Is there a way to do a clone and offset for a given number of clones?

[L'Ancien Regime]

Like say you wanted to make heat radiating vanes for an engine and you wanted a whole series of them running up the piston at an evenly measured distance. Could you stipulate say, 25 vanes to be cloned and offest 1/2 inch apart somehow? 

Doing it by hand like this is 

 

1. Boring

2. Inaccurate.

 

Edited July 7, 2015 by L'Ancien Regime

[digman]

Here is one way though there is no settings for how far apart they are but they will be equally apart.

 

Radial symmetry in the symmetry panel... set the number according to your need

Add the object you want to be cloned to the Models panel.

Select the object.

Select "On Brush" in the Import panel.

If needed you have the Start parameters and pick option to work with too...

EDIT..

I did enlarge the round cylinder slightly after the operation...

Edited July 7, 2015 by digman

[L'Ancien Regime]

Thanks but you misunderstood the question; the offset is not in the Axial mode but in the radiator vanes running up the length of the first cylinder. This is a Clone problem not a Axial tool problem

 

This is about a pure and simple clone and displacing a series of clones not an axial replication.

[digman]

Oops, what we have here is a failure of reading on my part....

[ajz3d]

You should be able to do this with a script. Andrew even introduced some new functions in 4.5.04 which should make things easier. They're not documented yet though.