Gear Generator

[Anonymous]

I like the simplicity and intuitiveness of Fusion as it makes it very easy to use for those of us without a whole lot of previous CAD experience. I’m now crossing over from conventional subtractive machining to 3D printing and would like to see mechanical parts and surface finishing techniques available that can be directly accessed via menu (ie on on the Mac version of Fusion too) and not require scripts. I will enter a few suggestions separately for vote.

At the moment the only mechanical feature available in the create menu is “threads”. I would like to suggest a gear generator that can generate correctly modelled mechanical gears. Given that 3D printing isn’t limited by conventional gear manufacturing techniques, apart from simple spur gears I would like to see more complex gears available such as double herringbone, helical, worm, bevel (of various types), and racks. I would like both metric and imperial gears available and the menu to default to standard gear values with basic parameters eg Pressure Angle = 20 degrees, DP = 16, tooth N = 32 will produce a standard involute spur gear, however also have the option of changing some additional parameters to modify the gear geometry when that is required.

Gears follow relatively simple mathematical rules and I think this should be relatively straight forward to code and implement.

Thanks

[MetalDawg]

Gears are often a huge part of designing complex machines.

It would be great to have an option under the Create Tab to quickly make gears.  Bevel, Helical, Spur...

There are add-in scripts for this, but they are quite limited.

I know there are other priorities out there, but this seems to be a glaring omission right up there with the recently added sheet-metal function.

In a search, I saw that there was a request back in 2015, but I wanted to try to bring this back to the top to see how many are interested in this feature.  It seems it got buried in the avalanche of requests.

I think you guys are doing a top-notch job on turning Fusion 360 into a great CAD/CAM package.

Thank You!

[Anonymous]

Very cool idea!

[rkshirey]

YES! As a model engine builder, I need this! 

[alexhardie]

Roller Chain gears would be good too!

[JFKANSAS]

In addition to gears, a belt creator would be great also. Say you have a 2 or 3 or 4 timing pulleys driving a system, a toothed belt should be able to be wrapped around the gears. Even better this belt could set the machine in motion. The main purpose would be to see what length of loop belt would be needed since loop timing belts come in specific sizes. A lot of times you need to build your machine around available timing belt lengths.

[Anonymous]

Gears would be a great and needed addition to Fusion 360 if AutoCAD's intent is to position F360 as a top CAD/CAE package.

It still lacks many functions to make it a "must have" tool for engineers and designers.

[lassetmadsen]

The tool should support both external and internal gears.

[Anonymous]

I can online find imperial type gears to import from McMaster-Carr, the gears used in Europe are measured in millimeters and has a module value

[MetalDawg]

Any gear generator function should allow metric and follow the module standard.  Hopefully!

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[Anonymous]

I'm the author of the Helical Gear Generator add-in (it can also generate spur gears by using zero helix angle) I'd like to know what you feel is missing from it.

I've been working on a new version which should bring a large boost to performance, will support profile shifted gear pairs, and give the user control over addendum and whole depth multipliers. I also plan to add internal gear generation (both in spur and helix) and likely rack generation as well. I've also enhanced the calculated gear parameter readout to include more, and better organized, values - I'll review what values are needed to calculate tooth strength, etc., and try to provide the data that's needed. Might even add support for entry in the inch system.

I've been researching beveled gears but I've found them to be lacking a standardized tooth profile which would make providing a solid solution for them rather challenging - and in many ways the users preference will be heavily dependent on the expected manufacturing method. And to be honest it has been a long, long, long time since i have even had to think about spherical equations (or the equations of triangles on the surface of a sphere) - so far the math (and really crappy drawings) are getting in the way of progress on beveled gears.

[MetalDawg]

ross.korsky,

I have downloaded your Helical Gear Generator, and it is a good tool, but specifically, I have an ongoing need to make bevel gears from time to time.  Inventor has a built-in gear generator that will do bevel gears, but even it can be improved upon.  For example, it would be nice to put in a rough diameter of the gear needed and then let the program figure out the rest based upon the various inputs and spit out a gear with the closest diameter possible to what you requested.

For me having the ability to do bevel gears is critical, as I need them all the time.

I use both Windows and Mac machines with Fusion 360 and that is where Fusion shines.  It allows me the ability to go to any computer and get the job done.  Unfortunately "Helical Gear Generator add-in" doesnt do bevels (as you already described) and it doesn't do Mac.  

Outside of that I found it to be a great app, and I appreciate your efforts in sharing it!

Thank You!

[Anonymous]

It does do Mac - see the OS options at the top of the Add-in page - it's gray and looks disabled, just click MAC - that's just poor UI i have no control over 😉

And I haven't given up on bevel gears yet. Does Inventor generate spherical involutes, or gleason tooth profiles?

[MetalDawg]

ross.korsky,

I did not realize that.  I will install it on the Macs.  Thank you!

It is spherical involutes.  It does not have a Gleason option. 

[roambotics_scott]

It's great that there are add-ins, but it'd be better if gears were native and first class parametric / timeline objects

[terryspitz]

Spur gears would be a great addition, I use many gears in my 3d printed models (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2802406), and the ability to change parameters after creation would be very useful.

[Anonymous]

A dedicated gear wizard would be great. Would win over more of the mechanical crowd. Just like the tool library in cam. 

Thanks

[Anonymous]

I cannot draw spur gear as there is no tab for model