Drawing and mating Chain Links 4

[johnhenry1959]

In my work I need to show chain links on various assemblies. Is there any way of drawing chain links and then mating these links to a curve. The curve would be the Pitch cirlce around pulleys or gears etc. Using sw2003 thanks for any replies.

 

[speedy12]

Johnhenry,
you could add a sketch to your chain sub-assembly that is an under-defined closed spline. Then all you have to do is add relations to the spline to both the links and the pulleys. One problem with this is that when you create the chain, because of the number of links,the chain sub-assembly will get big and slow down your rebuild time. Hope this is helpful.

 

[JNR]

There was a thread on this subject a while back. (Quite a while!) If you have lots of patience, you might be ablt to find it.

Be naughty - save Santa a trip.

 

[MadMango]

You should be able to pattern a part around a curve. I've done this before to simulate a chain.

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[Regg]

Remember that a chain link does not bend unless it is made from an elastic material. So you would be mating to a chord.

 

[donegalforever]

Not too sure, if this is what you want, but if you check out:

http://www.3dcontentcentral.com/3dcontentcentral/

There is loads of models/assemblies in it for SW. There is a model done of a chain, that you could probably adapt. I have used it a few times, and it doesn't move, but for presentations, it looks the part. The only drawback is that you need to calculate the number of chain links for a centre distance, and work back.

Hope this works for you.

 

[adymech1]

I am restarting the discussion on this topic and would like to know how to pattern a part around the curve as MadMango mentioned.

Thanks

 

[adymech1]

I am referring to MadMango's post above "You should be able to pattern a part around a curve.". How do I do this? I know I can pattern a feature around a curve. But how do I pattern a part around a curve?

 

[MadMango]

You caught my typo. I should have stated "pattern a feature" rather than a part.

When I had to model a roller chain, I created my sketch path of the chain. I then created a simple link to simulate the roller link, and then patterned this feature around my sketch.

I haven't done this for over a year now, so I can't remember all the details. I remember having some trouble getting the features to "lay" on the sketched path correctly to simulate the link being connected togather, but in the end I was successful.

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[MElam]

Look up "curve driven pattern" in help.

Set alignment method - Tangent to curve

 

[adymech1]

Thanks MadMango and MElam. However, my problem stays. Let me quickly elaborate it. Since a chain is made up of several elements (link plate, roller, pin), I created all these components separately, then assembled them to create a "chain link". This chain link should be repeated around a curve (in my case around 2 sprockets located at a certain distance). So my question is: how do I pattern an assembly around a curve?

Thanks

 

[MElam]

This only works as a feature pattern, not a component pattern. I could not get it to work as a derived pattern at the ass'y. The only example we have done was a single part instead of an assembly.

It looks like, unless you can show the chain as a single part, you will have to mate the links the hard way.

Time for an ER?

 

[drawoh]

adymech1,

Do you really need to model this chain as an assembly? If the drawings do not require this, I would look for a shortcut.

Consider drawing a 2D or 3D sketch at some assembly level, and attaching the chain links to it.

JHG

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

Try downloading & disseminating the following samples:-

http://www.mikejwilson.com/solidworks/solidworks_files-02.htm

Curve Driven Animation (SW2001+)

http://www.mikejwilson.com/solidworks/solidworks_files-04.htm

Escher's Mobius Strip (SW2001+)

http://www.mikejwilson.com/solidworks/solidworks_files-06.htm

Slot Cars (SW2001)

from (the City of) Barrie, Ontario.

I tried sniffing Coke once, but the ice cubes got stuck in my nose