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There is a new Microsoft Windows package manager. A package manager is a system of tools that let you install and remove software by simply referring to it by name. The package manager knows where to get the software so you don’t need to. You simply type “winget…
Continue readingI decided to buy an Arduino board and some components to go with it. I have some 10-or-more-year-old servos sitting in a box from when I experimented with them directly connected to a PC so it made sense to plug them into a board plugged into the Arduino…
Continue readingThe Ratio button once sat in the Dimensions panel just below the text box. I moved it a long time ago because I wanted to show text there that described the numbers shown in that text box. But I didn’t want to take up space in the toolbar…
Continue readingThe export data for motion paths now includes the speed of the connector. This is always in units per second and it’s up to the user to know what units were set when running the simulation. The initial speed is zero. Speeds are calculated using the straight line…
Continue readingGet the latest beta version here: https://www.rectorsquid.com/beta/linkage.msi Here are some of the many things in this latest test version of the Linkage software: There is a new feature for duplicating elements. It is only available using the Control+D key combination. If you move or rotate the duplicates immediately…
Continue readingCorel Draw has a feature for duplicating elements that remembers the last set of operations you do on a duplicated element and it does those again on the next duplicated element. In other words, if you press Ctrl-D and then move the duplicate item, you can press Ctrl-D…
Continue readingAnother feature that I’m “working on” in the Linkage software is mechanism synthesis. I will describe manual synthesis in the Linkage software before describing how the feature could work. Generating a four-bar mechanism requires two or three positions defined for the middle bar (the middle bar is the…
Continue readingThe most important problem to solve with any process is letting people interact with it. Software does processing; It is like a machine where you put something in at one end and something else comes out the other end. A drawing program let’s you put in mouse, pen,…
Continue readingChebyshev Straight Line* Hoeken Straight Line* Linear Motion Track Planetary Gears Peaucellier Straight Line Roberts Straight Line* Scotch Yoke Scott Russell Straight Line Watt Straight Line* *This is a straight line approximation This page will be updated with new components. A link to this page will be made…
Continue readingWhile wandering around the web looking for interesting mechanisms, I stumbled upon, for the gazillionth time, Geneva mechanisms. Even though I had looked at Geneva mechanisms more times than I can count, this time I discovered something interesting; A Geneva mechanism can be built without the anti-slip disk….
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