this year my team intends to use lexan more liberally and as a structural element, so i had to learn surfacing commands for solid works.
For real fun output it as a .stl file and see if you can get a rapid prototyping house to make one via SLA. It looks like it should build OK without much support structure.
Looks good, though I’m curious why you need to learn surfacing commands to work with lexan.
I wonder as well? Unless you have access to injection molding equipment I dont really see the use (although it would be very cool). Either way surface modeling is definitely a good skill to have as more and more things are being made by molding now.
the purpose to learning surfacing commands is to test modeling of corrugated lexan. We also have a gizmo that is sort of like a vacuum mold but uses large sheets of lexan and a plaster cast. all of this could have been done with solids, but an excuse to get better at CAD is always a good thing.
Beautiful model and congratulations for taking on advanced SolidWorks modeling skills with surfaces. Surfaces are heavily used in the consumer product industry and in the outside shells of a more humanoid-type robot. Creating surfaces to be used as cutting plane is also an important skill in machining.
Using advanced features like sweep and loft with surfaces are illustrated in creating this butterfly http://blogs.solidworks.com/teacher/2010/12/modeling-a-butterfly.html
You can download the model. There is also video instruction on how it was created. Photoview 360 was used for the rendering http://blogs.solidworks.com/teacher/2010/12/rendering-a-butterfly-with-photoview-360.html
Marie