Computers & Programming

I added the ability to set the linear actuator throw distance in the Link Properties dialog box. I threw together this quick test mechanism and added to the sample gallery so that there would be a sample that had points, lines, and measurement lines. New Throw Distance Setting…

At a zoom level of 1, the default starting zoom level, one inch of mechanism is displayed on one inch of screen space. That applies to all screens that have the typical pixel size and shape although now days, there seems to be a trend in computer monitors…

Lines, Points, Measurements The latest version of Linkage, which is being beta tested right now, has many new features that were described in post “Linkage 2.8 Beta Test”. I wanted to mention one new feature that was an easy addition to the program now that there is a…

New Ribbon Bar The first obvious change from version 2.8 is the ribbon bar. The image above shows the ribbon bar with the various menus all shown. None of the core mechanism editing and simulation features have changed. The arrangement of the ribbon bar buttons have changed and…

Microsoft provided me with the library code needed to create a Ribbon Bar but they dropped the ball on designing one part of the system that I really need right now. Take a look at this version of the Linkage program ribbon bar: The Labels, Angles, and Video…

I cannot decide which type of check box I should use for drop down menus in the Linkage program. The only one that is low on the list is the ordinary Windows checkbox because I would need to write a lot of extra code to get things spaced…

Testing Drawing Features I am planning on a big feature addition to the Linkage program. The new drawing feature will allow a user to draw points, lines, and polygons, as non-functioning elements in their mechanism. These are essentially drawing elements that have no effect on the simulated mechanism…

I think that I am getting closer and closer to having a useable solution to the link positioning problem (blog post 1, blog post 2 ). This new idea is based mostly on the last one. The idea was to use points on circles to narrow down the…

In my previous blog post, about Computing the Position of a Triangle Based on Distances From External Points to Each Corner, I came up with a potential method of simulating a three link connection to a three connector link. Computing the Position of a Triangle Based on Distances…

? Linkage I don’t know if there is a name for this type of linkage. The green triangle link in the image above has a position (location and orientation) defined by the three ground connections and the lengths of the three connecting links. A search for equations to…