Alternative Applications for Roller Chain Designer

[steve.west]

I would like to see the ability to use Roller Chain Designer to design systems where the chain is NOT a loop or part of a drive. We use roller chain to connect a furnace door to a counterweight (see photo). This would be very useful.

[sparkin208]

I agree. Chains get used in alot of situations outside of just loops. There are times where chains can be used to move something around a corner using an idler sprocket and I haven't been able to figure out a good way to constrain that to show the actual movement.  Along with chains a similar setup for cable or rope around pulleys or guides would be nice. 

[steve.west]

Yes! Good point about the cable. We use cables as well and these are a pain to model; plus you can't get motion constraints.

Best Regards
Steve West
Design Engineer
Alltherm Engineering Ltd
Designers & Manufacturers of Thermal Processing Equipment

Sent from my iPhone

[BLHDrafting]

The Roller Chain DA is great. But it needs the ability to make chain/sprocket couplings (2 simplex sprockets inline with a piece of duplex chain around the 2 teeth runs and a chain link). The DA can't be used to create this chain run. Currently I custom model the chain as a loop around the sprocket teeth.

[inv.ideareview]

Thanks for sharing your Idea. We use this forum to guide product development and help users in the best way we can based on voting. We occasionally merge Ideas or archive old ones to keep the forum working properly - it ensures there is room for people to review new Ideas and that the most relevant and meaningful ones can gain votes. We’re archiving this Idea because it's been on the board for well over a year and hasn't received many votes from the community. If you want to raise it again and try to gain more support, you're welcome to do so. We’ve found that pictures and mock-ups can help get concepts across and win more votes from other users. If you have questions or see a connection between this Idea and others, let us know. - Inventor product team (Inv.idea review)