Computers & Programming

I’m playing around with the Parts List and I’m not sure how to draw some dimensions. Actuators are something that I’ve never bought. I suspect that the overall start length is important as is the amount of throw needed. But someone would probably design a backhoe so that…

Parts List New Features and Changes   The Parts List (in the picture above) Small change to ground dimensions in regular view when there is a link connecting all of the anchors in the mechanism. Added simulation capability for sliding link being positioned by another sliding connector. Some…

I added a cool feature to the Parts List to make it draw a ground link. But I also gave the code the ability to not draw the ground link if it is redundant to an actual link in the mechanism. This new code also allowed me to…

The parts list feature is almost done in the Linkage program. Parts List The parts list is a view of the mechanism where each link is shown in a “horizontal” position in a vertical list with all of the other links. This has been a challenging feature to…

A user contacted me with a mechanism that was not simulating properly. It became clear right when I saw it what was wrong; a link must have two sliding connectors on the same path to just slide. Links that have a single sliding connector can rotate around some…

There were a few bugs in recent versions of the Linkage program. there was an uninitialized variable related to a hidden feature that I’m working on, and a count problem when moving gears. Wow, it’s getting to be a complicated beast. Anyhow, the sample mechanism in the picture…

I have finally replaced the old Linkage installer with the new 3.1 version. There is no more Beta testing. Download Linkage 3.x here. New features and fixes are… Motion path export. Slide path dotted lines now drawn inside of link “hull”. Fixed simulation problem with links that are…

I will make this Beta into the official version as soon as I do a little more testing of my own. In this version, I disabled the parts list feature that I was working on. I fixed a bug in the sprocket/pulley sizing that was using unscaled/unadjusted sizes…

No one has asked me about the grid yet. I suppose that most people that use the Linkage program don’t really notice it or, since they can’t set it, don’t notice that it’s really weird. I am going to add a grid view option. People will certainly notice…

Get the new Beta here: http://www.rectorsquid.com/temp/linkage.msi I’m almost ready to release a new production version of the Linkage program. This latest beta version fixes a locked link problem where connectors could still be moved during a JOIN operation. Now a JOIN operation will move connectors that are not…