Larger, Thicker Type for Design Window

[Greg Smith]

Art:

Some of us are more aged than others and our eyes have begun to fail us.

It is very difficult to read all of the statistics rendered in very thin black, aliased letters against a grid that is dense, and also thin and black.

Is there any way you can either offer thicker, bolder typefaces as an option, or something like this?  How about an option to turn off the grid, as well?

I don't know if you have seen the interface for MoI (www.moi3d.com) or not, but I think it is made for people like me.

Some of us are also artists and not engineers and could use a simple field that allows a gear to be created based on its actual diameter, rather than diametrical pitch.


P.S.  Gearotic Thoughts is really shaping up.  Nice work.

Thanks,

Greg Smith

[ArtF]

Hi Greg:

  Thx. I do realize the grid and type need to be rationized somewhat.. Ill take a loo at moi and
see how they do it. Im always up for suggestions on such things, as yet most things are stilll mainly "roughed in"
at this stage.

thx
Art

[John S]

Some of us are also artists and not engineers and could use a simple field that allows a gear to be created based on its actual diameter, rather than diametrical pitch.




Greg Smith

Gears are based on DP or module  --  fact.
You can have 20 different gears with a 2" diameter, which one is right ?

Just as engineers look at a picture and only see 7 colours, a bit like windows default.  ;D

[ArtF]

>>Some of us are also artists and not engineers and could use a simple field that allows a gear to be created based on its actual diameter, rather than diametric al pitch

Hi:

  As John says, DP or module is a part of gears that cannot be removed really. I understand the desire, but the only real way to do it that works is
  Module and tooth count. Its really the only two parameters you need worrry about, all others can be left alone for the most part. Also take note
  that module or DP are linear in proportion. SO if you have a module 5 gear that is 15mm and you want it to be 30, just make it module 10.. Twice the module
  is twice the diameter. In DP, its linear the other way..if its a 4.8 at a DP of 1.0, then to make it twice the size, you divide by 2 for a DP of .5
 
    If you simply know the way DP or module scales you can easily get any diameter you like...but if I removed all that to make it easier, youd
soon find its hard to get two gears to mesh. Using Module or DP to specify a gear is very important, you dont need to understand them as an engineer
would , certainly as an Artist no deep understanding of the underlying math is important, but you DO need to use them and get used to them if you
wish things ot mesh and run nicely together...

( Ive implemented changes to text and grid for next release. , The text is darker, larger and the grid is now 5mm and 1cm in metric and .25 and 1"
  in imperial settings.) We'll see how that looks and use a darwinian method to find the best spot for them. )

 
 
  Thx
  Art
 

[Greg Smith]

Art:

I actually wasn't implying that you remove DP settings, but add a field for width, based on the number of teeth of a wheel or pinion.  The software could adjust DP or module for all sizes, accordingly - and the user would change only the actual O.D. parameter of the wheel or pinion.

This shows my ignorance, I'm sure.  But, guys who make wooden clocks usually are amateurs who are shooting for a design with wheels and pinions of a specific tooth number and a specific width. (Many amateurs use existing tables that start with pendulum length - and calculate all wheels and pinions based on that length).  Everything else is a matter of aesthetics.

I suppose you could simply scale all wheel and pinion pairs in an external application - which is what I have been doing.


Thanks,

Greg Smith

[ArtF]

Greg:

>>I actually wasn't implying that you remove DP settings, but add a field for width, based on the number of teeth of a wheel or pinion.  Just keeping the module the same for all sizes - and changing only the actual O.D. parameter of the wheel or pinion.

    The definition of "module" is basically the number of mm's per tooth on the perimeter of the gear.
"DP" is the number of teeth per inch. This is why they are inverse to each other. But , if you think of it,
module then dictates size. Its impossible for example to keep a module, yet change the diameter of a gear,
the different diameter necessitates a different module. 

  Very shortly two calculators will appear on the circular gear tab, one to compute what module should be used to make two gears have a specific shaft distance, the other will tell you what module to use to make a gear a set diameter. I suspect this will do as you propose, basically you set the tooth count, then ask the calculator what module would make that gear whatever diameter your asking for.  In the meantime, as I say its pretty easy. If you want a 120mm gear and the one on the screen is only 50, just divide 120 by 50 and multiple the current module by that number to get the module that will make a gear of that diameter.

Thx
Art

[Greg Smith]

Art:

Math, math, math.  Without you math guys, where would technology be?

What baffles me is how those ancient coves came up with these mathematical ideas in the first place.  Do they see the world in numbers?

But, your calculator idea seems to fit the bill for what I was asking - (otherwise I've got to break out my hand held, ancient calculator to do the same thing).

I do believe I owned, once, a gear making program called "Involute" - which had a field for entering the number of teeth desired and the overall diameter of the gear - and it calculated the module required, for that case.  But I may be imagining things.


Thanks again,

Greg Smith

[Mooselake]

You can download the current version of "Involute" here.  It doesn't do the actual gear design from the description, but it should work with Gearotic for you.

Kirk