Gear Linkage question

[SkyMoBot]

I have four gears on the same shaft.  A,B,C,D    I want A and B to be linked, and C,D to be linked separately.  So none are linked to the shaft, but to each other.

I can post my project if that helps.

[ArtF]

Hi:

  You dont mention whats driving it, but if you link a gear to a gear it will assume the gears drive inversely to each other
in direction.  I would link A to shaft, then shaft to B, and then whatever drives C and D can do so ..

Art

[marklazarz]

Let me take a shot at a possible solution...  Add Gear-A on Shaft.  Add Gear-B on same Shaft.  Add a temporary Gear-T linked to Gear-B.  Add Gear-C linked to Gear-T.  Add Gear-D to shaft of Gear-C.  Move shaft of Gears C&D "shaft to shaft" to Gear A&B shaft.  Ignore Gear-T (pretend it's not there) and break other links until it performs the way you want it.  Rotations should be correct and Gear-A should be connected to Gear-B, same for Gears C&D.

[SkyMoBot]

You've given me some things to play around with and it looks like it works the way I want.  I've been away from this for too long and am slowing getting used to the gearotic way of thinking again.

There is another gear driving A.  And then a bunch a gears off B that finally get back to C.    Can I place two shafts in the same X,Y coordinates (different Z) and would that work?  What does linking shafts do?

[marklazarz]

When you perform "Shaft to Shaft", it moves the shaft to the same XY and you place Z where you want it.  Breaking links is something that you have to experiment with.  Be sure to look in the "linked to" box when you select an object to be sure that you break the appropriate link.  Nice to have the "Undo" key when breaking various links.