Rack and pinion gear mate 1

[Boosie]

Is there an easy way to set up a rack and pinion gear mate that I am overlooking?

The boose is on the loose.

 

[JMirisola]

Look at Advanced Mates in the FM...

Jeff Mirisola, CSWP

http://designsmarter.typepad.com/jeffs_blog

Dell M90, Core2 Duo
4GB RAM
Nvidia 3500M

 

[Boosie]

I have spent some time messing around with the gear mate and it seems to be geared toward round gears.
I can't seem to get the action that I want.

I tried a few other things but nothing so far.

It is not real important to the design but I would still like to do it.


BTW.
2006 SP4.1

 

[AnnaWood]

The rack and pinion mate may have been added in SW2007. I can't remember. Since you are using SW2006 that is most likely why you do not see it in the Advanced Mates.

Cheers,

Anna Wood
SW 2007 SP4.0, WinXP
Dell Precision 380, Pentium D940, 4 Gigs RAM, FX3450

http://designsmarter.typepad.com/solidmuse

http://www.phxswug.com

 

[Boosie]

Yep,
Tech support say no dice.

Oh well.

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

Time to upgrade!

 

[Boosie]

Yeah I know.
I sent yet another request to our IT department to get 07 installed. I they wait long enough we can go right from o6 to 08. It's kind of beat knowing it is sitting on a shelf collecting dust.

 

[bearly]

Assuming you have a fixed rotating pinion moving a linear rack, this was my workaround pre-07. I simply set up an equation that calculated the pinion rotation angle based on a linear distance that I would input.

If

P = Pinion position angle
D= Linear travel of rack
RP = Pitch of rack
T = # of teeth on pinion
R = # of revolutions

Then

R = D / RP * T

That is the total number of revolutions, but all you really need is the angle (from 0 to 360) to position the pinion. So, taking this into account as well as any zero situations (i.e. D= 0), you get:

P = (((D / RP * T) + 1) – int ((D / RP * T) +1)) * 360 + .0001

The .0001 is only because solidworks will not allow you to enter 0 for an angle mate. And the int command simply rounds down to the nearest whole revolution.

So, if you set up the pinion as an angle mate (P), and the rack position as a distance mate (D), this equation will allow you to enter a linear distance while solidworks calculates a position angle for the pinion. Obviously, it could be solved the other way if that makes more sense for you.

If you want to do an animation, suppress the mates and apply a motor to the pinion or rack.

Anyway, that’s what worked for me.

Brian

 

[josephv]

Hi Brian,

SWX will allow you to create an angle mate of zero.

However, you make a good point since ... in equations a mate value can NOT be set to a zero value (this is an SPR).

Good tip!

Joseph