GearHeads Corner

Hi Art,
We (users) must drive you crazy - some of us are working with Lasers and Auggie making incredible photo laser cuts while others like me are trying to re-creating clock escapements that date back to 1637!! Specifically Galileo's pendulum escapement.

I can create the escapement by first creating a large 6 inch ratchet and then superimposing a likewise large cage wheel.  The issue I'm struggling with is that I want the pins from the cage wheel but I don't want the final profile cut out.  I have managed to make the escapement as you  can see from the attachment - However is there anyway to select parts of the cage components and remove them from the 3-Axis CNC screen.  I can select the cage wheel profile, but when I delete it I lose all the pins as well.  My workaround has been to sit at the machine and as soon as it gets to cutting the profile I stop the cut.

It works, but if I could remove the final profile I would also have a really good way to make registration holes in gears so that I could make much wider gears than I'm able to currently cut on my CNC.

Hope you can help.

Hi John:

  Soon youll be able to erase the pins or add features to such gears, but even now I think if you dont use the auto cnc, ( the A button), but instead select
individual profile lines, ( they are hard to select, click a few times close to the outside line till only it selects ), then use the contour outside or whatever, the pins
should be ignored.

  But you should be able to ignore
various contours in a shape by selecting only the contour lines you wish to machine..

Art

Hi Art,
I can't seem to make it work.  I can put a cage on the 3-axis and it shows with black lines.  I can easily get the cage to show in green lines as if it was ready to calculate gCode and it will calculate gCode easily  If I play around selecting for a while I get just the outer line to show in red but I cannot delete the red line.  If I generate gCode at any point and go to the posting screen I can highlight any particular cut however if I erase - everything goes.

I can wait for your next issue or I can export a dxf file to Aspire (Vectric) and get what I want but I thought you might like to know -  that I've failed!

John

Hi John:

  When you select a line or contour, it turns red to show its selected, you then press the type of contour, outside or inside..  and repeat as many times as you wish. Heres a photo of what  I mean, one at a time
I selected the outsdide, and inside contours and pressed the button for a profile path (outside path for
outside, inside path for the insides. If your screen then looks as the photo below, pressing the post button
will make Gcode for the cage gear with no holes. Only the green profiles are put in the Gcode.

  You dont need to actually delete the pins, they wont post code unless they have green outlines
showing you have commanded output profiles for them..

Forgive me if Im misunderstanding.

Art

Hi Art,
Following your instructions I have made it work.  I first get the cage on the 3Axis screen and then select each pin to red and get a path for the pin hole.  I do that for all 12 pin holes and then I put the 12 tooth ratchet on the 3 Axis - in a different location.  I can do an automatic tool path for the ratchet and finally I can select the ratchet with tool its paths and superimpose it on the pin holes using the shaft of the cage layout as a registration point of the shaft of the ratchet - Success!!  I have the tool paths that I want.

I had been trying to erase certain parts but that didn't work.

Thanks for your help

John

Hi John:

  In understand the confusion. You cant edit change or delete contours in the groups. A gear or object is a
group of contours. You can select which ones to profile or not though. That allows you to superposition items on top of each other ect.. as you have found.

  The next update will give you a way to add , edit or subtract from gears so you can do things like mixing gears together or adding slots and such. Not sure how well it will work yet, Im just starting to code the import from vexx to Gearotic ..

Art