Tangential Movement

[Adam.Fetsch]

Hi all!

I'm working on a little trackless train at the moment, and could use some help. 

I have a working model of the train going around a curve, but I cheated a bit, by constraining the center points of the axles to the curve, and then had the wheels angles based off the drawbar angles. 

I have began working on a more accurate version, where the angled wheels are what drives the carts around the curve. 

Long story short, if you have a thin playing card in Inventor, how can you restrict motion in the normal direction, allowing the card only to translate tangentially no matter how it is orientated in the model space? 

Constraints are all based on relationships between two parts. Is there such a thing as restricting a part's movement in certain directions? 

The reason I ask, is I would like the wheels to follow the direction they are oriented (not being dragged in a normal direction, something resembling slip motion)

Essentially, I would like to do this without using contact friction between the ground and the wheel (which is what actually makes the wheel follow the direction of its orientation in real life). 

Any suggestions? Probably not so clear eh?

[JDMather]

I think you will have to become familiar with the Dynamic Simulation Environment.

[Adam.Fetsch]

I wish. Our firm only runs standard Inventor 2011. That means no dice for Dynamic Simulation. 

I was trying to think of some sort of dummy object underneath each wheel which would not allow the wheel to translate in any direction other than straight ahead. 

I came up short. 

Any idea with normal constraints? Honestly, if you can't figure this one, no one can! 🙂