Stretch the Geometry of a Part
Advanced Face Modeling Package
General
- You can stretch a volume either along the selected line or in the direction of the selected line between two selected faces.
- If the part does not have a line indicating the direction of stretch, which also determines the start and end of the stretch, model it before the operation.
- Instead of a line, the part may have two faces or auxiliary planes that define the beginning and end of the stretch.
- Model parts outside the stretch area remain stationary (at the start) or move with the stretch (at the end).
Usage examples
- To stretch a volume without history (imported volume) because there are no other ways to do it.
- To stretch a part if handling previous historical features is difficult.
- When a shape is desired for a part that is not otherwise readily available.
Stretch
- Select the ribbon bar function Part | Deformation | Stretch or
- Import | Deformation | Stretch.
- Select a line from the model to indicate the rotation axis.
- For example, the line of the guide curve or the edge line of the model face.
- If you point to two planes (step 3) that are parallel, you do not need to select a line indicating the direction of stretching.
- If there is no line parallel to the stretch direction in the model, abort the function and first model a control line that indicates the direction of the stretch and its start and end points.
- Select the stretch distance by selecting two faces or auxiliary planes.
- This is optional if you selected a line (step 2) whose endpoints are valid as the start and end of the stretch.
- The endpoints of the line guiding the direction of stretching are used to indicate the beginning and end of the stretching if no faces or auxiliary planes are selected.
- Select Confirm.
- The program opens the Stretch dialog box.
- Define the stretch data in the dialog box.
- Enter the stretch in the Distance field.
- Enter the formula or variable in the Formula field, if you want to control the stretch using a dimension table.
- Select the stretch direction.
- In: The part gets shorter.
- Out: The part gets longer.
- Click Apply to see what the part will look like with the values you enter.
- Edit the data in the dialog box, if necessary.
- Select OK.
Example 1:
Stretching is controlled by one line:
- The line guiding the stretch (guide curve) extends to the center of the cups.
- Without the Stretch function, modeling the shape below would be significantly more laborious.
Example 2:
Stretching is controlled by a line and two auxiliary planes:
- The line guiding the direction of stretching is the same length as the part.
- Two auxiliary planes have been modeled for the stretch area.
- Stretching is done by selecting a line and two auxiliary planes and entering the stretch.
Example 3:
The hemispherical basin is stretched into a half-ellipsoid-shaped basin.
- Roundings should be done after stretching.
- For stretching, both end faces are selected from the plate.
Roundings and remarks on the model.
- Note that the stretch makes the faces different in thickness, depending on the direction of the stretch relative to the face.
- If this difference in surface thickness is important and it is a volume made of sheet metal, then finally use the Tangential Offset function.
- In the case of a deep-drawn volume, that uniform thickness is irrelevant, since the deep-drawn part is not uniform in every respect.
Note:
- Edit the feature by selecting it from the feature tree and clicking Edit.
- The Stretch Data dialog box opens.
- Edit the values and the selections.