[Plugin] SPGears

Chrisu02

Hy guy`s

I like this plugin and using it for 3D printing long time, but now i need to make some hypoid gears but it seems that it won`t work

looking like this:

I tried out serval value`s

My problem is that the helix is straight then the bevel value is 0° but i needs to be curved

the next problem is to make them fit together, is it possible to make a differen value (teethsize) as a fixed parameter so the rest of the gear may be calculated to this ?

im no programmer so i dont know if this would even be possible or home much work it would be. ?

Chri

jgrundman

@chrisu02 said:

I like this plugin and using it for 3D printing long time, but now i need to make some hypoid gears but it seems that it won`t work

Chris,
You are partially correct, it will not make a TRUE hypoid gear. The problem is the helix angle sits at the outside diameter, not the pitch diameter where it is supposed to be. If you can calculate the desired helix angle at the mid-point (pitch diameter) based on the helix angle at the outside diameter, then you might be able to get very close to a true hypoid. Keep in mind that this was never intended for production accuracy (call me short-sighted, if you must) but should work well enough for Sketchy Physics animations. Version 2 is planned to be more accurate, but as noted in a recent post, I'm not making any commitments on when it would be available.

@chrisu02 said:

My problem is that the helix is straight then the bevel value is 0° but i needs to be curved

Try specifying a large bevel angle (70-80 deg.), a decent number of teeth (50-100+) and a medium helix angle (25-45 deg.). With a larger pitch diameter (10") and a smaller face width (3") you'll get a large gear that looks similar what you posted. The bevel angle of the pinion (small gear) is the the difference between the bevel of the large gear and the intersecting angle of the axis of both gears (90 deg. - 70 deg. = 20 deg.). The helix angle is also different on the pinion. I think it is a similar calculation (90 deg. - 35 deg. = 55 deg.), but I'm not positive; I haven't make a hypoid set in a long time. If that does not work, then I suggest looking for gear engineering reference information. That's what I did.

@chrisu02 said:

the next problem is to make them fit together, is it possible to make a different value (teethsize) as a fixed parameter so the rest of the gear may be calculated to this ?

In order to make a mating gear, it has to have the same diametral pitch [P] (arc length of one tooth and space). You can use gear formulas (via a web search) to figure out how to calculate the dimensions you need to specify a mating gear. Once you've got that figured out, getting them to mesh properly is a bit tricky. I think I had to tweak the helix angle on one of the mating gears to make them mesh better, but again, it's been a while.

@chrisu02 said:

im no programmer so i dont know if this would even be possible or home much work it would be. ?
[/quote]

Almost anything is possible, but I'm not a strong programmer or an engineer, so for me, it will be a lot of work, hence the uncertainty regarding the release of version 2. However, it (backlash) is on the growing list of changes intended in the revision.

sigskjel

Crossed helical gear - shaft angle off
Some time ago I'd modelled an little crossed helical gear to use in some project. This project got skipped, but I'd had the gears made on a 3D printer, just to see how it works. Now SDGear are a really handy plugin for sketchup, number of teeth 26, pressure angle and so forth, and helix angle 45. I'd ordered two of these to make a crossed gear. Now I'd just received the finished gears, but the shaft angle is off by an significant value too! I'd just checked the crossed helical gear math, and that's done correct, two 45 deg. gears make 90 deg shaft angle. Anybody have any idea of what's gone wrong?

Cincerely, Sigmund

jgrundman

@sigskjel said:

Crossed helical gear - shaft angle off

Sig,
You should have tried fitting the "drawn" gears together to check fit beforeprinting. You would have seen that things don't line up properly. The problem is how the gears are drawn, so getting things to mesh correctly requires some trial and error. Sorry for the inconvenience. I've added it to the list of changes.
-J-

mikaelgu

I just want to say that it's great to see you developing this again! I once used the plugin to design and print a set of bevel gears and I managed to get a set that meshes just fine (I did do a lot of checking in Sketchup before printing though.

Again, thank you for you hard work, it's much appreciated!

Mikael

jumpjack

I think this site could be very interesting for the developer of this plugin:
http://www.epi-eng.com/propeller_reduction_technology/gear_design.htm

jumpjack

I think an important upgrade (which probably would not require a major upgrade to 2.0) which could be very useful: specifying number of teeth should result in creating gears of different diameter but with same teeth size; this would make it much easier to make "compatible" gears.

(look at http://sites.google.com/site/simgears for the trial of an STL gears generator)

rogerphillips

Brilliant plugin - I managed to quickly 3D Print a replacement gear for my broken laminator, using this plugin and some extra lines

wimve

@jumpjack said:

Has this plug-in been updated? Does it support worms too now?
It would be also amazing if it supported Sketchy Physics...

Good plug-in but I miss the follow up.
Nobody who can pick up the challenge ?

Repair the inch-mm problem
create a corresponding worm
small help

In addition: how do I create a corresponding worm ?

wimve

@wimve said:

@jumpjack said:

Has this plug-in been updated? Does it support worms too now?
It would be also amazing if it supported Sketchy Physics...

Good plug-in but I miss the follow up.
Nobody who can pick up the challenge ?

Repair the inch-mm problem

create a corresponding worm
In addition: how do I create a corresponding worm ?

Nobody ?
I especially need some help with making a worm gear.

CarlMiddle

How do you punch a hole through the gear? I've tried several different ways and it just won't do it. I want to 3D print it with a D shape hole to fit my motor but it won't let me!

jumpjack

The resulting gear is an object: double click it to edit it.

jonathonlt

MY FIRST POST ATTEMPT ..LONG TERM PROJECT FOR AUTO-MATED TRANSPORT REQUIRING ,GEAR RACK,, I SEE IN YOUR MAGIC LITTLE WINDOW ENTER GEAR DIAMETER or RACK LENGTH ,,AS YET UNABLE TO CREATE A RACK LITTLE TIME ON LINE HENCE ALL DONNA,S TO WIKI PIDIA AND THE KNOWLEDGE AT THE MOMENT JON

jgrundman

@jonathonlt said:

MY FIRST POST ATTEMPT ..LONG TERM PROJECT FOR AUTO-MATED TRANSPORT REQUIRING ,GEAR RACK,, I SEE IN YOUR MAGIC LITTLE WINDOW ENTER GEAR DIAMETER or RACK LENGTH ,,AS YET UNABLE TO CREATE A RACK LITTLE TIME ON LINE HENCE ALL DONNA,S TO WIKI PIDIA AND THE KNOWLEDGE AT THE MOMENT JON

Jon,
Sorry, but I never got around to adding racks to this version, and it is not like to happen. BUT, there is good news. I am currently working on a "pro" version that will include both racks and worms, plus many other features and enhancements! I know folks have been waiting a long time for this, but the wait is almost over. I know I've stated before that I was "working on it" and had nothing to show for it, so here's a quick sneak peek...

https://youtu.be/WRxOD5TBIb4

More detail to follow; very soon. Really.

-J-

DingBEN

WIN 7 Pro, SketchUp Pro
Pardon my green-ness, but I installed 1.0 and realized there is now a 1.2
I installed 1.0 via some link here, NOT the ZIP!
I want to install 1.2

Where is the 1.2 download link? no download link on that page
or how to install from zip, since the 1.2 zip extracts an .rb file NOT an .rbz!?
It recommends to uninstall old versions!? HOW is that accomplished!?
I see nothing in the menus to uninstall extensions.
One thing I noticed on 1.0: the handle(cursor) does not want to latch on to the best inferred handle... it seems to snag around it and latch on to any other close point

Thank you.

jgrundman

@dingben said:

Where is the 1.2 download link? no download link on that page
or how to install from zip, since the 1.2 zip extracts an .rb file NOT an .rbz!?

The link for v1.2 is at the top of the first page of this thread. To install a .rb plugin, just copy the extracted file into your plugins folder (C:\Users*usernme*\AppData\Roaming\SketchUp\SketchUp 2016\SketchUp\Plugins). Restart Sketchup and the plugin should now be listed in "Extension" menu.

@dingben said:

It recommends to uninstall old versions!? HOW is that accomplished!?
I see nothing in the menus to uninstall extensions.

These earlier versions predate the extension managers, so they are installed & uninstalled manually. To remove the previous version, just open the plugins folder, as noted above, and move/delete the older version.

@dingben said:

One thing I noticed on 1.0: the handle(cursor) does not want to latch on to the best inferred handle... it seems to snag around it and latch on to any other close point

The plugin does not have any effect on the cursor, so the issue is most likely with Sketchup's limitations working with very small (< 1/64" or 0.39mm) measurements. While programmatically we can work with smaller distances, manual operations using the cursor will not always cooperate. The simplest solution is to scale the model up, make any changes, then scale it back down. It's only a rough workaround, so some geometry may behave unexpectedly when you scale back down.

Keep in mind that Sketchup is CAM (modeling) not CAD (design), so it has some limitations. This is one of them. Another that has frustrated new users is that objects are collections of edges and faces, so curves are not going to perfectly smooth. It's usually not a problem unless you 3D print a model because the curves will be a series of flat faces and edges, making mating surfaces a bit clunky.

Good luck and thanks for trying the SPGears plugin.

DingBEN

Thank you so much for the prompt answer.

YOU MAY WAN TO BE AWARE OF THIS:
Unless I keep a separate record(messy) I have no idea what version is running

Extensions Menu shows: SPGears_mjg(no version)

so I did this:

in Plugins folder
/// I renamed SPGears_mjg.rb to SPGears_mjg_v1.0.rb(may need to remove)
/// and I placed the SPGears_mjg_v1.2.rb
Extensions Menu still shows: SPGears_mjg
/// but the new ShatfDiameter options shows in the SPGears Parameters dialog
/// thus it is running the SPGears_mjg_v1.2.rb
/// tried the Shaft Diameter... creates no centered hole for the shaft at all ?

Also, creating 2 beveled gears of different radius.. 48 and 24 teeth
Number of Teeth: 48 24
Pressure Angle: 20 "
Pitch Radius: 10" 5
Face Width: 3" "
Helix Angle: 0.0 "
Bevel Angle: 45deg "
Shift Diameter: 0.5, or 0.375, or 0.3125 "

The teeth line up at the large(outside) face end, but fail to line up at the small(inside) face end

Is this due to incorrect/missing parameters?
(can you point to some instructions?)

DingBEN

REF:
/// previous msg, stated beveled gears fail to match on inside/small face

thus this line:
/// Beveled helicals are not very precise (yet), so getting them to line up with mating gears may not work

on page:
/// https://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=323%26amp;t=46319

...may explain this anomaly!?

...had read it initially, but did not remember... a 2nd visit, woke me up!

DingBEN

%(#FF0000)[HEY! I have added a few improvements to your list.
...and mind you, I even prioritized them]

Already planned improvements for next version:

- emboss gear with parameters used to create it(3D text): T-48, Rad-10", ...
- emboss gear with MSPversion used(3D text): MSPv[1.2, ...
OR surely those values could be in the entity!?]
- additional gear styles (rack, worm, and internal ring)
- improve calculations and accuracy
- web dialog UI (additional input params and auto-calculations)
- gear properties/specs dialog via context menu
- improved validation

jgrundman

@dingben said:

%(#FF0000)[HEY! I have added a few improvements to your list.
...and mind you, I even prioritized them]

Already planned improvements for next version:

- emboss gear with parameters used to create it(3D text): T-48, Rad-10", ...

- emboss gear with MSPversion used(3D text): MSPv[1.2, ...
OR surely those values could be in the entity!?]

additional gear styles (rack, worm, and internal ring)

improve calculations and accuracy

web dialog UI (additional input params and auto-calculations)

gear properties/specs dialog via context menu

improved validation

- Embossing is an interesting idea. Unfortunately, I'm still working through the "must have" list, so embossing will have to go on the "maybe" list.
- Rack, Worm, and Ring have already been added; just working out the kinks. I posted a "sneak peek" video earlier in this thread. Check it out.
- Calculations and accuracy are greatly improved and I've even added resolution options for speed (low & med res) vs. accuracy/smoothness (high & very high) to accommodate 3D printers.
- Web dialog is already planned and will include a few auto-calculations. I'm trying to keep the UI minimal, so it will only include a few details to help with dialing in the params.
- Spec dialog and entity properties are planned.
- Validation has been improved but increases in complexity with each user input. So, input params will be kept to a minimum.

Thanks for the suggestions, and for prioritizing them. Sorry embossing was bumped to the end of the list, but it is still on there.

Just in case your next question is "when", the answer is still "soon", but I've had to put it aside for a bit to focus on other stuff. I was shooting for Summer, but now my hope is to get it out by Fall.

-J-