Ribs & Slots

Ribs and slots sweep planar profiles along center curves.

The Rib command creates material and the Slot command removes
material. These commands are useful for creating stiffeners, ribs, and lips
on plastic and cast parts. Both dialogs have similar options.
Use ribs and slots when you have features in your model that have the
same cross-section and follow a definite path. This operation is most
commonly used to create features such as strengthening ribs on plastic
parts or to create an assembly lip between two plastic parts.

Creating Ribs & Slots

Profile Control: Specifies how the profile is updated as it moves
along the central curve. The three options available are Keep angle,
Pulling Direction and Reference Surface.
Keep Angle: Keeps the angle between
the profile sketch plane and the tangent
of center curve constant. The following
figure illustrates how sections update
while creating ribs.
Pulling Direction:Defines the direction
the sweep follows. You can pick an
edge, reference line, or a plane. Notice
all the sections are parallel to this
direction.
Reference Surface:Keeps the angle
between the surface and the H-axis for
the profile sketch constant. The
following figures show how the rib twists
and turns as it follows the surface
profile and keeps the H-axis angle

Merge Ends
Close end gaps between the Closes end gaps
end of the rib (along the
between the rib profile
central curve) and any
and any existing solid
existing Geometry.
geometry.

Stiffener

The Stiffener function allows you to create ribs to help strengthen plastic and
cast parts

Stiffeners work well to

stiffen plastic and cast
parts by increasing the
rigidity of a part without
increasing wall thickness.
They also help
strengthen bosses and
side walls.

From Side

From Top

Create solid features where the profiles intersect to achieve the

Solid Combine
desired shape.

Multi-section Solid and Removed Multisection solid

Multi-sections solids and
removed multi-sections solids
are solids which have varying
sections or have sections swept
along a guide curve. Multisections solids (formerly Lofts)
create material, while removed
multi-sections solids remove
material from an existing solid.

It is extremely important that

theClosing Pointin each
section is in the equivalent area
to prevent the solid from
twisting. As well as keeping
control over the closing point,
manage how the solid behaves
between sections by
usingCoupling. The use of a
spine curve is optional. Using a
spine curve helps control the
orientation of the solid as the
body is created. When using
spines, sections are created
perpendicular to the spine curve.
The spine curve can be computer
generated or manually selected.

Creating Multi-Section Solids

Defines the sections that the solid will pass through. Each section must
contain planar geometry, but the number of geometric elements in each
section can differ. However, it is extremely important that theClosing
Pointin each section is in the equivalent area to prevent the solid from
twisting. Tangency constraints can be applied to the start and end
sections. To apply such a constraint, pick the first or last section in the
Graphics window and then pick a surface to which the solid will remain
tangent at that section.
Defines the path that the solid will follow between
sections. As with the start and end sections, you can
apply tangency constraints to existing surfaces at
each guide curve.
Defines orientation
of Solids between
sections

Coupling
Joins the sections at equal curve ratio points. Each
section is broken up into an equal number of segments
that will join to their equivalent segments in the next
section. This figure shows two arcs and how they would
be joined using ratio.
Connects points between sections that have tangency
discontinuity. This option requires the same number of
discontinuity points in each section. The following
figure shows tangency discontinuity points in a section.
Connects points between sections that have curvature
discontinuity. This option requires the same number of
points in each section. The following figure shows
curvature discontinuity points in a section.
Connects points between sections at their vertices. This
option requires the same number of points in each
section.

Relimitation
Defines how the multi-sections solid stops. When
one of the options is deactivated, the multisections solid is limited to the length of the user
spine or the guide curves. When one of the
options is deactivated and the spine is computer
generated, then the multi-sections solid is limited
to the start or end section. If the two options are
activated, then the multi-sections solid is limited
onReplace
the startRemove
and end Add:Lets
section. you replace,
remove, or add sections, guides, or couplings.
Smooth Parameters: Smoothes the of the
generated solid per specified limits