attached the part with my attempt to recreate the Flex feature if you are interested.

[matt]

So @matt,
I found the file, it's not the spoon, it's some weird part from Mastering SW. I opened it in 2019 and saved it after trying to recreate the feature. It still won't work the same, it asked me if I wanted to convert it to 2019 when I saved it. So, I'm guessing I was using 2017 or 2018 when I originally tried. 2019 at least lets me create the Flex3 feature, but I can't get it to look like the Flex2 feature that you created.
Maybe I was doing something wrong, but in October 2019 probably using SW 2017 or 2018, IIRC, I couldn't create the feature at all. I found the emails with the VAR and in it I'm just being instructed to start with simpler geometry.

I've attached the part with my attempt to recreate the Flex feature if you are interested.

The Flex feature can be tough to understand. Here is a comparison between the example Flex and your Flex:

The body on the left is the example, and the rectangular base stayed stationary, but yours on the right the rectangular base was twisted by the Flex. Here is a comparison of the propertymanagers:

The orange triad on yours is in the wrong position. You have to move it back to the green trim plane to get that rectangular base to stop rotating. You can see in the below gif (might have to click on it to get it to play) that dragging the Z axis causes the twist to start closer and closer to the green plane, and when the position gets close to .307, it looks right. If you look at Trim Plane 1 box in the PM, it is positioned at .307.

I'm not sure if that makes sense, but that's how it works. Yes, it's kind of screwy.