New Member

[Evo]

Hi all

Just to introduce myself

I live in Lancashire and am an engineer specialising in mechanical design using Solidworks.

i own a KX1 CNC Mill and a Chester Conquest Mini lathe.

At the moment I either want to convert my lathe to cnc or buy a cheap small cnc lathe.

if anyone has any info on either the conversion or knows of a cheap cnc lathe for sale please let me know

[BillTodd]

I live in Lancashire and am an engineer specialising in mechanical design using Solidworks.

Any idea how to simulate a sprag (one-way) clutch?

[HiltonSteve]

Any idea how to simulate a sprag (one-way) clutch?

These any good..?

http://simplybearings.co.uk/shop/adv...1&inc_subcat=1

[Evo]

I take it by ''simulation'' you mean a simulation within Solidworks ?

if thats what you mean I dont think I have ever come across that one, but I will look into it and come back to you.

[BillTodd]

These any good..?

http://simplybearings.co.uk/shop/adv...1&inc_subcat=1

Yep, they're the real one's Steve. I'm trying to make the same out of pixelanium

if thats what you mean I dont think I have ever come across that one, but I will look into it and come back to you.

Yes I'm trying to animate a mechanism that uses them. ATM I'm manually tweening the parts, which is both tiresome and difficult. Is there a simple way to hold one piece still while moving others that are mated to it various ways?

The attachement has nothing to do with this job, but it does show the sort of complexity I'm up against...

[HiltonSteve]

OK, I understand now..... DOH!

When you say animate then do you mean just create an animation video like the one you attached or do you mean move parts on the assembly model so they react as in real life???

I have been using Solid Edge for a fair few years now which is similar to SolidWorks in many respects, in the animation side of Solid Edge you create motors both linear and rotary and tell them what to move and how fast and far to move over a specific time window, this means you can make things that don't move on the actual assy model as they should to actually move on the animation video just as you want them to in real life.

Do you have any screen grabs or renders you can post to give a better idea of what you are actually trying to achieve?

Pixelanium can be more troublesome than the real thing sometimes!

[BillTodd]

When you say animate then do you mean just create an animation video like the one you attached or do you mean move parts on the assembly model so they react as in real life???

Sort of both really. If the model can be made to work as an assembly it usually makes it easier to animate (though not always, for some reason) I often have to fudge things to make the animation job easier (hard learned tricks of the trade ;))

Do you have any screen grabs or renders you can post to give a better idea of what you are actually trying to achieve?

Sorry it's for a device subject a patent application, so it's all under an NDA.

There's a few other example here (if you're interested):
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/bill_todd/animations/