Building Tube Assemblies in Solidworks + (Normalizing & Keying)

[@kevinkillsit]

An absolute masterclass! I really enjoyed this one, thank you for all the great attention to detail and explanations for each step. Fun to learn something new after so many years in SW.

[@blkmtnfab]

This is so awesome. Thank you for the detailed explanation and clear instructions!! I really appreciated how you explained what to do, but also what happens if you don’t follow along the way you are instructing. Great video!

[@Zenartstuff]

You're my hero. Best tube video!

[@hassiaschbi]

i found that you can copy the inner tube surface with the "offset surface" command while setting the distance to 0. then you can thicken this surface to a huge value (i have 10mm as a standard as we don't cut thicker) and then use the combine feature with the setting "common" and select the newly thickend body and the tube you want to cut. That will create the normalization of the convex part of the cut, but leaves the concave part of the cut with the wrong angle. To fix this you now select the outer edge of this concave section and create a ruled surface with the option "normal to surface". You may have to click the "switch surface" button to get the right orientation and maybe even flip the direction as from experience it works best if the surface sticks out from the body. with this use the feature "replace surface" and select the surface on the body to be trimmed. This are many, but small steps that even preserve the cut list features. So you can create a weldment and then trim the ends without replacing the tubes outer surface.

[@kwittnebel]

Pretty high level stuff. Thank you.

[@maxrybold1531]

Deleting the faces, of the tube, turns the solid into a shell. An alternative method would be to use “Extrude Surface” that has the coping profile corresponding to the tie-in angle. Then the usage of “Cut With Surface” can notch out the solid. Now, it may appear that the surface profile is challenging to find but its sketch boundaries are always driven by the thickness of the tubing and the tie-in angle, which is all you need…

[@MMMMMMMMMMBALLS]

Hey, How would I do this with a radi? I got a line -> radi -> line. how would I make it into one tube? Amazing video!

[@mattbarton2417]

How does this process work with bent tube sketches? Love this Video and the process btw!!

[@marcusrickeard1983]

Why would you not use the weldment feature in Solidworks to do all of this? It seems like the weldment option would be much faster.

[@freelectron2029]

very nice video. you have mad cad skills. im trying to build a model of a tube frame out of 40mmx40mmx4mm raduised aluminum square tube. having issues with mating the square tube so its "clocked" correctly. i had to two sides of my square sketch perpendicular to centrreline and line make one face parralel with a new plane.

[@chrishilton6049]

do you have a video showing how to detail these bodies in a drawing in the case of hand making?

[@wlightning07]

when I went to vertex the other tube goes away...