Groove Width

[[To...]]

I am measuring face groove that has a line profile callout for the outer side of the groove and then a specific groove width with a ± tolerance.

I'm looking for ideas to measure the groove width.  Is there something I do with 2 curves, i.e. Curve Distance? 

 

 

Edited Monday at 06:18 PM

[[Ma...]]

There should be distance of curves - maybe you would need to break them into separate ones to obtain width on each side.

You are selecting inner and outer curve there.

[[Cl...]]

recall each curve into a min or max coordinate for two opposing points. Then a simple distance?

[[Ri...]]

Curve Distance is my favorite tool for this. It also gives you a pretty graph to show you the distance along the profile. You can even export the individual point distances. 

[[Ch...]]

I agree with Richard, I think Curve Distance is best for this, can show the widest and thinnest area as well.

[[To...]]

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 I assume I will need one set up for the Min and one for the Max.  What about the dropdown menu?  Plane Distance?  Is Nominal a user input?  Does Inner and Outer refer to their physical location or does one refer to being a reference?  

Edited Tuesday at 01:50 PM

[[Ri...]]

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 I typically input the nominal myself, it should be extremely close, if not something is wrong. As for the direction, I typically do Plane Distance, so that it is forced to be a 2d distance according to the normal direction of the curve(s), but I could see some cases where 3d distance would be better. 

 

And yes, you will have to make one for the Min, and Max if you want a reported value, kind of a bummer. 

[[Ky...]]

Curve distance can be a bit tricky to get working in my experience. First rule is to make sure that the curves are going in the same direction (e.g. both counter-clockwise or clockwise, but not one each). Without that especially the max value can be way off. Second, it usually works best if they start about the same point. I don't think it is 100% necessary, but it helps. Also, about the same number of points is helpful too.

 

I usually evaluate it as "Plane Point". The direct 3d, in my experience, can have projection errors so it is sometimes a bit larger than it should be. The nominals are rarely right on, but reasonably close. The higher the density, the better I think, but of course you do have to be within reason. You'll be there all day if you are trying to do 200000 curve points.

[[To...]]

Any thoughts on the Outer / Inner question?  The help topic is really not clear.

 

 

[[Ky...]]

The inner curve is the reference. It calculates a distance starting at each curve point of the inner curve to a corresponding intersection point on the outer curve. Either way works, but they will likely give slightly different numbers.