Figure 1: Constant Pitch, Constant Profile and Variable Pitch, Variable Profile

Figure 2: Variable Pitch, Constant Profile and Constant Pitch, Variable Profile

Analyzing Helical Sweep Profile and Pitch Variations

You can control pitch values along the length of the profile and you can control the profile shape.
Both of these options are valuable when you want to create a nontraditional spring.

Controlling Pitch Values Along the Profile Length

You control the pitch along the profile by placing Sketcher points at the locations you want the
pitch to be different. When you specify a variable pitch for the helical sweep, you must first
specify the pitch at both the start and end of the trajectory. You can then select additional
Sketcher points and specify the pitch at that location.

As you specify the pitch at the various Sketcher points, the system builds a pitch graph so that
you can view the pitch specified at each point. In the left image of the lower figure, the pitch
begins at a value of 1, increases to 4, and then decreases back to 1. This is in contrast to the left
image of the upper figure, where the pitch is a constant value of 1 along the entire profile.

Controlling Profile Shape

You can control the profile shape based on how you sketch it. The following are examples of the
resulting spring shape for a given sketched section:

 Straight line – Creates a cylindrical shaped spring, as shown in the left images of each of
the figures.
 Angled line – Creates a cone-shaped spring.
 Multiple lines/arcs – Enables you to create a custom profile. For example, in the right
images of both figures the profile was created with three vertical lines and two diagonal
lines connecting them. The resulting spring bows out in the center. You can even use
splines and conics.

To use the Norm to Traj option, the profile entities must be tangent to each other.

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