Stacking cylinders of different diameters on the center axis
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I am trying to stack cylinders of different diameters and lengths on top of each other - with no spaces between them and so that all the centers are in line. Must be a precise way to do this that i am unable to figure out.
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Group each cylinder.
You can pick a circle's center to drag by and place on - hover over the circle's circumference briefly and them move to near the center and your tooltip should change to 'center'.
Just move them one by one so they center.
You could also try to draw a vertical guide-line through the center of the bottom cylinder, then move the rest of he cylinders so their centers are also snapped to that line, at this point their vertical alignment doesn't matter; now draw eac one down picking an edge of abase and when the axis turns blue you're dragging vertically, now hold shift-key to lock inference and drag down and snap to the edge of the top of the cylinder you are placing onto; xray mode might also help you see what you are doing sometimes... -
Tig - I get the tool tip to change to center in the bottom of the one i want to move. But as i move it, i can no longer see the center of the cylinder i am trying to stack it on. Would be nice to click the center on th bottom of the cylinder to move and the top of the one you want to set it on then click again to have then snap to the points.
Looks like the guide line is best option - thank-you!
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As TIG said, there are a number of ways to do this, but you might find this the simplest.
Draw a cylinder. Double click to edit, and place construction points at the centres of the top and bottom circles. Close edit. The construction points will now 'travel' with the grouped geometry Copy the group and go to X-ray mode. Move one cylinder by selecting the appropriate cPoint on that cylinder (bottom), and then place it on the other cylinder by selecting the appropriate cPoint on that cylinder (top). Come out of X-ray mode. Delete cPoints.
Hope this helps.
Regards,
Bob -
You could even draw your first cylinder then use the Offset tool to establish the base of the next, PushPull to the needed height and carry on doing this until you have all the cylinders atop of each other.
A very quick way to make sure they are all aligned correctly BUT you won't have the cylinders separated from each other.
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Tig / Watkins / Gaieus - appreciate all the input. Have been working with each one as they each will work better in certain cases.
Ballard
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@ballardmarc said:
Tig - I get the tool tip to change to center in the bottom of the one i want to move. But as i move it, i can no longer see the center of the cylinder i am trying to stack it on. Would be nice to click the center on th bottom of the cylinder to move and the top of the one you want to set it on then click again to have then snap to the points.
Looks like the guide line is best option - thank-you!
try switching to x-ray view mode to see through the cylinder your moving.
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You could also use Set Centre Point plugin
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If the cylnders are made into components, their axes can be moved such that the origins are at the centers of an end. Then the components can be brought in from the In Model Components Library. You'll have hold of them by the origin of their axes and can use inferencing to place the cylinders.
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