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Corel 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….
Continue readingIn a post yesterday, I wrote about how I wanted to have gears and links rotate freely on rotating inputs when a specific set of options are selected. I am at the point now where I think I know what to do. here is how it will work…
Continue readingI updated the Linkage beta software: https://www.rectorsquid.com/beta/linkage.msi Here are some of the recent changes and additions: Allow gears to be separated using the Split command Show RPM along with gear radius or diameter when auto-dimensions are on. Added push/pull options to the actuator settings so users don’t need…
Continue readingThe Linkage program was meant to be simple to use; If you add a rotating input connector, it will rotate any links or gears it is a part of. To create a crank, just drop in a link with two connectors and change one of them to be…
Continue readingI threw together this bridge after seeing some others on YouTube. I started with actuators in place of winches and cables and then moved to an actuator that would be a hydraulic cylinder or rack-and-pinion if built in real life. I’ll try to update this post with the…
Continue readingThe rolling bridge in Paddington London is a prime mechanism to reverse engineer and create with the Linkage software. This is a simple repeating mechanism that uses the vertically-oriented hydraulics to decrease the distance between the top portions of the individual trapezoids. The distance decreases as the center…
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