Weldment issues

[nickswimsfast]

I am trying to model a length of pipe from a 3Dsketch with many line segments. The whole 3D Sketch is very long (upwards of 3000 ft.) It has a series of bends and minor changes in angle periodically. I made a custom circular library part for use as a profile.

Using the structural member tool I can generate up to 11-13 segments max(~1600 ft), and then it does not allow me to select any additional groups from the line.

The picture below shows where I cannot select any more lines for the structural member command. What is to blame here? Did I do something wrong? Or is this a limitation of solidworks?

I'd love any suggestions, or alternative solutions!

[giz]

Are you unable to add additional groups? Are all of your segments in a single group, or do you already have multiple groups?

Do you actually want the hard corners in your model, or would you prefer a single fluid line?

[nickswimsfast]

I was unable to add any additional groups, it simply would not let me select any beyond the first 11-13 segments. Hard corner segments would be preferable, but if nothing else a fluid line would suffice.

[damir_cro]

just tried it myself. the only problem i had was where the line meets a bend. just make it till there, then go again from a line. later you can add manually where the bends are. i had 30+ lines on sw 2010 so i think it's not a quantity issue

[nickswimsfast]

damir_cro, thank you for looking into this. Part of my issue is my point cloud data has dirty info. (ie: 0 length line segments.)

I ended up writing a macro to do weldments in a series of 12 segments at a time. This resolved my issue. I guess this sort of circumnavigates the bend issue.