You could be right. I tried scaling down your working version and it quit working.

There's another problem as well: as you can see in the photo above, the "nut" part is stationary in space while the "bolt" part must both turn and slide up and down.

The printing press is still a work-in-progress, but here's what it looks like right now:

Gutenberg1.skp

Thanks, MPTAK. That's fantastic. I downloaded your model and can easily see how it works. I'll take you Mechanism and build the structure around it. When the whole printing press is finished, I'll be sure to give you a credit for your help.

Thanks again,
Tom

I'm going a little crazy with my screw mechanism. The model as it stands now is attached. The green barrel should screw down the red screw, but, while the two can spin around each other, the screw surfaces don't interact/collide.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Tom

ScrewExp3.skp

Does anybody know if someone has made a working model of a nut and bolt using SP?

I'm working on a model of replica Gutenberg printing press and the dynamic part is the large wooden screw assembly that puts pressure on the paper against the inked type. So the screw mechanism is critical. Nobody knows exactly what the press looked like, but it was based on a wine/cider press that was already in existence. It probably looked something like this:

Thanks for any help,
Tom

@mptak said:

Cool beans! I'm glad to see that others are struggling with all this and sticking with Sketchy Physics.

I'm by far not an expert but have picked up a thing or two. Your model looks great but I fear that the base cylinder around which your screw is attached may not be being read as a cylinder. It tends to cease a bit on me and I would guess that the large wheel is correctly modeled. Once I get it spinning I'll try to do some of the movie capture I have been playing with and share it back to you. Mr. K provides a great script to enable good capture.

I'll look forward to it!!

I finally got it working properly. If anybody is interested, I can provide details.

WoodGear1d.skp

WoodGear1c.skpOK, I've made both the worm and gear into collections of individual components each of which is configured as "convexhull". When I run the simulation, they now seem to interact but not as gears. The worm shaft turns as expected, but the gear just nudges down a fraction and doesn't turn on its axis.

By the way, here's a picture of the original and the model:

And here's the model as it stands now:WoodGear1c.skp

Thanks, MPTAK,

I'll give that a try this afternoon. I've already done this with the gear after reading this: http://support.ponoko.com/entries/21249896-Gears-and-Joints-with-SketchUp-Sketchy-Physics.

I can't take credit for the design, I'm afraid. I saw this photo on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:CNAM-IMG_0602.jpg

Tom

[/img]WoodGear1dtemp.skp
Hi,

I think I've missed something fundamental. I've built a model of wooden worm gear assembly. The worm has an attached motor and the worm gear has a hinge. Both of them turn on the correct axes and the worm works with the motor correctly. However, when I run the simulation, the worm passes through the gear teeth as if they weren't there. The two joints are connected gear-to-gear.

I'd appreciate any help I can get.
Tom

Nick,

Why do you want to "draw" the windows?

If you build the wall with the appropriate curvature, You can "paint" a texture of the windows onto your curved surface. This will save a lot of faces and would be pretty fast to do if you've already got a photo of the wall.

Tom

I'm glad it all worked out. I've deleted the model in my section of 3DW.

I like the models together.

Tom

Hi,

OK, here's what I did: I downloaded you latest model from 3DW. Then I went into the Model Info window and chose the Location page. I checked the box "Use Georeferencing". Then I uploaded the model to 3DW at http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=7c2cdad3f08176b63b1f82950a151c08
It looks like it worked because it shows correctly on the Map option in 3DW.

I called it Temp and I'll leave it up for a couple of days then I'll delete it from 3DW

tom

Ace,

I downloaded the model from 3DW.

First, there is no Terrain or Snapshot layer in the model. So, it won't be geo-located when you upload it to 3DW. You have to keep the Terrain layer in the model even though it doesn't show in 3DW.

Second, uncheck the edges. You only need them when you're building the model. They look strange when viewing the finished model. Click View>Edge Style and remove the check mark next to Display Edges.

Third,Use the Soften/Smoothe Edges tool on the new terrain group. Right click the group, the chose Soften/Smooth Edges from the context menu. Check the box for Soften Coplaner and set the slider at something over 130 Degrees.

Fourth, go to 3DW and delete the model. Now with the terrain layer in the model, export it again to 3DW.

That should do it. Nice building, by the way. Porto Alegre looks like a niice town.

Tom

Ace,

In step 16. in my answer, to sample an image, hold the Alt key with the Paint tool and click on the image to be sampled.

Tom

Ace,

When you upload your model to 3DW, include your new bit of Sandbox terrain. When you look at it in GE, you'll see that it all matches up and that the colors are correct.

Here's what I would do with you model:

1. Copy the building model.
2. Open a new SU page.
3. Go to GE and get as close to the same scene that you had before as possible.
4. Now here's the trick - In GE, click File>Save>Save Image. This will give you a color image of the scene in GE.
5. With GE still open DON'T MOVE THE SCENE AT ALL! Open the SU window and click Tools>Google Earth>Get Current View.
6. Now you have the GE Terrain and the Snapshot in the Layers menu. Paste you building model on the new terrain and use the Move and scale tools to get it exectly matched the new terrain. It shouldn't take very much adjustment as you tried to match you original GE view in Step 3. above.
7. Save this model with a new name.
8. Open the Snapshot from the layers menu and unlock it (right click>Unlock.)
9. Right Click on the Snapshot group and click Edit Group to edit it.
10. Use the Select tool to highlight the face of the Sanpshot. Then click File>Import and select your saved image from Step 4. above and apply it to the B&W Snapshot.
11. Right click the image and click Texture>Position. Move each of the four pins to the corners of the Snapshot so that the color image precisely fits the whole image.
12. Now you close the Snapshot group and save the whole thing.
13. With the Terrain layer turned on, select the Group of your building and move it vertically so that the corner lowest in relation to the Terrain sits right on the Terrain and the other three corners float above it.
14. Now use the Sandbox tools to build the new terrain flush with the bottom of the building and the edges just under the surface of the original Terrain.
15. Use the Soften/Smooth Edges tool on the new terrain group.
16. Open the Sanpshot layer and use the Paint tool to sample the Color snapshot.
17. Still with the Paint tool, right click the new terrain group and click Edit Group. Click once on the new terrain group with the Paint tool and the color image should now be on the new terrain and, if you've been careful, it should match up with the original GE Terrain.
18. When you open the moldel in GE, the terrain is in color so your built terrain will match.

Hope this helps,
Tom

Here's one with the Sandbox terrain under it. The only thing needed is the color photo of the ground from GE instead of the B&W that I used.

Tom

mercadopublicov6a.skp

OK, I found the model and I've downloaded it. I'll see what I can do.

tom

Why not use the Sandbox tools in SU to build up the terrain to fit the bottom of the model. From the screen shot you sent, it looks like this wouldn't be too hard to do.

If you downloaded the color version of the scene from GE, you can use this to paint the new terrain to exactly match the GE image.

I find that I often have to do this to get the models to look right. The downside is that Sandbox creates a lot of faces. So, make it pretty simple to begin with. You can also delete parts of the Sandbox terrain that are covered by the bulding itself to save faces. You do this by editing the Sandbox group.

If you post the .skp file, I'd be happy to have a look at it.

Tom

@august said:

@august said:

I got something.

August,

What did you get?

Tom