Mark:

   It appears when you press "Add Wheel" or "Add pinion". Its the bottom editbox onthe width dialog..

Art

Fillets I cant yet do for you. You could modify them in a cad prgram from the dxf's, but generally the tooth profiles follow the spec'ed
curves for them so adding things liek fillets, while handy to some, violate the standard shape expected by many others, so I havent as yet allowed such modificat ion, but I am looking to do that in the future..

ARt

Too true...

  Thx for the table, Ill keep my eyes open for the proper pulley specs for the other types, Im always
intereste d in adding such things as I come across the specs..

Art

Im not sure what this is showing, is it differenc es betwen specs?

Art

Hi:

   When you create a gear and put it on the screen, there is a box labeled "BackLash", this is a settnig for how far apart you wish the gears to be. Try a .1 as a test in backlash, youll see then a .1 of "looseness" between the gears.
I do recommend some backlash, even if just a small amount. I use .1 to .2mm on mine, so about .003 to .005 or so in standard. This keeps you from having binding trouble when you build your device. ( and allows a bit of tolerance from the building of the gear.).

Art

Hi:

   DP or Diametric Pitch, relates only to the Tooth size. As the DP increases, the tooth size decreases . SO the number of teeth and the pitch of the gear determine the gear size. There is no other real effect. Obviously the smaller the gear ( higher the DP ) the less torque it can provide though. In your applicati on I suspect you can use the DP to
simply get to the size you need, I doubt you need to worry about the torque it will survive. Since the tooth shape is
the same, there really is no other effect than size for you to worry about though. Its not really a question of precision, their all equally precise, just different sizes..

   Let me know if Im misunders tanding what your asking..

Art

Hi John:

   While I will be adding things for 3d printers, the main thrust is to make the program MUCH more reliable for all operation s, especiall y 2.5d work. Ill be focusing on making it much more intuitive as to how to use it and much less prone to any crash or error.
  The first releases will be primarily about giving you an improved interface and an improved Gcode creator. More toys for everyone will follow that release. The interface had grown too clunky for me to keep adding toys without negative results on reliabili ty, Im fixing all modules as I go.

Thx
Art

Thx Ken:

   As I recode Im trying to make each section better and easier to use. Spokes were a priority
as many people wrote me after having trouble with more complex designs, so in future Im trying
to allow any design for spokes to work and even allow user defined spokes..

  We'll see how it all works out.

Art

Hi:

  I am licensed and I use ALibre, I wasnt aware of its new name. I find it hard to use to be honest,
but it does allow me to do some things I cant currently do on my own. Im hoping way down the road to
replace my reliance on alibre with my own code, but that will take some doing.
  Alibre is weak in DXF import/export, cant say how the new one is, other than that its not a bad
system, just a bit hard to figure out at times..

Art

Your right, probably has low applicati on, but remind me of this after release of GT. I will consider it
as one of several ways of doing weird mech's in the future. the largest impetus for this rewrite is so
I have the freedom to create different mechanism s that currently cannot be done. Ill keep this one in mind
as I try to invent interface s that allow a person more freedom in this type of arena...

Art

Hi All:

  Just another quick update on progress. The extrusion routines are completel y done, the new spoking routines are done and GT can now simulate all types.
Still have to add quite a bit more, but I thought Id post a photo of the first creation of a gear by GT, including the new spokes. GM users are aware of the limitatio ns of spokes in the past as if they got too complex the extrusion s would fail. This is now gone and you can extruyde any gear with up to 1000 holes in it without
trouble. This photo is a GT14 timing pulley with complex spoking. Its just the circle1 spoke type with 20 spokes. More spokes types will be added prior to release
but I thought Id show how well the output of the spokes has improved. Im pretty happy with them.

Art

Hi:

   I must admit I use no "go-to" site for reference for timing pulleys. They are pretty strange in that there are many conflicti ng specs, so
I have put in the ones for which I coudl ifnd proper specs. Belt specs arent too had to come by, but the pulleys for them are. The pulleys
ae actually different in shape many times than the belt tooth, so coming up with specs for them is difficult and made more so by the
fact most of the data released is fudges a bit to be made hard to copy. In a list of curve radii, one or two will be wrong for example.

   So to be short, Ive added what I can get form whatever source I can find it.

Art

Hi Justin:

 That is one reason I think Ill do a module specifica ly for such things. The reaosn for the tilt is that the vertical side of the flute is shaving the vertical wall of the tooth in a horizonta l plane.  Tilting the 4th axis allows the tooth plane to be horizonta l, if it wasnt then the flutes vertical axis is having on a tilted axis, and the math indicates this shouldnt be allowed. Its very hard to picture and isnt very intuitive, but while its possible to do it
as an x,y,z in the case of a bevel untilted, the math more complex due the the elliptica l shaped edge of the bottom of the bit when considere d from the perspecti ve of the tooth plane. (Im not sure Im explainin g that very well, but its when you actually start to implement the model that the shortcomi ngs come into play in the math of the tangental shaving routine. )

   We'll have a much more detailed conversat ion about this as I get to the spot where a new Gcode module becomes necessary . Im currently working on the new spoking module to eliminate all the weirdness experienc ed by some with the various spokes as they get complex. The new one is just testing today and is extremely stable. I hope to add a dozen more spoke types and then start on adding all the variosu gears we currently have in GM, then its on to a new output module with new Gcode. At that point we'll begin a conversat ion about what types of operation s people would like and in what orientati ons.

Art

Sounds like the way to go, let me see the pic's either good or bad.

Art

Justin:

 No, in all cases the 4th axis must be tilted to the cone angle so the cutting is perpendic ular to the tooth profile.
Ill be looking into a waterline type of flat cutting for the fall re-release. Its my intention to have a much higher
level Gcode module so you can see the toolpaths and such as you setup for Gcode cutting.

Art