Wrap text onto conical surface?

[cmiksovsky]

Hello all. I'm trying to deboss some text into a conical surface. I'm using SW2006. I've used the "Wrap" feature before on conical surfaces which was great. However, in this situation when I try to use "wrap" I'm getting a message saying "Sketch plane should be parallel to a tangent surface on the selected face". Is there any way to deboss text onto a conical (or, for that matter, any non-cylindrical or non-flat) surface? Thanks for any suggestions.

Cheers,
-chris

 

[cmiksovsky]

I suppose I should be clearer - I'm debossing into a 3D conical solid. I've searched the forum for the wrapped text posts, but having found anything that addresses this. Thanks again.

 

[cmiksovsky]

I meant to say "but have not found anything that addresses this."

I'll shut up now...

 

[mjcole_ptc]

Yes put your sketch on a plane created by selecting the Conical Face and a Normal Datum (One that goes through the cone's axis. And you should be able to Wrap Away.
I think Wraps must be made on surfaces like cones or cylinders that can be unfolded or folded around an axis.

When I made the wrap feature it displayed the text in a U shape as it would look like if unwrapped. from the cone and viewed from a plane parallel to the cone axis.
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/michael.j.cole/SolidWorks/photo#5129224773228478018" target="_blank">
Cone Wrap Picture</a>

Michael

 

[cmiksovsky]

Michael:

Thanks so much for the answer and the pictures, too!

However, I'm not out of the woods yet. What I should've also clarified was that I want the text to be *horizontal*. So, in your example, I need the "CADDEDGE" text to be parallel to the large base.

I was playing with the solution you suggested. I think what I need to do is place the text on a section of an ellipse, rather than a straight line. The weird part is, when you project a horizontal line onto the tilted sketch plane for the text, you do indeed get a elliptical section. However, when you place the text on that curve and then wrap it onto the conical surface, it doesn't come out flat - the ends seem to fall off. I assume this is because the wrapping algorithm is somehow different than the projection algorithm. I've been manually adjusting the text curve to get something that looks okay when wrapped, but even with that the letters at the ends are a little tilted. It sure would be nice to know if there's a more precise and scientific way to get the right text line curvature. Let me know if you have any more thoughts. Thanks again!