We first need to create a involute of a circle in Solvespace to get a better understanding of an involute gear. This video will be followed by another where we create an involute gear and a third where we adjust the gear in Solvespace.
I’ve used version 2.3 in this video but v3.0 should work fine too for this tutorial. This is a series in progress. I will at least make one more video to demonstrate how one gear drives another in Solvespace.
First video tutorial: Involute of a Circle in Solvespace. Before creating an involute gear we first need to understand how to create an involute of a circle.
Second video tutorial: To create an involute gear we only need three parameters, the module which determines the length of the teeth, the number of teeth and the pressure angle. With these parameters we can determine the Pitch Circle, Addendum Circle or Top Circle, Dedendum Circle or Root Circle and the Base Circle. With these circles and the pressure angle the shape of the teeth can easily be created in Solvespace.
Third video tutorial: This is the third video in a series about creating an involute gear in Solvespace. If we want to adjust the module, number of teeth or pressure angle of an existing gear in Solvespace we don’t have to start from scratch. We can take an existing gear and change one of the three parameters. This will save us a lot of time. However this change must be done following a procedure that I’ll demonstrate. Other wise Solvespace will give us the error message ‘unsolved constraint’.
Solvespace is an open source, parametric, 3D CAD program that is lightweight and easy to use. It is available for GNU/Linux, OSX and Windows. In Solvespace the user applies geometrical constraints to a sketch and the program’s solver calculates the result (comparable to the FreeCAD part design workbench).
Solvespace is open source (GPLv3 license) and is available for Window, OSX and Linux. Originally developed by Jonathan Westhues and currently maintained by Paul Kahler and others. It can be downloaded here: http://solvespace.com/download.pl
The idea for this video comes from the JustThinkering channel on YT who made a video Involute Gears in Solvespace (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6tDWJsNsok).