Spline Size
Amatista Sheeley
Without a doubt, there are more questions asked about spline than any other subject when it comes to tackling a screening project. Since screening projects are not as common as other DIY or maintenance jobs around the house, it is not surprising that limited information is available on spline. In this blog post, we will try to fill that gap with some helpful tips and tricks to guide you to the right spline for your project!
Spline is a type of vinyl cording that fixes the screening material into the frame. Spline is rolled into the grooves using a spline roller or screen mouse -- tools that are specifically designed to make it easier to press the spline into the grooves in a smooth, fluid motion.
Need some inspiration? Check out some of our DIY videos. Whether you decide to DIY, or leave it to the professionals, take our quiz to find out which of our screening products is right for you. You can also use our screening selection guide to help make your decision.
This article was co-authored by Michael Fox. Michael Fox is a Window Repair Specialist and the President at Window Repair Systems and WindowHardwareDirect.com, based in Westminster, South Carolina. With over 25 years of experience, Michael specializes in commercial window repair and service. He holds a business degree from Monroe Community College and SUNY Brockport. Michael has helped Window Repair Systems and WindowHardwareDirect.com become an industry leader in commercial window repair and hardware distribution, servicing schools and businesses and training large public school systems.
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A screen spline is a rubber cord that keeps the window screen secure in its frame. If you've purchased a new window or your old spline is damaged, you'll need to purchase a new screen spline. Take measurements of the old spline or the window frame groove to make sure you purchase the right spline size. All you need to know is the spline diameter and width!
Thanks. Yes, please consider that. An adaptive size like the size of the gizmo for the sphere reflection is great. Currently I mostly turn of the gizmo for the splines because they block my view of the scene.
Is there a way to precisely scale the lobe pictured below between the two vertical dashed lines and not have to eyeball it ? I've tried to find the arc center point to draw a horizontal line to the vertical tangent but can't seem to find a tool and find the arch center point.
I'm not at all sure what you mean by "precisely scale the lobe pictured below between the two vertical dashed lines". Precisely scaling just a part of a curve is not possible. Fit point splines in Fusion are "global" in that a change to any fit point will affect the entire curve, at least to some extent. Can you clarify a bit what the expected result should be?
The way this works is that you are calculating the percentage of each dimension in relation to the length of the entire shape. So in the first example, the length 40.362 is about 25.23% of 160. Now we know the percentage, we can set the dimension to equal to 25.23% of d1, regardless of what d1 is.
I see approximately where the tangent is on the spline so I create a 3 point circle at that curve section. Using the center of the circle draw a horizontal construction line and the intersection with the circle is fairly close to the vertical tangent. I used these construction lines to dimension figure out the approximate scale.
I've been away from MAX for a while, I have some 2D splines I am editing, and I can't seem to get the vertices to react to the scale tool at all. Axis doesn't matter, scale mode doesn't matter, coordinate system ditto, no matter what I do they totally ignore my efforts at scaling. I've always aligned vertices/edges by scaling the vertices, or I do so the vast majority of the time, but I seem to be forgetting something about editable splines and how to get vertices to scale. Thanks in advance for pointing out whatever amazingly obvious thing I am missing.
Ok, why did it post twice? I hit Post once and it brought me back to the edit post UI. So I hit post again, this time it takes me to the forum UI showing two posted threads. Anyway, moderators please nuke one of them, it's not exactly a sophisticated question so we definitely don't need two.
I try to google for the solution but I could not get the exact answer. Maybe because I have never use Maxscript. I see some people say using "getSegLengths" but I have no idea how to access this and is it under the Maxscript which I have to type in some code for it? I try to google for "getSegLength" tutorial. None comes out as well..
So I have no choice but to seek advice and help from here... Can anyone please give me a simple guide for this? My goal is not to learn maxscript at this point, but to get the length of the segments I need. So any method will do.
So all you have to do is select your spline and then go to the utilities tab (the last one that looks like a hammer) and click on the measure button. This will give you the length of the selected spline. If you need the segments just explode the spline and do this for each segment. I hope for your sake that there aren't very many, but if there are maybe someone else has a quick script for you.
Right now I am trying to look for a way to explode the 100 segment to individual objects so i can measure each of them. Is there such an option? Exploding each segments... otherwise I will have to use the detach option and do it one by one....
I have wanted to design my own servo arms for my robots without the need to attach the servo horns to them. With a 3D printer available I wondered if it was possible to manufacture hubs for the spline on the servo shaft. The problem was to know the geometry of the spline. I am not the only one to be frustrated about this it seems when I google on "SG-90 spline". Many have asked the question on forums but there hasn't been any clear answers on how the geometry of the splines look.
I wanted to capture a good quality image of the spline. I saw that there are USB microscopes for reasonable prices but didn't want to but one for only this project. What about the camera on my smart phone? I took some pictures of the servo from close distance with a steady hand being as vertical as possible. It is difficult to get a sharp image from a vertical position but after som trials it succeeded. It looked like this:
Then what? I need to export the image to my CAD program. I use Fusion 360 for my designs. It has a feature "Attach Canvas". The picture was inserted as canvas. The next thing was to have it scaled in order to model the hub. With calipers I measured the outer diameter to be 4.90 mm. So the canvas was adjusted in size to fit to that diameter. By zooming like crazy I could model the splines. It seems that the teeth on the spline are of a round shape. By modeling two circular arcs, one outer and inner and constrain them to share tangents, I could replicate the shape aorund a tooth. I added circles for outer, inner diameter and the circle at which the two arcs meet.
The constraints for the sketch is shown below. There was some tweaking before I got a decent shape around one of the teeth. Then the shape should be repeated in a circular pattern. At that moment I learnt that there are 21 teeth on the spline. I was comvinced that it was 20, the result I always arrived at when counting them (and expecting an even number).
And then the test. Is it possible to 3D print. The answer is Yes. I use an Ultimaker 2 at the local Makerspace where I am member. It produced decent prints that would fit onto the servo shaft with a little tight fit, like the nylon horns that follow with the servos. I never really tried to make several versions of the spline. I was half expecting to fail on my first attempt and do several prints and tweak some of the measures to get one that works. Now it happened to work the first time.
So, is the resolution of the printer really that good to make these very small splines? Well, at least the teeth can be clearly be seen on the printed parts and the splines work as intended. I used a standard nozzle of 0.4 mm diameter and plain PLA. Some of the arms I did cracked after some using. Maybe the fit is a little buit too tight, but on the other side there isn't much to play with to get a too loose fit instead (where the hub slips while under load). 3D printed PLA clearly has it's limits when it comes to strength.
Hey There
Just looking for the method to measure spline length in Cinema 4D R13. Couldnt find anything recent online so just fiddled with it until I found the answer in the depths of the software.
1/ Highlight your spline in the Object Manager.
2/ In the Attribute Manager, click and hold on Mode, and Select Project Info.
3/ Click on the Structure Tab and you will find the Spline Length, as well as the number of Hard, Soft and Split Tangents in your Spline.
4/ Knowing this can help you find jerkiness in your spline if you are using it as a camera path, for example.
Hope this helps someone! And Maxon, please add some information to your online help.
G
I have a Florida aluminum pool enclosure built around 1990. I replaced a lower panel with a pet screen when our German Shepherd ran through it chasing a neighbor's dog.I used some cheap round spline from Walmart which was blown out during stormy weather.
I think the old spline I dug out of the channel was flat. Is there a conventional size flat spline for pool enclosures (T spline) or does it vary and require a sample to make the determination?
I read to go one size smaller I think for pet screen spline.
Appreciate the help. Thanks.
Hi Ed;
Yes finding the right spline size does take a bit of experimentation.
Usually with T spline if you measure the width of the spline groove then the width of the spline will be the same.
Be careful though because some spline grooves flare out and are wider at the bottom.
One way to test the width is to whittle down on a popsicle stick until the end just fits snug in the spline groove. Take a piece of screen cloth and see if the popsicle stick holds it in snugly.
Whatever the width you end up cutting the popsicle stick too ends up being the width of the spline.