GearHeads Corner

Is it possible to output arcs instead of very small lines when creating non-circular gears and a dxf file.
My CNC cam program has trouble creating tool paths when you use many short lines perpendicular to each other to define the gear pocket.

When I run into that problem I use cambam to convert line segments to poly lines.
Dan

Unfortunately, I don't have CAMBAM, but thanks for the info.  Will Corel Draw work?

Art, Would it be possible to output angled lines.  The lines perpendicular to each other create a very inefficent tool path enven when outputted via Gearotic CNC mode.

Hi:

  I do have on my list to reprocess the created point meshes to create a fitted surface to the points. This problem is usually with
non-circular gears due to the digitial subtraction routines used to create them. I will bump the priority on that too see if I can
do somethign to smooth things out.
    To put out arcs in the other gears which follow involution paths is to me a good way to reduce their accuracy, (Arcs are not in any way
more accurate than point line data, they simply represent a curve fit of available points..)..

But Ill look into the filtation routines which already have the job of limiting the output so as to not slow everything down with too many points..

Art

Thanks Art  -- I just purchased Gearotic and looked forward to using my CNC Mill to cut non-circular gears.  Unfortunately, my CAM program will not create the correct TAP files using Gearotics DXF or STL files for non-circular gears.  It appears to be ok for circular gears.

You can download a demo of cambam and use it for thirty days as I recall.

Dan mauch

GKurtz wrote: Unfortunately, I don't have CAMBAM, but thanks for the info.  Will Corel Draw work?

Art, Would it be possible to output angled lines.  The lines perpendicular to each other create a very inefficent tool path enven when outputted via Gearotic CNC mode.

I down loaded CAMBAM, but it was unable to cleanup the file.

I have attached the dxf file incase you wish to look at it.

The second file show the jagged node output that is causing the problem.

Art,

Is it possible to eliminate every other node when creating the curve potion of a non-circular gear.

Gearotic outputs jaggy lines and this is very time consuming to modify as there are hundreds of nodes to eliminate.

The attached file shows lines causing me problems.

Thanks

Gary:

  It is on my list, but Im not there yet. Select "extreme" and they will minimize that effect. It is a digitial subtraction that causes them, and the amount of each step
is what controls how zaggy they gat, so extreme resolution will reduce them alot. I do have on my list ( whicad mittedly is fairly large :) ) to add a antialias routine to
get rid of them entirely..

Thx
Art

Art,

I need help -- How do I select "Extreme"?

Gary:

  ohhh..right. I never did give the users the selection liek I did in G1.0 did I..

Sorry Gary. My bad. Ive always had that option.. but you never have. I will bump that to the
top of th epriority list, I'll see if I can get you that power over the next day or two. My applogies
for dangling that in front of you. ( Gearotic is my devlopment platform and has capabilities only I have
because theit not developed for outside use, this is soemthign I should make available to the GUI though..
it can make the gear take a long time to tooth.. but is probably something I should allow.

Art

Art,

I appreciate you updating Gearotic V2.275 to add the higher node output, but unfortunately this did not solve my problem in using my CNC CAM program to create G-code.  I wish to us my CNC CAM program so that I can make greater modifications to the gears that Gearotic create.

Hopeful you can bump up the priority and modify Gearotic to use point meshes and arcs to create a fitted surface to the points.

In the mean time, I have been unable to find another program to smooth the jagged edges.  These includes CorelDraw, CamBAM and BobCAD.

Thank you for all of your help in this matter.

I use Aspire for customizing - maybe its gear size thar makes a difference but I get no jaggies 

Thanks for the info, but unfortunately, I do not have Aspire.

You can try B-Spline, most any cad should have that with in the arc tools.
No need for the points just connect the jaggie peaks .
Not a perfect solution but does do what you are needing (I think)

Ken