Over rotation with the Follow-me tool
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I'm trying to do what seems to me to be something easy... but I can't get it to work. I'm just trying to get a face to follow a semi-circular path using the centre of the semi-circle as the rotation point. The problem is, it always over-rotates and automatically extends itself past the original axes. This is a problem for me because I am designing something that is bilaterally symmetrical so I'm only doing one half of it with the intention of duplicating it, flipping it and joining them together. I've taken some screen shots to illustrates what I mean:
This is the face I'm trying to make the lathed surface with.
I do as I always do and select the path along which I want the face to follow:
Selecting the face with the Follow-me tool and everything looks ok...
But... when you look at it up close you can see the problem:
The original vertical side of the face was aligned with the origin of the blue axes. After the Follow-me tool has been applied this is no longer the case as it has been over-rotated. I know I can fix it easily using a vertical face --> intersect with model etc but that's a pain. Is there a way to ensure this doesn't happen?
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yes it's the little disavantage of the Follow me
With the followme tool first segment of the path must be Perpendicular!
Use Quick Lathe for circular rotations! By Trogluddite
When it's drawn, select the "cap" and move it! Some crazzy volumes can appear!
Else
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Thanks... that's really cool! Making the first segment perpendicular helped with the regular follow-me too.
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@tasv said:
Making the first segment perpendicular helped with the regular follow-me too.
That's an important thing to understand with the Follow Me tool and it really isn't difficult to deal with. TIG's Lathe plugin is great for circular extrusions such as yours but it doesn't work, nor was it intended to work, for non-circular paths. Setting the first and last segments of the path perpendicular to the profile and the expected end will be the fix for those non-circular extrusions. Or, at least rotate the profile so it is perpendicular to the first segment and know that it'll end perpendicular to the last.
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Thank you. It will help a lot. I'm putting together a sample model F1 car that will be cut from a block of balsa wood with our CNC router. I'm trying to get the kids in my 'F1 in Schools' class to be a little more adventurous and creative. They tend to get stuck in boring, straight edged, ruts. It's coming along. Still a ways to go but I'm pretty happy with it so far:
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It sounds like a great project. It would be fun to see the results, both in SketchUp and in balsa.
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This is one the kids have designed and made already... good starting point!
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Very cool. Thanks for sharing it.
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