I'm very new to working with gears in OpenSCAD (actually, gears in general), and am trying to learn the BOSL2 gears.scad library (https://github.com/BelfrySCAD/BOSL2/blob/master/gears.scad) [https://repository-images.githubusercontent.com/182187489/7f60f080-3992-11eb-9baf-22e99510b07f]<https://github.com/BelfrySCAD/BOSL2/blob/master/gears.scad> BOSL2/gears.scad at master · BelfrySCAD/BOSL2<https://github.com/BelfrySCAD/BOSL2/blob/master/gears.scad> The Belfry OpenScad Library, v2.0. An OpenSCAD library of shapes, masks, and manipulators to make working with OpenSCAD easier. BETA - BelfrySCAD/BOSL2 github.com I am currently looking at the rack() module, and am trying to figure out the distance between the teeth in the generated rack. There are many functions, and with my limited knowledge and unfamiliarity of some of the terminology, I am having trouble finding the function that does this. Can somebody help me figure out which function (or how to calculate) the distance between the teeth of a rack gear? Thanks! Nathan Sokalski njsokalski@hotmail.com<mailto:njsokalski@hotmail.com>

You might have better luck making sense of everything if you start with circular gears (the normal case) instead of racks, where the terminology may make less sense. Did you read the section at the top about the way involute gears work and the associated terminology? You can specify circ_pitch=x to make the teeth x units wide. Or you can use the circular_pitch() function to compute it from the module or diametral pitch. Why do you need to know this number? Is it to determine the length of your rack? On Sun, May 5, 2024 at 3:47 PM Nathan Sokalski via Discuss < discuss@lists.openscad.org> wrote: > I'm very new to working with gears in OpenSCAD (actually, gears in > general), and am trying to learn the BOSL2 gears.scad library ( > https://github.com/BelfrySCAD/BOSL2/blob/master/gears.scad) > <https://github.com/BelfrySCAD/BOSL2/blob/master/gears.scad> > BOSL2/gears.scad at master · BelfrySCAD/BOSL2 > <https://github.com/BelfrySCAD/BOSL2/blob/master/gears.scad> > The Belfry OpenScad Library, v2.0. An OpenSCAD library of shapes, masks, > and manipulators to make working with OpenSCAD easier. BETA - > BelfrySCAD/BOSL2 > github.com > I am currently looking at the rack() module, and am trying to figure out > the distance between the teeth in the generated rack. There are many > functions, and with my limited knowledge and unfamiliarity of some of the > terminology, I am having trouble finding the function that does this. Can > somebody help me figure out which function (or how to calculate) the > distance between the teeth of a rack gear? Thanks! > > Nathan Sokalski > njsokalski@hotmail.com > _______________________________________________ > OpenSCAD mailing list > To unsubscribe send an email to discuss-leave@lists.openscad.org >

The reason I want to know this is because I want to position the rack to be aligned with the other gears. It would also be good to know the length of the rack. Something that would be really nice would be a diagram for each gear type containing the different parts and (if applicable) what function can be used to calculate them. I will try to at the involute gears section again to see if it helps me make more sense. I think one of the things confusing me is when the same terminology and/or variable/parameter names are used for round & flat gears. Thanks for your help, hopefully I can get some of it figured out. Nathan Sokalski njsokalski@hotmail.com<mailto:njsokalski@hotmail.com> ________________________________ From: Adrian Mariano via Discuss <discuss@lists.openscad.org> Sent: Sunday, May 5, 2024 4:47 PM To: OpenSCAD general discussion Mailing-list <discuss@lists.openscad.org> Cc: Adrian Mariano <avm4@cornell.edu> Subject: [OpenSCAD] Re: Distance Between Teeth On A Rack in BOSL2/gears.scad You might have better luck making sense of everything if you start with circular gears (the normal case) instead of racks, where the terminology may make less sense. Did you read the section at the top about the way involute gears work and the associated terminology? You can specify circ_pitch=x to make the teeth x units wide. Or you can use the circular_pitch() function to compute it from the module or diametral pitch. Why do you need to know this number? Is it to determine the length of your rack? On Sun, May 5, 2024 at 3:47 PM Nathan Sokalski via Discuss <discuss@lists.openscad.org<mailto:discuss@lists.openscad.org>> wrote: I'm very new to working with gears in OpenSCAD (actually, gears in general), and am trying to learn the BOSL2 gears.scad library (https://github.com/BelfrySCAD/BOSL2/blob/master/gears.scad) [https://repository-images.githubusercontent.com/182187489/7f60f080-3992-11eb-9baf-22e99510b07f]<https://github.com/BelfrySCAD/BOSL2/blob/master/gears.scad> BOSL2/gears.scad at master · BelfrySCAD/BOSL2<https://github.com/BelfrySCAD/BOSL2/blob/master/gears.scad> The Belfry OpenScad Library, v2.0. An OpenSCAD library of shapes, masks, and manipulators to make working with OpenSCAD easier. BETA - BelfrySCAD/BOSL2 github.com<http://github.com> I am currently looking at the rack() module, and am trying to figure out the distance between the teeth in the generated rack. There are many functions, and with my limited knowledge and unfamiliarity of some of the terminology, I am having trouble finding the function that does this. Can somebody help me figure out which function (or how to calculate) the distance between the teeth of a rack gear? Thanks! Nathan Sokalski njsokalski@hotmail.com<mailto:njsokalski@hotmail.com> _______________________________________________ OpenSCAD mailing list To unsubscribe send an email to discuss-leave@lists.openscad.org<mailto:discuss-leave@lists.openscad.org>

Well, maybe this is what was called "quirky" above, but if gear terminology didn't use the same labels for racks as for round gears you'd be hopelessly confused if you wanted your rack to actually mate with a round gear. The teeth need to be the same form for the gears to mate, so the description should be the same! I don't know what the "different parts" of the gears are that would appear on the proposed diagram. There's one diagram that shows different circles. Perhaps circular pitch could be added, but that seems like it covers things. Since all gears work on the same system, the pictures of different gears would basically be the same. Maybe it helps a bit if you think of a rack as a circular gear with infinite diameter. :) Ideally you shouldn't need to compute gear minutiae but rather should be able to use more automated schemes to position things the way you need, but gears are complex enough that making everything automated is impossible due to things like profile shifting and tip shortening that depends on what the mating gears are. Revar is hoping to write gear attachment code that will automatically position gears relative to other gears with the teeth properly meshing. But that's a thing for the future. It would definitely be nice to have, as positioning gears can be a pain. On Sun, May 5, 2024 at 6:19 PM Nathan Sokalski via Discuss < discuss@lists.openscad.org> wrote: > The reason I want to know this is because I want to position the rack to > be aligned with the other gears. It would also be good to know the length > of the rack. Something that would be really nice would be a diagram for > each gear type containing the different parts and (if applicable) what > function can be used to calculate them. I will try to at the involute gears > section again to see if it helps me make more sense. I think one of the > things confusing me is when the same terminology and/or variable/parameter > names are used for round & flat gears. Thanks for your help, hopefully I > can get some of it figured out. > > Nathan Sokalski > njsokalski@hotmail.com > ------------------------------ > *From:* Adrian Mariano via Discuss <discuss@lists.openscad.org> > *Sent:* Sunday, May 5, 2024 4:47 PM > *To:* OpenSCAD general discussion Mailing-list <discuss@lists.openscad.org > > > *Cc:* Adrian Mariano <avm4@cornell.edu> > *Subject:* [OpenSCAD] Re: Distance Between Teeth On A Rack in > BOSL2/gears.scad > > You might have better luck making sense of everything if you start with > circular gears (the normal case) instead of racks, where the terminology > may make less sense. Did you read the section at the top about the way > involute gears work and the associated terminology? > > You can specify circ_pitch=x to make the teeth x units wide. Or you can > use the circular_pitch() function to compute it from the module or > diametral pitch. Why do you need to know this number? Is it to determine > the length of your rack? > > On Sun, May 5, 2024 at 3:47 PM Nathan Sokalski via Discuss < > discuss@lists.openscad.org> wrote: > > I'm very new to working with gears in OpenSCAD (actually, gears in > general), and am trying to learn the BOSL2 gears.scad library ( > https://github.com/BelfrySCAD/BOSL2/blob/master/gears.scad) > <https://github.com/BelfrySCAD/BOSL2/blob/master/gears.scad> > BOSL2/gears.scad at master · BelfrySCAD/BOSL2 > <https://github.com/BelfrySCAD/BOSL2/blob/master/gears.scad> > The Belfry OpenScad Library, v2.0. An OpenSCAD library of shapes, masks, > and manipulators to make working with OpenSCAD easier. BETA - > BelfrySCAD/BOSL2 > github.com > I am currently looking at the rack() module, and am trying to figure out > the distance between the teeth in the generated rack. There are many > functions, and with my limited knowledge and unfamiliarity of some of the > terminology, I am having trouble finding the function that does this. Can > somebody help me figure out which function (or how to calculate) the > distance between the teeth of a rack gear? Thanks! > > Nathan Sokalski > njsokalski@hotmail.com > _______________________________________________ > OpenSCAD mailing list > To unsubscribe send an email to discuss-leave@lists.openscad.org > > _______________________________________________ > OpenSCAD mailing list > To unsubscribe send an email to discuss-leave@lists.openscad.org >

NopSCADlib has gears and racks and an example of how to mesh them, which will animate if opened in the GUI. https://github.com/nophead/NopSCADlib/tree/master?tab=readme-ov-file#gears [image: image.png] On Mon, 6 May 2024 at 00:59, Adrian Mariano via Discuss < discuss@lists.openscad.org> wrote: > Well, maybe this is what was called "quirky" above, but if gear > terminology didn't use the same labels for racks as for round gears you'd > be hopelessly confused if you wanted your rack to actually mate with a > round gear. The teeth need to be the same form for the gears to mate, so > the description should be the same! I don't know what the "different > parts" of the gears are that would appear on the proposed diagram. > There's one diagram that shows different circles. Perhaps circular pitch > could be added, but that seems like it covers things. Since all gears work > on the same system, the pictures of different gears would basically be the > same. Maybe it helps a bit if you think of a rack as a circular gear with > infinite diameter. :) Ideally you shouldn't need to compute gear minutiae > but rather should be able to use more automated schemes to position things > the way you need, but gears are complex enough that making everything > automated is impossible due to things like profile shifting and tip > shortening that depends on what the mating gears are. > > Revar is hoping to write gear attachment code that will automatically > position gears relative to other gears with the teeth properly meshing. > But that's a thing for the future. It would definitely be nice to have, as > positioning gears can be a pain. > > On Sun, May 5, 2024 at 6:19 PM Nathan Sokalski via Discuss < > discuss@lists.openscad.org> wrote: > >> The reason I want to know this is because I want to position the rack to >> be aligned with the other gears. It would also be good to know the length >> of the rack. Something that would be really nice would be a diagram for >> each gear type containing the different parts and (if applicable) what >> function can be used to calculate them. I will try to at the involute gears >> section again to see if it helps me make more sense. I think one of the >> things confusing me is when the same terminology and/or variable/parameter >> names are used for round & flat gears. Thanks for your help, hopefully I >> can get some of it figured out. >> >> Nathan Sokalski >> njsokalski@hotmail.com >> ------------------------------ >> *From:* Adrian Mariano via Discuss <discuss@lists.openscad.org> >> *Sent:* Sunday, May 5, 2024 4:47 PM >> *To:* OpenSCAD general discussion Mailing-list < >> discuss@lists.openscad.org> >> *Cc:* Adrian Mariano <avm4@cornell.edu> >> *Subject:* [OpenSCAD] Re: Distance Between Teeth On A Rack in >> BOSL2/gears.scad >> >> You might have better luck making sense of everything if you start with >> circular gears (the normal case) instead of racks, where the terminology >> may make less sense. Did you read the section at the top about the way >> involute gears work and the associated terminology? >> >> You can specify circ_pitch=x to make the teeth x units wide. Or you can >> use the circular_pitch() function to compute it from the module or >> diametral pitch. Why do you need to know this number? Is it to determine >> the length of your rack? >> >> On Sun, May 5, 2024 at 3:47 PM Nathan Sokalski via Discuss < >> discuss@lists.openscad.org> wrote: >> >> I'm very new to working with gears in OpenSCAD (actually, gears in >> general), and am trying to learn the BOSL2 gears.scad library ( >> https://github.com/BelfrySCAD/BOSL2/blob/master/gears.scad) >> <https://github.com/BelfrySCAD/BOSL2/blob/master/gears.scad> >> BOSL2/gears.scad at master · BelfrySCAD/BOSL2 >> <https://github.com/BelfrySCAD/BOSL2/blob/master/gears.scad> >> The Belfry OpenScad Library, v2.0. An OpenSCAD library of shapes, masks, >> and manipulators to make working with OpenSCAD easier. BETA - >> BelfrySCAD/BOSL2 >> github.com >> I am currently looking at the rack() module, and am trying to figure out >> the distance between the teeth in the generated rack. There are many >> functions, and with my limited knowledge and unfamiliarity of some of the >> terminology, I am having trouble finding the function that does this. Can >> somebody help me figure out which function (or how to calculate) the >> distance between the teeth of a rack gear? Thanks! >> >> Nathan Sokalski >> njsokalski@hotmail.com >> _______________________________________________ >> OpenSCAD mailing list >> To unsubscribe send an email to discuss-leave@lists.openscad.org >> >> _______________________________________________ >> OpenSCAD mailing list >> To unsubscribe send an email to discuss-leave@lists.openscad.org >> > _______________________________________________ > OpenSCAD mailing list > To unsubscribe send an email to discuss-leave@lists.openscad.org >

Simplest answer, if you make a rack with `rack(pitch=5, ...)` then there will be 5 OpenSCAD units of distance between the centers of consecutive teeth. - Revar > On May 5, 2024, at 3:19 PM, Nathan Sokalski via Discuss <discuss@lists.openscad.org> wrote: > > The reason I want to know this is because I want to position the rack to be aligned with the other gears. It would also be good to know the length of the rack. Something that would be really nice would be a diagram for each gear type containing the different parts and (if applicable) what function can be used to calculate them. I will try to at the involute gears section again to see if it helps me make more sense. I think one of the things confusing me is when the same terminology and/or variable/parameter names are used for round & flat gears. Thanks for your help, hopefully I can get some of it figured out. > > Nathan Sokalski > njsokalski@hotmail.com <mailto:njsokalski@hotmail.com> > From: Adrian Mariano via Discuss <discuss@lists.openscad.org> > Sent: Sunday, May 5, 2024 4:47 PM > To: OpenSCAD general discussion Mailing-list <discuss@lists.openscad.org> > Cc: Adrian Mariano <avm4@cornell.edu> > Subject: [OpenSCAD] Re: Distance Between Teeth On A Rack in BOSL2/gears.scad > > You might have better luck making sense of everything if you start with circular gears (the normal case) instead of racks, where the terminology may make less sense. Did you read the section at the top about the way involute gears work and the associated terminology? > > You can specify circ_pitch=x to make the teeth x units wide. Or you can use the circular_pitch() function to compute it from the module or diametral pitch. Why do you need to know this number? Is it to determine the length of your rack? > > On Sun, May 5, 2024 at 3:47 PM Nathan Sokalski via Discuss <discuss@lists.openscad.org <mailto:discuss@lists.openscad.org>> wrote: > I'm very new to working with gears in OpenSCAD (actually, gears in general), and am trying to learn the BOSL2 gears.scad library (https://github.com/BelfrySCAD/BOSL2/blob/master/gears.scad) > <https://github.com/BelfrySCAD/BOSL2/blob/master/gears.scad> > BOSL2/gears.scad at master · BelfrySCAD/BOSL2 <https://github.com/BelfrySCAD/BOSL2/blob/master/gears.scad> > The Belfry OpenScad Library, v2.0. An OpenSCAD library of shapes, masks, and manipulators to make working with OpenSCAD easier. BETA - BelfrySCAD/BOSL2 > github.com <http://github.com/> > I am currently looking at the rack() module, and am trying to figure out the distance between the teeth in the generated rack. There are many functions, and with my limited knowledge and unfamiliarity of some of the terminology, I am having trouble finding the function that does this. Can somebody help me figure out which function (or how to calculate) the distance between the teeth of a rack gear? Thanks! > > Nathan Sokalski > njsokalski@hotmail.com <mailto:njsokalski@hotmail.com> > _______________________________________________ > OpenSCAD mailing list > To unsubscribe send an email to discuss-leave@lists.openscad.org <mailto:discuss-leave@lists.openscad.org> > _______________________________________________ > OpenSCAD mailing list > To unsubscribe send an email to discuss-leave@lists.openscad.org