@dave r said:
Thanks for posting that. I see a few issues with it but I expect it'll work for your needs.
There are some missing faces and some unneeded hidden edges.
I just spotted the missing faces and fixed them but what do you mean by unneeded hidden edges. How to avoid them? I scaled up 100 times. Makes me think I should have scaled up more?
Ta Daaaaaa
I want to say a big thank you to all that helped. I think I finally got it. As it turned out the intersecting was the most difficult for me to get. With the screw plugin there is really not much to it doing the barley twist.
I hadn't learned about resizing to get larger faces before - big plus there. I had to read and re-read Dave and Peter and Gilles post to finally get the intersection part. Thanks all!!
@dave r said:
I don't know. I've never worked it that hard. Did you try moving the slider a little?
Slider??
@dave r said:
It worked for me. I selected all of the geometry, right clicked, chose Softe/Smooth Edges. I also corrected the face orientation.
Wow
Doesn't work for me. Can SU get tired? 
@dave r said:
Although you could make an intersection between the twist geometry and the other part of the turning with the other part outside the component (or group), You won't get the faces you need. So the other part of the turning should be in the same context, i.e. inside the component (or group) as the twist geometry.
Ok Got this part
@dave r said:
The jagged edges are due to the intersection of two faceted surfaces and really can't be entirely eliminated. You can minimize them by having the same number of edges in both curves but that'll be difficult to manage in this case. If you were making the twist with each start a copy of a component, you would have an easier time with the intersection and less to deal with.
Dave
I think I do have the same number of edges - 24. Will try as you said with each twist a copy of a component
@dave r said:
I'm not understanding why you are using Zorro for any of this.
Just to make it a bit easier to mange at the intersecting point
@dave r said:
The lines you're seeing are due to unsoftened geomtry. I don't know if it is something you are doing that results in the unsoftening or if you are doing something with a plugin that causes it. You can fix it by selecting the area, right clicking and choose Soften/Smooth. Or is it Smooth/Soften?
Dave I tried the soften geometry to no avail. I've included a file with a sample part.
@pbacot said:
EDIT, Here's my try. I find in using screw.rb (did you?) It's easier to use the same number of segments for other forms that join to it. It helps line up the geometry. IDK the proper termination, but mine looks like it needs some sanding. I think the bell shape might need be as tangent to the spiral shape as possible. which leads to the very problem. You also need a good intersection!
You can see the geometry line up in the second picture
As far as I know I am using the same number of segments. SU uses 24 by default and I am setting up the screw dialog to 24
@pbacot said:
EDIT: More notes: the two shapes are separate groups. Enter each and intersect with model. You can dbl. click the excess face and delete. I find it helps sometimes to leave the excess in place until done with both intersect-with-model operations. Seems SU does not always recognize a one edge intersection.
Do you mean here to "Select" each and intersect with the model?
So you are selectimng both twice and intersecting?
It definitely helps to resize. I noticed when using the Zorro plugin I got jagged edges. So resizing is a plus. However I am still missing something. I understand that I have to be in edit mode of my group to make then intersection. But does the other object have to be selected as well? That would mean that the second object would have to be part of the edited object?
Also I'm wondering why I get a nice surface for my barley twist but portions of my tuning are lines?
I would upload my SU file but it is too large to upload.
I've been having a time trying to intersect the barley twisted part into the rest of the newel. watched YTube videos and I'm wondering if there is an issue with intersecting complex surfaces?
@gilles said:
Here is a step by step.
Gilles
I've used your method for the barley twist. Thanks to you and Dave R the twist (using the screw plugin) is a piece of cake. The "intersect model" used to join the newel with the twist , however, is another thing altogether. I'm really struggling with that part of it. Can you give me any pointers?
@dave r said:
Archturn, I was just looking at an old book on turning from the Gutenberg Project and toward the end they spend some time talking about doing various spiral turning by hand. They show some pretty cool examples in the photos. I'm sure you're getting them done in a lot less time.
I've had to do 100-200 at a time so it's not really feasible for the turnings I do. God Bless 'em for they were able to do 100 years ago.
@dale said:
That's Great. So can you directly import from SketchUp to you machine?
( Oh and, I guess I'm still living in the past, as I was thinking of how difficult if not impossible to turn it by hand.)
My machine is not a full CNC but a step below it. It is a hydraulic copier so it traces a profile. The indexing function (used for the twisting) however is computer controlled so the setting up of gears and indexing pins that Dave R referred is not necessary. The templates I use for the turning profile are drawn in CAD and sent to a machine shop with a laser CNC so I can get a pretty fine template for tracing
@dale said:
Just a quick question. In reality, can you turn a Barley Twist, or is it more of a carving exercise?
Here are two videos of turning a barley twist and then a rope twist on my machine.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcjVLg0ql7c
Barley Twist
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zVD22NqgSc>
Rope Twist
@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 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.
@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.
