In product design, coil design is often irregular. How can we create many different, interesting coils? Many tips will be introduced through this article, using actual cases, as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Actual cases of coil design
For these three different coils, the most important thing is how to get the 3D curve. Based on the 3D curve, the coil geometry will be quickly calculated by the ‘Swept Rod’ feature. 
Case 1
Setp1: Create a circle and a line.
Step2: Use the ‘Sweep’ command to create a sweep surface, and then define the linear twist angle from 0 to 7200 degree. This can be seen in Figure 2.
Figure 2: Sweep surface with twist angle
Step3: Select the edge of the sweep surface to do the swept rod operation. Finally, get the coil shape.
Case 2
Step1: Draw two lines and a spiral curve; see Figure 3(left).
Step2: Create a sweep surface with these curves; see Figure 3(right).
Figure 3: Sweep surface with spiral control curve
Step3: Create a revolve surface with a sketch curve.
Setp4: Create a curve at the intersection of two or more faces, and then uses the Sweep Rod command to create a rod shape.
Figure 4: Use intersection curve to create a coil shape
Case 3
Step1: Create a cylinder base shape.
Step2: Create a sweep surface with twist angles (such as: from -5400 to 5400 degree), similar to that in case 1.
Step3: Use this shape and surface to generate an intersection curve.
Step4: According to the actual requirements, draw the lead-in and lead-out side curves.
The whole process of creating 3D curves is shown in Figure 5.
Step5: Do sweep rod operation to generate the coil shape.
Figure 5:Process of creating 3D curves
Some tips can be summarized from these several different case. For coil design, the key point is creating a correct 3D curve. Many different methods are available. Equation curves can be directly used for some simple shapes whereas some irregular coil shape would use the sweep feature and some other commands to create reference solids or surfaces, and then get the required curves based on these reference geometries. Using different commands for different requirements can make design work easier and more interesting.
Short Description
For coil design, the key point is creating a correct 3D curve. Many different methods are available. Equation curves can be directly used for some simple shapes whereas some irregular coil shape would use the sweep feature and some other commands to create reference solids or surfaces, and then get the required curves based on these reference geometries.
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Key words:
ZW3D CAD/CAM all-in-one solution, coil design, spiral curve, intersection curve, advanced sweep, sweep rod
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Author’s Name:
Orchid Jin
Author’s Info:
A CAD Specialist
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