Why union doesn't work?

 From:  FelixPQ (FELIX)
4542.1 
Hi all,

more curious then anything else, I'd like to undestand why the object named "spiral" and "center" don't union?

I've used sweep on P1 and P2 with the spiral as the rail.
Then extracted the edge of the "spiral" near the center and modified it (trim) to create "center" using revolve.

The only reason I can think of is that "spiral" as a self intersecting part.

Thanks,
Felix