Lofted Boss/Base Feature in Solidworks

It is not always possible to design a given part using extrude and revolve or sweep. Loft Boss/ Base in solidworks is used for creating more complex parts.

Level: Beginners

We will be designing a Jar using loft in this tutorial.

The idea behind loft is to create a solid object by connecting different profiles with smooth curves. Conceptually above jar can be created by joining 4 or 5 circles in different planes.

Video Tutorial on Loft

Steps

Open Solidworks and click on new and then click on part and click ok as shown.

Then click on top plane and sketch a circle of  4omm in diameter as shown and exit the sketch by clicking on exit sketch button .

Now in features tab click on reference geometry then planeas shown in figure

Select the top plane as first reference and enter 25 mm as offset. Make Sure that the new plane place top of the top plane. If it is not check the FLIP option which then adjusts the new plane’s position and click ok.

Now select the new plane (plane 1) and sketch a circle of 60mm in diameter and exit the sketch.

Now repeat the procedure and draw another two circles of diameter 30mm and 50 mm in planes at a distance of 75mm and 100 mm from the top plane respectively. The final collection of sketches will be as shown in figure below.

Now go to features tab and click on Lofted Boss / Base tab

Now select profiles in the order of Sketch 1, sketch 2, sketch3 and sketch 4 sequentially and click ok.

Now hide plane 1, 2 and 3 as shown

Go to features tab and click on shell feature

Select the top face of the jar and enter shell thick as 5 mm and click ok.

The final structure will be like

Download the file in this tutorial.