Version 4.5 online

[ArtF]

Hello All:

   Version 4.5 is online. It includes the full release of Grasshopp er Escapemen ts.
This has been delayed for a bit while I spent several days searching for various small bugs reported by users.
While I cant repeat all the bugs, I have added or modified code to try to eliminate them in future. Bugs, of course
still remain( or have been created by fixes in this version :-) ), and some changes to grasshopp ers may need to be made after I build one to try to make it easierfor a user to build.

Ive tried to make them common sense and easy to adjust. Youll see in the simulatio n that the pawl is doubled to hold the foot and claw of the grasshopp er, the idea is to simply put a block between the pawl layers on the arm stops, or perhaps even just an elastic band rolled onto the stops as an ajustable way
to easily setup the stop locations .

 Weight holder wheels are on the legs that are meant to have weight added to them to balance the grasshopp er. ( I'll show this in a video once I build one, Im going to try to cut one from acrylic later today. )
   
 All that having been said, the simulatio ns shows pretty clearly that they "should" work fine out of the box.., and since I place more importanc e on the math of the model than I do my building ability, Im pretty sure they work as intended if properly weighted and built, as the simulatio n shows. They are a complex mechanism though, ( the most complex in GM at the moment ), so I appologiz e in advance if any bugs remain.

  The tab previousl y labeled "non-circulars" has been changed to "Plateing" as the next step in the project is to have a screen to aid in building a box to hold any geared mechanism . This will be up to 6 plates that fit together as a box large enough to hold all the gears in a mechanism or clock, with shaft (bearing) holes in the right places, and tabs to hold such a box together. Ill add features such as "Minimum base frame" to machine temporary holding fixtures for testing gear trains, and if that all works out, we'll look at some way to add decoratio ns to a clock face or box such as perhaps celtic knoting as area fills. Boxes are planned to appear in the simulatio n as transpare nt plates over a mechanism . Perhaps a checkbox to add legs to the front and back may be possible.

   A program like Gearotic is basically a way to do CAD , without actually learning CAD. ( or perhaps a faster way to do CAD by loading in GM created dxf assemblie s.). In other words its a way to force me to learn the CAD for various types of objects, and then allow a user to skip learning what I had to to make the original. With CAD being fairly hard for most of us to learn , theat makes GM a very fast way to build certain types of entities.

  Their are a plethora of things many users would like to have in the CNC, woodworki ng, or general metal working fields that are a bit hard to make themselve s without knowing CAD, so after plateing is done, it is my intent to steer GM towards other things, perhaps not related to gears in general. 3d printing is getting popular for example,
so Id like to do a 3d model slicing facility at some point to aid in 3d printing of stl files such as the bevels and helicals. Or perhaps a small CAD section to allow modificat ion of face plates and artistic decoratin g. ( That is a bg step though and requires a loading facility for dxf's as well as drawing pages to do some enhanced type of drawing routines. Further mechanism s such as geneva's and such can be added over time as well, of course, using the basic framework we now have. Your thoughts an idea's are welcome as to the future directois n of the program, it is actually starting to get sucessful l as user numbers are now climbing, and that is due to all of you. As with Mach3, I will tend to steer its direction where ever possible to your horizons, more than mine, though sometimes I will add modules for my own use in hopes someone else needs such a thing as I may currently need. This programmi ng method was highly sucessful in Mach3, and Im hoping it will similarly please GM users over time.

   Im having fun with this program, your feedback has been humbling and inspiring, thank you for all the glowing
comments and the detailed bug reports. A special thanks to all of you that have shared photos of mechanism s,
and your idea's, knowledge and concepts of the various items in GM. Without your knowledge of gears , machining
and artistic expressio n, GM would have failed long ago.

 
As always,
Have Fun,
Thx
Art

[ArtF]

Hi All:

  Oops, while trying to cut my grasshopp er, I discovver ed a serious bug in the shaft diameter code for them, dont download till I update.

Thx
Art

[ArtF]

Sorry about that , problem fixed and uploaded. Ill issue more correctio n if I have more trouble during test construct ion.

Thx
Art

[John S]

Very good grasshopp er 

Vague reference to David Carradine in the Kung Fu series.

[Mooselake]

Cool!  Thanks!

While playing around it looks like root, base, and tip circles don't work on elliptica l gears.  Don't remember trying them before, so maybe they never did and aren't supposed to.

Kirk

[John T]

Hi Art,
I can produce the grasshopp er and have it appear on the project.  When I produce code for the project the progress bar shows that its doing something but I cannot find the tap codes to load into the CNC.  I've tried a search but still no luck.
Hints?
John

[John T]

Hi Art,
Kindly disregard my previous post - I now have the tap files and no idea why, but I have them.
John

[John T]

Hi Art,
How do I get a print out of the shaft placement s?  With gears I have a deputing gauge and that's all I need but with a grasshopp er you have four shafts to place and I could do a lot of experimen ting before I got it right.

The program produces the parts perfectly - see photo.
John

[John T]

Hi Art,
Today is not my day for posting.  There is only one dimension that I need and I can get that off the Project Screen.   
John

[ArtF]

Hi John:

   Looking good. Ive had mine ticking with hand pressure, Ill post a video hopefully tomorrow showing it ticking and how to weight it. Happy to say it ticks out-of-the-bos with just a little weight added to the smaller claw and the main pendulum. Left foot required nothing.
( This whole thing is about 8" tall and cut from acrylic.

Art

[ArtF]

Kirk:

>>While playing around it looks like root, base, and tip circles don't work on elliptica l gears.  Don't remember trying them before, so maybe they never did and aren't supposed to.

 Yes, they never did. They dont really have any, but perhaps I shoudl allow the root ellipse, tip ellipse etc.. to be shown..

ARt

[ArtF]

Hi Guys:

  I wasnt aware the turning off and on of gear displays wasnt working, it is now fixed in 4.51 online now.
Just click a gear or shaft icon and the gears will turn on or off.

Thx
Art

[Steve Fox]

Art,

I just tried to install the new version and it gave me an error that said it couldn't decompres s setup program.

[ArtF]

Steve:

 Sounds like a bad download. .I may have been uploading at the time. I just got confirmat ion from another user that it installs OK, so Id try again. Let me know if you still have trouble.

Thx
Art

[ArtF]

Hi Guys:

  Video of working grasshopp er is here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Krir22a2bgI

  or should be in a few minutes. Worked right out of the box.

Art