[Plugin] SPGears
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Any news on an update regarding this project? The last post was almost a year ago.
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UPDATED - NO NEW FEATURES
Other authors were creating derivative extensions without differencing in a namespace wrapper of their own. This can cause clashing Ruby objects, ie classes. So ...
The following version preserves MJ Grundman's edition within a namespace module of MJG's own. Some general cleanup, a fix for the inputbox and some error handling for the command. Also made sure that no undo operation is left open as that emits warnings now (if an exception occurs before the operation can be committed.)
Packed up as a RBZ extension archive.
Again, ... NO NEW FEATURES, but you can now switch it on and off via SketchUp's Extension Manager or the SketchUcation PluginStore interface.
NOTE: Remember to delete (or move) the old "SPGears_mjg_v1.2.rb" file from your "Plugins" folder when running the update version.
` # v1.3 : 2021-10-26 by Dan Rathbun
- Properly namespace wrapped and packaged as a RBZ extension archive.
- General cleanup of indents, extra long lines and empty space lines.
- Corrected inputbox validation loop in SPGear::dialog().
* Was calling the same method recursively and not restoring the
users previous inputs.
* Was using bad index to validate Bevel Angle results which did
not cause the inputbox to redisplay allowing error in later code
when the angle was out of range.`
.
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I've updated the version in the PluginStore to this one... v1.3
https://sketchucation.com/pluginstore?pln=SPGears_mjg -
Here's v1.4 RBZ, which fixes a tiny typo in a file-path setting up the extension...
https://sketchucation.com/pluginstore?pln=SPGears_mjg -
Thanks, TIG
I have been chasing why I couldn't install this plugin. It kept appearing in the SketchUcation Extension Manager as Disabled Extensions and I couldn't change the setting.
And maybe I missed the text, but it would help, if there was some indication where plugin/extensions are located.
Again, thank you
Ken
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If you use the built-in Extension Manager you should be able to enable an extension, however an old extension like this is not 'signed' - so you will need the Extension Manager's settings 'Loading Policy' to be 'Unrestricted'...
Most plugins have 'usage notes' explaining where to find and use the tools...
In the case of this particular one it's spelled out in the first post of this thread...
Menu Item : Plugins -> SPGears- in newer versions of SketchUp that menu was re-titled 'Extensions'... -
Tig
I used the extension manager and I had it to load unsigned plugins.
Still, it would end up in the disabled section and I couldn't move it from there. Tried many times and many ways.
However, I got it running now.
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hi all,
this plugin working with sketchup 2021? i have installed it but when try generate gear with default settings i receive the message "Diametral = 1.5" and not working, how can resolve this problem?
Thanks.
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SPGears works fine in SketchUp 2021 for me.
@antwal said:
i receive the message "Diametral = 1.5" and not working, how can resolve this problem?
What do you do after you get that message? It's not an error. It's just information.
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It is now 2022 perhaps things have changed som even though I am using SU2017 Make.
I used to draw involute gears by hand, tracing a profile from "geargenerator.com" at a large scale and using arcs with suitable radii for the various sections, pushing into appropriate thickness and 3D printing in PLA made eminently usable gears.
One 'bug' that I have seen with SPGears 1.4 on Windows is a klipping plane phenomenon that is baffling. Only at a limited zoom factor is the generated gear visible and neither Zoom All nor Zoom Selected manage to make the gear appear. Perspective or Parallel projection makes no difference. -
I'm not seeing that when using this extensions. Share a .skp file so we can see what you are getting.
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@antwal said:
hi all,
this plugin working with sketchup 2021? i have installed it but when try generate gear with default settings i receive the message "Diametral = 1.5" and not working, how can resolve this problem?
Thanks.
I too get the same "Dimetral" pop up box, and no gear seems to get created after that.
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Hello,
how can I define the height of the tooth? -
@radim said:
how can I define the height of the tooth?
This extension models involute gear teeth. Their height is determined by the extension. Since the teeth are created as components separate from the body of the gear, you could edit the tooth component to change its height.
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Hello!
Could you please check this:
I need to 3D print so need mm instead of inches
Pitch is in mm, but Face is in inches; typing mm is not working because of floating value
I read that I can change this in .rb file,
And find out that SPGears do not exist neither in Manager or in Plugin folder..Any options I can try?
Thank you!
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@doiiu said:
Pitch is in mm, but Face is in inches
While you wait for this to be fixed you might have a look for other plugins to make gears. I have an ancient one (that still works fine in SU2023) called DH Involute Gear. It only creates a 2D gear shape but you can then use Push/Pull to extrude it to the desired height. It has the benefit of creating the entire gear shape as a single face instead of greating the teeth as separate objects.
@doiiu said:
And find out that SPGears do not exist neither in Manager or in Plugin folder..
Any options I can try?
If you want to edit this plugin yourself look for MJGrundman_SPGears. Both the .rb and the folder have that name.
@doiiu said:
I need to 3D print so need mm instead of inches
FWIW, I generally find it better to model for 3D printing using meters for the units. Enter millimeters as if they are meters. Export the .stl with units set to meters and import into the slicer in millimeters.
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Thank you very much!
quick search didn't show me DH Involute Gear,
however I just take faces and push them to desired thickness
It was obvious and I don't know why I didn't do this from the very beginning
Sorry I was stupid -
It might be that the old DH Involute Gear is no longer available. I've had it so long I don't recall where I got it from.
Although the fix is easy enough, I wouldn't say you're being stupid. It's reasonable that all those dimensions should be in the same units.
Another thing you might want to consider if you are printing standard types of gears is that you can find CAD files for gears that you could import into SketchUp.
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In case this amazing plugin is still maintained, I'd have a couple of suggestions to improve it, in order of implementation difficulty:
- add an option to add a line representing the axis of the gear: it makes it easier to align them (easy?)
- add an option to keep the teeth size constant while changing the teeth number, else gears with different number of teeth will not match; for example, if I create a 200t gear and a 20t gear, I then must manually reduce size of 20t to 1/10 to make teeth match (complex)
- add worm+gear support (hard)
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@jumpjack said:
In case this amazing plugin is still maintained ...
It doesn't appear to be but who knows? In the meantime at least your first request can easily be dealt with.
@jumpjack said:
- add an option to add a line representing the axis of the gear: it makes it easier to align them (easy?)
As it is now the group is created with the origin and blue axis centered on the gear. Simple enough to open the group for editing and draw an edge for the gear axis. Or convert the group to a component. When you drag the component in from the Components panel you'll have hold of it by its origin making it simple enough to place. You could quickly set the component to glue to a face if you want to determine its orientation, too.
FWIW there are better options for modeling gears and worms if you need more than a simple representation of the gear. Maybe for 3D printing, for example.
Are you still using SketchUp 2013 Make as your profile indicates?
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