# Drawing spiral?

**URL:** <https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/drawing-spiral/10602>\
**Category:** Modeling Questions\
**Created:** [December 30, 2020, 2:20pm UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/drawing-spiral/10602 "2020-12-30T14:20:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 12\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Nitro](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.shapr3d.com/nitro/32/9501_2.png) [@Nitro](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/Nitro)\
**Post date:** [December 30, 2020, 2:20pm UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/drawing-spiral/10602/1 "2020-12-30T14:20:48Z")

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Hello everybody

How to Draw a Flat Spiral  
I want to project this onto a cone to get a conical helix.  
However, I can’t find any tools for a simple spiral.

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**Author:** ![Victor\_Shapr3D](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.shapr3d.com/victor_shapr3d/32/3502_2.png) [@Victor\_Shapr3D](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/Victor_Shapr3D)\
**Post date:** [December 30, 2020, 2:27pm UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/drawing-spiral/10602/2 "2020-12-30T14:27:30Z")

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Hi, @Nitro, we have a great thread on a similar design:

> [@Conical Helix](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/conical-helix/4926/6):
>
> Thanks a lot H0RR1BL3CPUfor sharing this. I wonder if you could give more details for a bigger, for example, screenshots or a video of the different steps. Kind regards

Let me know if this doesn’t answer your question, I’m glad to further assist.

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**Author:** ![Nitro](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.shapr3d.com/nitro/32/9501_2.png) [@Nitro](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/Nitro)\
**Post date:** [December 30, 2020, 2:57pm UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/drawing-spiral/10602/3 "2020-12-30T14:57:22Z")

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The cone and projecting is not a problem.  
But how to draw a simple spiral, I can’t find a solution.

 ![Spirale](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/shapr3d/original/2X/d/d6a0d4f537fad3650505933f729dc019452437c3.jpeg)

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**Author:** ![MrJack88](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.shapr3d.com/mrjack88/32/8138_2.png) [@MrJack88](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/MrJack88)\
**Post date:** [December 30, 2020, 3:27pm UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/drawing-spiral/10602/4 "2020-12-30T15:27:00Z")

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@Nitro  
This thread might help you  
[https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/helix-and-hypoid-gear-creation-tools/10249/7?u=mrjack88](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/helix-and-hypoid-gear-creation-tools/10249/7)

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**Author:** ![Nitro](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.shapr3d.com/nitro/32/9501_2.png) [@Nitro](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/Nitro)\
**Post date:** [December 30, 2020, 4:38pm UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/drawing-spiral/10602/5 "2020-12-30T16:38:18Z")

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Really, you have to draw the helix yourself?  
I was looking for a tool in shapr3D to do this all the time.  
This is probably the first CAD that does not offer a helix function.  
I’ve been testing for a few days whether it’s worth buying the Pro version.  
Thank you @MrJack88 for your answer and your video.

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**Author:** ![Oregonerd](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.shapr3d.com/oregonerd/32/8012_2.png) [@Oregonerd](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/Oregonerd)\
**Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 4:27am UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/drawing-spiral/10602/6 "2020-12-31T04:27:06Z")

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Inkscape. Has a tool & It’s free too!

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**Author:** ![TigerMike](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.shapr3d.com/tigermike/32/32650_2.png) [@TigerMike](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/TigerMike)\
**Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 6:17am UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/drawing-spiral/10602/7 "2020-12-31T06:17:58Z")

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Thanks for the suggestion. I wanted to give it a try however it does not work on my iMac with the latest MacOS (11.1). FYI.

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**Author:** ![Oregonerd](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.shapr3d.com/oregonerd/32/8012_2.png) [@Oregonerd](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/Oregonerd)\
**Post date:** [January 1, 2021, 2:07am UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/drawing-spiral/10602/8 "2021-01-01T02:07:10Z")

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👆 My biggest grievance about Macs. They tend screw you over on backwards compatibility. Often.

Windows has always been great about getting old, ancient programs to work. I’m still running ancient Adobe products and other programs on an 10 YO laptop with win 10 on it. Try that with a 10 YO mac= NOPE! 👇 My wake up and see what’s going on in the world machine. Got to love HP’s! (Their weakness? Display hinges. Note: I was fresh out of bailing wire!).

 ![20201231_175331](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/shapr3d/original/2X/c/c334f44398916328d172adb62d2dd631b414d993.jpeg)

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**Author:** ![Oregonerd](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.shapr3d.com/oregonerd/32/8012_2.png) [@Oregonerd](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/Oregonerd)\
**Post date:** [January 1, 2021, 2:08am UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/drawing-spiral/10602/9 "2021-01-01T02:08:11Z")

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I’ll perform a 21 gun salute when she finally dies.

Come to think of it, some of the programs I still have on it are over 15 years old.

I will e in tears when it dies…

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**Author:** ![Trippy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3e96dc/32.png) [@Trippy](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/Trippy)\
**Post date:** [September 20, 2021, 2:15am UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/drawing-spiral/10602/10 "2021-09-20T02:15:33Z")

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I’d like to share my take on producing a spiral by using a revolve body and a cone.  
Notes:  
The number of revolution of the revolve body dictates the MAX number of revolutions in the final spiral.  
The height of the cone will dictate the FINAL revolution count in the spiral.  
Similarly, the base of the revolve body dictates the MAX outside diameter.  
The base of the cone dictates the FINAL outside diameter of the spiral

Below are the steps:

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/shapr3d/original/2X/f/f0ba578e956e50a11f13ea17bfba2d0186d71cb9.jpeg)  
 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/shapr3d/original/2X/d/d33c0a7dab920072388db8041e9a59a64022e5d4.jpeg)  
 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/shapr3d/original/2X/5/52a87792c3e21483e4a2092483f7ee7df76d9534.jpeg)  
 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/shapr3d/original/2X/f/f3b237f61274e5594b95d9b807aac920e8a85eeb.jpeg)  
 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/shapr3d/original/2X/4/4b97d3413d5fe4db637ffd4f3a8245c17986eb77.jpeg)  
 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/shapr3d/original/2X/0/070da1e73c74a5368bc1ae8075776510b4dac970.jpeg)  
 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/shapr3d/original/2X/b/beddf28d6a47cfe3583ee4821d11aa17785d1d4f.jpeg)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![TigerMike](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.shapr3d.com/tigermike/32/32650_2.png) [@TigerMike](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/TigerMike)\
**Post date:** [September 20, 2021, 2:22am UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/drawing-spiral/10602/11 "2021-09-20T02:22:29Z")

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Kudos! Well done!

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**Author:** ![Trippy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3e96dc/32.png) [@Trippy](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/Trippy)\
**Post date:** [September 20, 2021, 9:38am UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/drawing-spiral/10602/13 "2021-09-20T09:38:39Z")

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Thank you!

I totally get you, I too have had experience with other CAD programs and have grown used to them but they don’t cater to a more portable set up. Shapr3D is constantly developing and I have no doubt that these basic features will one day come. I’m sure that the ease of which we are able to create our models through Shapr3D is because of the the hard work they’ve put into it on the back end. As person who has learned basic coding, it’s not so easy xD and great things take time 🙂