Surf and Code: BlueSurf: Creating Hurled Surfaces

In this tutorial you learn :

How to create a Hurled Surface using the new BlueSurf command of Solid Edge

How to use the project curve command

Trimming surfaces in Solid Edge

Splitting curves

How to use the Bounded Surface
It is assumed that you are familiar with the basics of Solid Edge Part modeling.

Full index of Solid Edge surfacing tutorials on this blog is here.

Create Planes Start with creating two planes parallel to the y-z plane on either sides.
Draw the Profiles - In Parallel Planes Sketch an arc in both the parallel planes. As shown in figure, the arc on the near side is bigger than the arc on the farther plane.
Draw the Profiles - In x-y Plane Sketch two more arcs in the x-y plane. These arcs are connected to the arcs drawn in the parallel planes.
Another Profile Sketch one more arc in the near side parallel plane . These arcs are connected to the arcs drawn in the parallel planes.
Convert to Curve Use the Convert to Curve tool in the sketcher environment to convert the arc to a spline.
Adjust the curve This arc has its end points connected to the ends of the larger arc. Pull few of the control points on the arc converted converted to curve and adjust its curvature as shown in figure.
The Details Overall the curve looks as shown in figure. The end points are still connected and the Connect relationship handle is clearly seen. The arc seen below the curve is the one on the farther side parallel plane.
The BlueSurf Click the BlueSurf tool on the surfacing toolbar. Select the bigger arc and click accept on the ribbon bar. Then select the smaller arc. Both - correct and incorrect - ways of picking the second arc are shown in figure. Pick in the correct way.
Begin creating the BlueSurf Click accept on the ribbon bar. A Bluesurf is created as shown in figure.
Add a Guide Curve Still in the BlueSurf command, Click the Add Guide Curves button on the ribbon bar. Select the arc as shown in figure and click accept
Add Another Guide Curve Similarly, select the other arc as shown in figure. Click the accept Preview and Finish buttons in that order.
BlueSurf Created A BlueSurf, as shown in figure, is finally created . This surface spans the two arcs in parallel planes and is guided by the two arcs in the x-y plane.
Once More Hide the Blue Surf created in last step. Create another BlueSurf. Use the same curves except that, instead of the larger arc, use the arc-converted-to-curve as the starting curve and the small arc and the guide curves remain the same. As shown in figure, the BlueSurf pointed by red arrow is the one created using the larger arc. The BlueSurf pointed by Blue (no pun intended) arrow is created using the *arc-converted-to-curve*.
A clearer view Although the two BlueSurfs begin with different curves ( an arc and a converted curve), they both have a common curve - the smaller arc on the far side. See figure. The red arrow points to the common arc on the far side. The yellow arrow points to the larger arc and the green arrow points to the arc-converted-to-curve.
A clearer view Although the two BlueSurfs begin with different curves ( an arc and a converted curve), they both have a common curve - the smaller arc on the far side. See figure. The red arrow points to the common arc on the far side. The yellow arrow points to the larger arc and the green arrow points to the arc-converted-to-curve.
Profile - top view In the x-y plane, sketch two arcs as shown in figure. The two arcs do not touch each other nor they are parallel.
Project Curve - Curve Step Select the Project Curve tool from the Surfacing toolbar. Select the left-side arc as the curve to project. Click accept on the ribbon bar.
Project Curve - Body Step Select the top-side Bluesurf as the surface to project on and indicate the arrow towards the Bluesurf in the next step. Similarly, project the right-side arc on the lower-side BlueSurf.
Project Curve – Ready Now you have two BlueSurfs with an arc projected on each of them. See figure.
Trim Surface - Surface Step Select the Trim Surface tool from the Surfacing toolbar. Select the top-side Bluesurf as the surface to trim.
Trim Surface - Curve Step Select the curve projected onto this BlueSurf as the trimming curve. Click accept on the ribbon bar.
Trim Surface - Side Step Indicate the arrow pointing to the right side as the part to trim off. See figure.
Surface Trimmed The Bluesurf is trimmed as shown in figure.
Once More Similarly, trim the lower-side BlueSurf using the curve projected onto it. The two BlueSurfs look like as shown in figure.
Derived Curve Click the Derived Curve tool on the Surfacing toolbar. Select the Select Curves button on the ribbon bar. Select the two arcs as shown in figure. Click Finish on the ribbon bar. A derived curve is created.
Split Curve – Begin Click the Split Curve tool on the Surfacing toolbar.
Split Curve - Select Curve Step Select the derived curve as shown.
Split Curve - Who Will Split Select Keypoint from the pulldown list in the ribbon bar.
Split Curve - Pick the Keypoints As shown in figure, select the two keypoints at the intersection of the derived curve and the projected curves.
Split Curve - Once More Similarly, split the other derived curve at two keypoints as shown in figure with the two yellow arrows.
Display Required Curves Adjust your display such that the projected curves and the split curves are only entities visible. See figure.
Bounded Surface – Begin Click the Bounded Surface tool on the Surfacing toolbar. Select the four curves as shown in figure.
Bounded Surface – Finish On the ribbon bar, click the accept Preview and Finish buttons in that order. A Bounded Surface is created as shown in figure.
Stitch the Surfaces Display all the surfaces again. Click the Stitched Surface tool on the Surfacing toolbar. Select the two BlueSurfs and the Bounded surface. click the accept and Finish buttons on the ribbon bar. The three surfaces are stitched together to form a single surface.
Surface to Solid Click the Thicken tool on the Features toolbar. The Thicken tool is in the same flyout as the Thin Wall and Thin Region tools. Select the stitched surface to thicken. Use a small value of 1 mm to thicken in any direction.
The Hurled Surface is Ready This way Hurled surfaces can easily be created in Solid Edge. Hurled Surfaces find many uses in Industrial and Product design. Imagine this surface to be on one side of a talcum powder plastic bottle. The hurl (step) acts as a smooth grip to hold the bottle and at the same time providing aesthetic looks to the bottle i.e. there are no sharp edges. Other examples are four-wheeler bonnet, etc. As an example, this bottle has hurled surfaces in at least 3 places. Can you identify them. Latest offerings from www.CADVertex.com