Cam mate in UG? 1

[abeschneider]

Is it possible to create a cam-type mate in UG NX2 (or NX3)?

ie: try creating a curve composed of both straight lines and arc sections, all of which are tangent. Is it possible to mate, say, an object with circular cross section (like a cylinder) to the path? The path could be extruded to form a solid or surface.

Thanks!

 

[Erland]

In NX2 you can mate two surfaces with a tangent constraint.

So yes you should be able to like simulate a cylinder "rolling" over a surface.

But you want it to be mated to a set of multiple faces (lines and arcs extruded) and that is not possible (to my knowledge). You can mate one b-surface to one b-surface.

Maybe you could create a spline instead of the lines and arcs, to make sure you only have one path surface.


Erland R. Nielsen
Denmark

 

[abeschneider]

The spline is a work-around. Is there a way to "knit" the straight lines and arcs together without creating a spline per se? Or, what is the best way to create a spline so that it looks like the way a belt would look when stretched between 2 pulleys?

 

[cowski]

Do a "join curve" operation on your arcs and lines. If the entities you join are only arcs and lines, the resulting spline should be an exact fit.

 

[Erland]

Thx for that "join curve" sugestion. Did not know what to use is for previously but I have some ideas now. The "join curve" can be made associative.

Make sure to use the "general spline" option if an excact fit is needed, instead of the default "polynomial"

Erland R. Nielsen
Denmark

 

[abeschneider]

Thank you cowski for the join curve suggestion; a star for you. It works great for my problem.

I have a new question: I have "joined the curves" and now have a surface resembling a belt stretched between 2 pulleys. I have mated (using Tangent) a cylinder to the outer surface. If I want to animate the cylinder moving around the pathface, how do I do that? Can UG/Motion be used to do this? (The tangent mate translated as a revolute joint, which isn't correct) Or is there another way to record dynamic assembly motion?