Geodesic Dome Strut HELP

[Mark Beattie]

Good day,

I lack the skills to create a strut like the one show in this post. I can't seem to create the 'pinched' transition from the tube to the flat part of the strut. Can anyone help me out on this? Maybe point me to a couple, basic toolsets?

Thanks,

Mark

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[Box]

Here is an earlier discussion on the subject to get you started.
Some good advice and links.
https://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=79&t=66428&p=609622&hilit=flattened#wrap

And here's one I did earlier.

[Mark Beattie]

@box said:

Here is an earlier discussion on the subject to get you started.
Some good advice and links.
https://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=79&t=66428&p=609622&hilit=flattened#wrap

And here's one I did earlier.

Brilliant. Thanks for this.

Mark

[Gus R]

I hope this image is self-explanatory. I kept the bottom part of the stamped portion in line with the bottom apex of the tube and pushed it up as required. I think used Fredo Round Corner and Fredo Curviloft as shown.

Some quick renders. I elongated the stamped part a touch and added a hex bolt also with Fredo Rounded corners and an 8 sided circle.

Here's the skp.

Geo Strut.skp

[Gus R]

Here's SU Version 6 of the skp I attached above since that one is SU 2021.

Geo Strut Version 6.skp

Forgot to mention that this isn't close to realistic scale. Which shouldn't matter.

[Mark Beattie]

@gus r said:

Here's SU Version 6 of the skp I attached above since that one is SU 2021.

[attachment=0:3f6a72lg]<!-- ia0 -->Geo Strut Version 6.skp<!-- ia0 -->[/attachment:3f6a72lg]

Forgot to mention that this isn't close to realistic scale. Which shouldn't matter.

Thank you so much for your time! I really appreciate it. Learned a lot about Fredo plugins.

Mark

[Box]

Something to keep in mind, plugins are great things but sometimes they make too much geometry or perhaps you have no access to them (web version for example) or you just want to do something the hard way.
This is a version using no plugins, it's not as pretty as with plugins, but it does sort of look like what would happen if you squashed the end of a pipe. If you want to model a closeup then plugins are the way to go, but if you just want a simple long shot type of thing with lots of them in one model this can work, you can reduce the curve segments to reduce file size, I've used the default here. I've scaled the arc just to show everything is adjustable.

Edit: Forgot to show that you can easily flatten it too.

[pbacot]

Cool demonstrations. When the pipe flattens it gets a little wider too (tends to keep the same circumference).

[Box]

That is one of the things people forget, models are just edges and faces, so you can select the end and scale it, or the whole end section and so on.