GearHeads Corner

Sorry, I don't even know what to call the shape. (spiral perhaps?)

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bPmtu0IEanY/URg4DXvrnsI/AAAAAAAAAWY/dRN0JSDDOi4/s1600/DSC04545%2B%2528Custom%2529.jpg

It would be nice to be able to 'import' my own custom shapes and have Gearotic apply a 'tooth' and matching pinion to it.


Thank you

DougE

Hi Doug:

Those are logrithmic spirals. On the GTA page, select modified coefficient,
set it to 20, and youll get a similar gear type. In future, youll be able to
select where the teeth will go. It will be a few months, but many options will
open to us once the new framework is ready..

Thx\

Art

Hi Art,

Thanks for the quick responses (and cool program)

Sorry to sound daft but, the "GTA page" ?  (Umm,...  where is the GTA page ?  Sorry, but I'm still needing to learn the terminologies)

Looking forward to the "future" and implementation of these things and others I see you working on.

Thank you for your help

DougE

Hi Doug:

  On the top menu row, there is a tab named "GTA" , stands for general toothing algorithm..

( Make sure your using the latest develoment version.. )

Thanks,
Art
www.gearotic.com

Hi Art,

I can get the "snail" to show on the GTA page although it wants to put teeth on the straight part of  the curve.

When I try to get in on the Project page I get a "Solids Creation Failed"  Any hints on how to get past this?

John

Hi John:

  At the moment, making a spiral gear is hard due to the inability to remove teeth from that straight portion.
You can lower the number of teeth on the shaper , it helps to ensure the teeth can properly form ( misformed teeth
make it impossible to extrude it.). Lowering the eccentricity in conjunction with fewer shaper teeth can allow many forms to actually generate. In the rewrite, I plan on making portions of the gear clear of teeth to make this easier..

Thx
Art

John;

The help tutorial in GM may shed some light on GTA's functions should you be interested, it is located on the "about" icon (top right) under help file..


Cheers
Bob
;)

I should have posted that I was running 4.67 version.  I didn't realize there was the development version.  

Installed up to 4.87 now.  (happily it installed over the top of previous so the license file seemed to stay intact.  ***reminder to self- put license file on a thumb-drive for the inevitable yearly windows reinstall... ha)

Ok,.. playing with spirals now.  

As John mentioned solid creation fails.

Program seems to 'dawdle' while creating the gears.  (I should be paid extra for using computer terms like 'dawdle'.... aka.. hangs)

Is there any way to 'export' out the 'bad' or incorrect 'dwg' ?   I can't export the file if it isn't 'created' on the project screen.   (Right now the only way I can 'use' any of what has been created is to make a screen shot of the gears created and 'massage' them in Illustrator or Autodesk. )

Thank you Art for your attention.

DougE

EDIT:
Speaking for myself...  Art, I am not in a rush (not this weekend or probably even this month) to have a solution.  So, please don't dwell on fixing this for the remainder of your day.  Go see a movie or something and relax (and no!  Don't go watch a movie involving a computer programmer! )

Have a great weekend

Hi Guys,
Thanks for the tip - by going "gentle" on the parameters and changing spokes a couple of times I got the project to generate and have cut a meshing pair.

John

John;

Did you use GM plating to generate shaft centers? Appears to be more backlash than I expected from image, however they do look kool...Nicely done.

Cheers
Bob

Hi Bob,
I have to admit I didn't use the plating for the backlash.  Most everything I do is on 4" by 5" mounting board.  I will space the "set" so that its relatively centred on the mounting board and then drill a 1/8" hole for the first shaft.  I mount that gear and then with a sharply pointed steel 1/8" punch I find where the second gear will rotate sweetly and then punch the center point and drill it.

I probably should use the plating page and get the backlash correct.

John

The shaft spacing although empirical was controlled by one tooth on the "straight" portion of the gear.

Doug:

>>Program seems to 'dawdle' while creating the gears.  (I should be paid extra for using computer terms like 'dawdle'.... aka.. hangs)

  That can happen, but it will eventually finish. If the "extreme" resolution is selected it can take quite a while
as its actually shaving the gear very slowly around the blank. If you cant generate it, the drawing cannot be put
out, but  I will look into a way of getting that out as a dxf..I can see where massaging it woudl be much easier
than trying to find one that you want but canot generate..

Art