New Version 2.002

[ArtF]

Hi Kirk:

  I made a change to the OpenGL which appears to have made things look blocky, I dont think its a triangulation error, Im working on a fix..

Ill give thought to flanges and VPulleys..

  I try to stay away from actual diamters and such where I can, it causes too much grief when people enter numbers good for one thing, then are way to large or small for other things..%'s tend to work betteer in the end once you get used to them..

Art

[ArtF]

Hi Kirk:

Found the issue , will issue a fix sometime tomorrow..if its the issue I think, the triangulation was actually fine on the pulley without a collar, it was a display issue that makes it look funny. The display WITH the collar is another matter. Some pulleys, the G2 series in particular seem to have a crossed line somewhere so they wont accept collars, some will , some wont. I have that one added to my "fix" list .

Art

[slowbob]

Thanks Art. I think you have a great program. I'm looking forward to the 4 bar linkages. Aside from the engineering point of view, I think they would add a lot for the artist.

Thanks,
Bob

[Dan]

Thank you Art for a wonderful program!!!

Something I don't see in GT - where has the "belt calc" gone? Pretty much the only reason I am still using GM.

And by the way, do you have plans of adding some 3D file output other than STL? I like to design gears in GT, but then need to import them into a CAD program and STLs are not recognised as standard solids and can't measured, selected and so on...

Dan

[ArtF]

Dan:

  When you generate a pulley, the belt length should be shown as you place it on another pulley.

When it comes to 3d object files, STLs are quite different from other formats. STL's were chosen
because the purpose was really for 3d printers and such. I havent found another format I can use so far. Most other formats are very expensive to implement, owned typically by companies that charge
thousands for licensing them. The free formats are incredibly complex as they dont really store an object, but rather a list of cad commands necessary to create that object. They work in the form of
a set of instructions.. like.. 1) Take a cylinder of this shape, 2) Add a torus of this shape, 3) subtract the two, 4) twist to x degree's..etc...etc..

  Since G2's objects are not created in cad it makes it very very hard to come up with a way to store them in any other form than stl. Im still investigating..

Art

[Dan]

Thanks for explaining this, Art.

Dan

[John S]

Dan:

   When you generate a pulley, the belt length should be shown as you place it on another pulley.


Art

True but it doesn't give any indication as to how close it is to a given belt size.
Also once it's disappeared off the screen how do you get it to show again ? 'Fraid this module is a poor relation to the one in GM.

[ArtF]

"That Damn Stevenson" thing compells me to promise youll see a
similar or better one to the old one shortly. :-)

Art

[ArtF]

John:

  Calculator added back in for next release. By the way, if you have two pulleys on the screen,
you can get the belt stats by pressing ctrl and clicking each pulley ( on screen or in tree) so that
two pulleys are selected. The belt tooth count is then put on the screen..

  The calculator is back though for future, but you do have to enter the mating pulley as in G2, only
1 pulley is shown on the designer, so you need to enter its mate, other than that its the same calculator.

Art

[migsen]

Hi & thanks for that upgrade :)
And yes the imaginary function is a great artistic tool !
In Version 2 : I' ve got problem to add spoke in "circular spur" -> they don't appear
although NO problem with the helical,knuckle,etc..

....Well , after playing with "teeth" number, it seems that under a  number of  tooth the spokes disappear,but it's clearly linked with the module :
25 tooth with module 4  = no spokes...
25 tooth with module 5 = spokes !
20 tooth with module 6 = spokes !

Any idea ?

Thanks.

[ArtF]

Hi:

  Yes, the spokes go away automatically if the radius is below a set amount. This is a feature to help stop making spokes on gears to small. Your options menu sets the limit, reduce it if youd like spokes on all gears.

Art

[Mooselake]

I don't know if this is feasible (or worthwhile...), but a wild idea for a replacement/enhancement of imaginary gears:

Take a closed 2D shape with a shaft location (this could be from the old imaginary gear generator or loaded).  Determine a matching gear shape, possibly as an integer multiple of the original, or determine it's not possible and quit.  Maybe some optional smoothing of the original shape to make it work.

For imaginary gears, since they're already gear shaped, stop here.  Otherwise create teeth, like the universal toothing module discussed in the past.

Another option, if the original shape allows (or left as an exercise for the user), would be a spring loaded round (or elliptical, or whatever) gear to rotate the original so the second gear wouldn't overwhelm the first.

Kirk

[ArtF]

Kirk:
kinda the lines Im thinking. Almost any shape will work really, just a matter of determining the correct shaft center distance to allow it. We'll see where it goes.. :)

ARt

[migsen]

@ArtF
Resolved! :) :)
Sorry for asking help for so basic parameters.

Have fun !

salu2

[Mooselake]

I didn't have any luck finding if there was a standard definition of the "best" center of rotation of an object, and how to determine it.  With my current interest in woodturning I'd assume it was the point of least vibration (think lathe jumping up and down), but that's probably not it.  Of course off-center shafts (and turned objects) have their own interesting aspects, but it seems desirable to have a good reference point.

Kirk