Rack and Gear Maker
Description
The plugin creates a rack with gear with straight, helical, double helical, herringbone and arc teeth for various set of parameters. The program lets to choose the system of modules, dimensioning of module, units and much more. Parameters and descriptions of functions are available in Guide.pdf. Information about invoices is available in Consulting Services section (please click More to expand the section).
The attached video shows how to use the plugin and how to create a complex example that requires a few designs.
Execution in most cases takes less than a half of minute on i7/8GB RAM/512GB SSD computer. During the operation a progress bar with the current step is visible and the process can be always canceled.
Disclaimer
The plugin doesn't check interferences automatically and doesn't perform any analysis of prepared components. Please make sure that the necessary check is done before releasing this onto production. You must be aware that the real dimensions of manufactured components may be different than in the design. Every material has different characteristics and its parameters may change during time depending on the kind of material, temperature and humidity of the environment, workload, etc. The simplest motion analysis can be done by using joints and motion rules prepared by the plugin. Both involute and trochoid interferences can be checked by eyes but there’s a better, dedicated built-in tool (TOOLS Interference) available in Autodesk® Fusion 360™.
I'll make this review short and sweet.
I love it. I tried some free add-ins, but this one is a no brainer and is worth paying for.
Firstly, it has 1 very important parameter that I didn't find in any of the (many) add-ins I tried: clearance!
While backlash is important (and Shwivel has this), clearance is another one. Shwivel will automatically allow you to set a clearance amount (e.g. 0.2mm), and it will reduce the length of the tooth by that much. That way, the tip of the tooth isn't grinding up against the mating gear. While this doesn't matter for 3D modeling a gear in software only, it is important in the real-world because imperfections in manufacturing tolerances mean that you need to create some wiggle room otherwise the teeth won't spin smoothly because they will always be grinding against each other.
In some apps, like the free Spur Gear sample add-in in Fusion360, you can manually do this yourself by editing the sketch, but it is laborious, and also becomes tougher in more complex types of gears.
That alone was a huge save.
Then, Shwivel also lets you preview the gear before you actually confirm the settings, so you can get a quick idea of how it will look.
It also displays implied parameters (e.g. if you select module and #teeth, it will tell you what the pitch diameter will end up being), which is very important to me because I want to make sure I'm doing the right thing before exporting.
Lastly, the rack and spur gear are automatically oriented correctly in relation to each other, so there is no extra effort or guesswork.
I have used this plugin to successfully create a gearbox which included two sets of rack and pinion gears, using SLA 3D printing.
Some months later, I also purchased the Worm Gear add-on, which has the exact same benefits as above.
Perfect. This is the third plugin I purchased from Shwivel. All of his plugins are very well made, high quality, and have lots of parameters. I highly reccomend it, as it can save you lots of time.
If you have to iterate even once on a gear, this plugin will pay for itself.
Exactly what I needed. Also purchased Shwivel's bevel gear plugin and it is excellent as well!
Had a little issue with the installer package on mac, but once the plugin was installed this worked beautifully.