Helical Spring Maker

Live Script that makes a variety of helical-spring alpha shapes, geometry files, and STL files.

This Live script makes a variety of solid helical coils by sweeping a rectangular or elliptical beam cross section through space. The point cloud is wrapped with an alpha shape resulting in faces extending along the coil plus two end faces. Optionally the triangulated alpha shape and associated 3D-meshed fegeometry object may be saved and exported as a STL file.

This script can make cylindrical coils or coils that spiral in or out when viewed from above. It may interest students and instructors of physics and related fields and be used in education. The STL files may for example be subject to modal analysis using Singing Wine Glass and Bowl Explorer. 'Try this' suggestions and slider controls are included to assist in designing the coil. The code could be modified to use other cross sectional shapes following any parametric path and a simple extension is suggested as a 'Challenge.'