Barley Twist Spirals

Gaieus

@dave r said:

Pilou, you trot that video out every time someone asks how to draw anything.

That's not a barley twist either.

True but otherwise a brilliant solution!

(I could imagine Kito Raupp is Pilou himself in a humble disguise)

gilles

Here is a step by step.

profile

follow me around the circle

erase unwanted

intersect

erase unwanted

select the two profiles (center must be on blue axis at origin) run screw plugin

cut unwanted whit zorro plugin

intersect

erase unwanted

archturn

@gilles said:

Made in one shot with screw1_5.rb.

AND it works also with components.

This is what we call a rope twist not a barley twist. The barley twist has another (interior) radius. The rope twist looks like rope - though your method may work for a barley twist as well. David R's is definitely a barley

Dave R

@gilles said:

Here is a step by step.

Nice rope twist.

archturn

Dave R
Love your solution but I need to fit it to the other part of my newel. Gilles method looks like it will work. In CAD I'll usually do a sweep of the newel profile then draw my barley twist profile - sweep the barley profile with the correct pitch then subtract it from my newel sweep. I wish I could do it this way (specifically the subtract function) in SU since this yields the most realistic geometry - though again Gilles looks pretty right (just needs more interior radius to be classified as a true barley twist). Thanks

gilles

Its up to you to create the good profile.

You can also do this with screw:

Dave R

archturn, you could use the method I showed and create the transitions when you've finished. There isn't any reason you couldn't fit it to the rest of the turning. I did on the table legs. The transitions are similar to creating the pommels which I've showed in several other blog posts so I didn't bother with them in that one. The Screw plugin is nice, too. although you can do multiple starts the way Gilles shows, I would still make a single turn as a component and copy it as I did in the blog to keep file size down and make it easier to adjust the length.

gilles

@dave r said:

archturn, you could use the method I showed and create the transitions when you've finished. There isn't any reason you couldn't fit it to the rest of the turning. I did on the table legs. The transitions are similar to creating the pommels which I've showed in several other blog posts so I didn't bother with them in that one. The Screw plugin is nice, too. although you can do multiple starts the way Gilles shows, I would still make a single turn as a component and copy it as I did in the blog to keep file size down and make it easier to adjust the length.

Totally agree with this.

charly2008

Hi,
here are two more options

archturn

I can see that I should have been visiting the forum more frequently instead of pulling my hair out. Awesome!!!

Dave R

Yes. You should have. And as I wrote before, there's more than one way to arrive at the final result in SketchUp. This is a great example.

archturn

@charly2008 said:

Hi,
here are two more options

Charly
I'm wondering how to use the "follow me keep" plugin". I installed it and though it shows up in my plugin menu nothing seems to happen when I click it.

massimo

You have first to select both the path and the face and then run the plugin.

gilles

Just a question: why use two plugins instead of one which does very well the job?

archturn

@gilles said:

Just a question: why use two plugins instead of one which does very well the job?

I'm going to try them all. I remeber some time back trying the "draw helix" without the "follow me keep" tool. That was one of the times I gave up. The result from using the native "follow me" is pretty ugly so I thought I would see what this tool was all about.
Again, I wasted a lot of time by not coming here first.

archturn

@gilles said:

screw1_5.rb.

select 3 profiles (in the following case), set start point, set end point, enter n steps n turn and go.

Could you elaborate on using screw1_5??

gilles

Will do later, its late here in France and I should sleep.

jeff hammond

use a whole bunch of profile curves then apply wonky style?

dale

Just a quick question. In reality, can you turn a Barley Twist, or is it more of a carving exercise?

Dave R

Dale, barley twists can be turned, sort of. There's a machine that combines a router with a lathe and gears them together for creating barley twists and other ornamental milling. Check out this link. I used to have one of their machines and used it a lot. Of course now with CNC-driven equipment, it gets even more sophisticated. I can't say I would recommend dealing with the company but the idea was interesting.