Easy tool to see a cross section?

[pyroartist]

TL;DR Summary

Looking for a way to visualize cross sections.

I need to visualize what the cross section is of an oval tube is at angles of 10 degrees, 20, 30 up to 60. Is there an easy way to do this online somewhere or is there a mechanical drawing trick that can be done to see this result?

 

[AZFIREBALL]

Here is the way I would do it.

 

[Lnewqban]

Not exactly your cross section, but it may help some:
https://rechneronline.de/pi/cut-cylindrical-shell.php

 

[Tom.G]

https://www.google.com/search?&q=how+to+draw+ellipse
https://www.google.com/search?I&q=draw+ellipse+online
https://www.google.com/search?&q=how+to+draw+an+ellipse+with+a+compass

Pick an approach, draw/plot it, measure it. Sure beats trying to calculate it!

Cheers,
Tom

 

[pyroartist]

Here is the way I would do it.
View attachment 257263View attachment 257263

Thanks AZFIREBALL. This looks like it might work for me if I can understand it all. I will have to lay this out on graph paper. I am not sure what the right figure is. Can you expand on which drawing is what?

 

[pyroartist]

Not exactly your cross section, but it may help some:
https://rechneronline.de/pi/cut-cylindrical-shell.php

Thanks, this site is amazing. It sure does have lots of choices here. Just not the one I am looking for. I did plot the ellipse I need. It has an axial ratio of 2.2. But no way to see what an angled slice through it would look like.
I am plotting the airflow across an elliptical tube at an angle.
Is there someone here who knows how to do this in a basic drawing program? The only one I have is SketchUp 2013.

 

[JBA]

I am plotting the airflow across an elliptical tube at an angle.

You need to be more specific and give a sketch of the tube and the direction of flow relative the tube and angled end cut orientation

 

[Lnewqban]

Thanks, this site is amazing.
...
I am plotting the airflow across an elliptical tube at an angle.

You are welcome.
Is this a solution to a practical problem?
If so, and if you don't find that tool, we could help you with some practical solutions after seeing some specifics of that project.
For example, will you need to cut the tubes at certain angles, what tool will you use, what material and dimensions of tubes are, etc.?

 

[Tom.G]

Is there someone here who knows how to do this in a basic drawing program?

Well, not me... But here is a 3D drawing/editing/viewing program I just stumbled across that happens to be free... it's even from an established supplier.
https://www.nchsoftware.com/meshmagic3d/index.html

Cheers,
Tom

p.s. Sorry about my earlier post #4, I mis-interpreted your requirements!

 

[pyroartist]

You need to be more specific and give a sketch of the tube and the direction of flow relative the tube and angled end cut orientation

Ok, here is a sketch attached.

 

[pyroartist]

Tom, thanks for the link to the MeshMagic software. I loaded it and played with it for over an hour. I don't figure these things out easily. I finally got to draw a 3D oval tube as shown below but I don't see any way that this program will allow me to cut a cross-section and look at that cut as a 2D face. I added a proposed cut line to the screen shot with my photo editor program.

 

[Tom.G]

I don't have the program and the site documentation is sparse. They also have a pay version of the program (about which I also know nothing), that may have documentation.

If the program can do slices in arbitrary planes, that would be the simplest.

Can the program do intersections of objects? For instance have the oval tube pass thru a wall (flat plane) then inspect the shape of the result. Perhaps the tube should be a solid for this approach so the area on the plane can be subtracted, thereby showing a hole of the desired shape.

Here is a real 'out-of-the-box' idea: If you have a projector, slide or video, project the oval on a screen then rotate the screen to the desired angle.

The projection problem seems similar to projecting a shape on a display. If you assume the display is a CRT it's a little easier to think about projecting onto the screen face. This is a solved problem in computer graphics that is used in 3-D design programs. You would angle the tube as needed then move the observer viewpoint to the inside of the tube.

There is probably a straight-forward mathematical approach to the problem. Perhaps one of the math wizards on the site can come up with one.

Cheers,
Tom