Nice job Zooen.

I use MoI to design metal projects and one of the areas that intrigues me is modeling things that will be bent from rod. Your clothespin's spring would be a small example of this, would you care to share how you went about modeling it?

--Larry

Cool... Helix must be maybe metallic ...:) (found on the Net)

...2 technics should be
A circle sweeping a path
a cylinder "Flow" on a path
...

Here the funny Flow method :)

Hi Larry.

This is how I have done it, I think that is easy

Cheers

Hi!
I used a technique similar to that of Booleano (a nice rendering).

I respected the exact shape and dimensions of my clothespin (a cheap clothespin! The angles are sharp).
7 turns on the propeller. I made sure that the metal part does not bite into the wood (even in places where it would not be visible).
I think that in a self-study process it is important, in the virtual design of a real object (here the clothespin), to respect the exact shape and dimensions of the object that we reproduce (to tend towards this goal). This requires rigor, reflection and requirement. And therefore, allows you to gain skills and know-how. We are a winner!
The wood part is not a problem.
The spring is very formative: it must not bite into the wood (the clamp would not work. At the start I have 3 parts, the propeller and the two identical parts which turn at right angles with a "rounded" very tight. The difficulty is the connection of the 3 parts and the respect of the good position with the two wooden parts. I had to use "ReconstructCurve" and play on control points (displacement, to have the good curvature at tight angles).
In this particular case, your best bet is to take a wooden clothespin apart (cheap !!!) to observe and measure before you start.
Be careful, don't do this with a pretty piece of jewelry from your great-grandmother!
I am not a reference for practicing MoI3D, I only use it since V4.0 (so I am a beginner) but maybe my explanation will help other beginners.

What is sweet in French (apart from sweet)?

-Zooen

Hi Pilou, Boolean, Zooen,

Thanks for your helpful illustrations of your methods! As Zooen noted initially, there are tools in MoI that I don't use or do not use very much, thus I'm less aware of what they can do and I don't pull them out. The Sweep and Deform tools are ones I will try to incorporate more often after seeing these examples, thank you!

When I'm bending rod (either hot or cold) I need to be mindful of the centerline of the rod and how the metal flows and deforms during the bending process. An interesting challenge is to know where to start a bend so I need to think about the radius of the material and how it will be deformed during the bend...visualize what will happen and then work backwards to know where to begin the bend. The clothespin spring illustration is an excellent example of how MoI is able to produce the finished result in the model, but for me that's just a step towards being able to be able to reproduce that part in metal. I think that the beauty of the Sweep tool is that it requires me to define the curve of the centerline of the material and then sweep a profile over it...from there I think I can work backwards to figure out just where to begin bends. Having the model also facilitates the process of figuring out a sequence of steps and the different types of bending processes. To better illustrate the metal bending I'm talking about here are a couple of references: https://www.diacro.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Art-Of-Bending_2013.pdf, https://www.hossfeldbender.com/applications.html. There are many other benders out there but Di-Acro and Hossfeld are representative of the main types of manual benders.

--Larry

Thank you Larry for sharing this information.
I am always curious (in a good sense) to know the motivations of those who use MoI3D (whether professional, for the pleasure of 3D with Nurbs or others)

-Zooen

@ Zooen : Sweep (not sweet home ;) = Tuber !

Hi Zooen.

You say:
"The spring is very formative: it must not bite into the wood (the clamp would not work. At the start I have 3 parts, the propeller and the two
identical parts which turn at right angles with a "rounded" very tight"

I only made this model, very fast, to show the method, not to manufacture it, I did the 2 curves that join the propeller this way to show that if
they join the propeller Sweep does not work, that's why I made Sweep separately.

You say:
"The difficulty is the connection of the 3 parts and the respect of the good position with the two wooden parts. I had to use
"ReconstructCurve" and play on control points (displacement, to have the good curvature at tight angles)"

This is not necessary, it is easier to do it the way you see in the attached images.
I attached the new project that I have done, this one if it is rigorously with exact measurements, of a clothespin that we use in my country.
But if the Sweet sweep is done with the real measurements of the piece, it simply doesn't work, that's why I have done it at x10 scale, then
everything works, and in the end if it is needed it is rescaled to real measurement.
If it's just for rendering, this is indifferent.

You say:
"I am not a reference for practicing MoI3D, I only use it since V4.0 (so I am a beginner) but maybe my explanation will help other
beginners"

I am also a beginner, I have only been with MOI for 3 months, learning a lot from this forum which is fantastic as the members who
participate and help, so I allow myself to try to help myself.

Cheers.

Hi Zooen.

What I have commented in a previous answer, this throttling is not right.

El render.

Hi Larry:

In this case, the minimum bending radius would be 2/3 the thickness of the wire = 1/3 = 0.33 x 2 = 0.66 mm, if you go below that radius, Sweep does not work.
I did it with a radius of 0.75 applying the safe formula that is (thickness * 1.5) / 2, 1 x 1.5 = 1.5 / 2 = 0.75 mm, it is the most used in processes of bending tubes or round bars.

cheers

Thank you for your feedback Booleano.
Our exchanges allow progress. If I offended you by my remark about the fact that the spring must not bite into the wood, I want to tell you that I had not downloaded your file when I wrote this. but if that was the case, I apologize to you.

Well, that said, for me too sweep (tuber in French) did not work (I had aberrations). By using "ReconstructCurve" and playing on the number of points, Sweep works without changing the scale (well for me of course!). Your suggestion for a change of scale (x10) is interesting, maybe a MoI3D expert could give us some information on this subject.
I find that the two scripts "Rebuild" and "ReconstructCurve" are very interesting and very good at solving problems of aberrations during casing (Sweep), among others.

> this would be wrong in the real world. A teel wire would break when bending.
I accept with humility your remark which is well founded.

Boileau:« Hâtez-vous lentement et, sans perdre courage,
Vingt fois sur le métier remettez votre ouvrage :
Polissez-le sans cesse et le repolissez… »

"Hurry slowly and, without losing heart,
Twenty times on the loom, hand over your work:
Polish it constantly and repolish it… ”

- Zooen

Hi Zooen.

You do not have to apologize for anything, I have not felt offended at all, because it is true that the first model that I made the dock if it bit the wood.
This forum is simply amazing, I follow everything that is published here, because it is how I learn every day to use the best methods, and I have never read a post or response with bad words, criticisms, offenses or reports, I only read respect, collaboration , help and solutions to almost everything and in record time.
The scale technique has been advised on several occasions by Michael, who is the highest authority on this forum.

Cheers.

Re,
I apply the quote from "Boileau".

By observing very closely the curve of my spring, I noticed that it had misalignments of control points (it is perhaps a lack of control of "ReconstructCurve").
So I went back to my job, it's a little better.
I know that the curve of the small angle is still not compliant for a fabrication (machining). But hey, I trust the technician who will be able to remedy this detail!

I would appreciate that an expert (there are some who come to the forum) explain to us the right method to achieve this kind of spring.

And Booleano inspired me, I made a better quality Blender rendering (again I should work a little more on the subject ...)

- Zooen

Hi Zooen

Here you have 2 videos in both cases they use a 1 mm bending radius, looser than the 0.75 mm that I use, and in both cases the Helix outputs are tangent.
And this is the only problem you have.

Cheers


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ug7bMScWiYk&ab_channel=SolidWorksTutorial%E2%98%BA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J07X3WAdn7g&ab_channel=EtienneK

Remember that you can also use the Blend function on opened cylinders! ;)

Thanks Booleano for these links to the videos.

I don't know it's videos. I had no idea that the clothespin inspired other people on other software.
After all, it's okay to do it yourself, to make mistakes.
It is often through our mistakes that we progress, if we have the will to exploit them.

-Zooen

Hi Pilou.

In the virtual world anything goes, and that solution is perfect.
In the real world, to bend these types of shapes, made with Blend, it would be necessary to use hot molding techniques, subjecting the metal wire to a very high temperature to be able to deform the material without breaking it, as is used in forging work.
In the virtual world you can bend a tube or bar at 90º, but in the real world it is impossible to do it without cutting the part into 2 parts with an angle of 45º and then welding them together.
In addition to making springs or springs, steel material is used, not iron, because after giving it the appropriate shape it must be subjected to a tempering process to give it hardness and that it cannot be bent, and with a bending with a constriction lower than minimum radius established by mathematical formulas, the material would break safely.

But I thought I understood that Zooen wanted a method that could be manufactured in the real world, at least that is what I understood about this phrase of his:
"I know that the curve of the small angle is still not compliant for a fabrication (machining). But hey, I trust the technician who will be able to remedy this detail!"

But this type of piece has helped me to verify many undesirable effects of the Sweep tool that I do not know why they occur, and that I need to consult so that someone can explain it to me.

Cheers