Gear creating software

[Ajcoholic]

Looks like you are having fun!

It's not even Christmas yet! He's a lucky boy!

-B

I was using the machine today to do some other stuff, so I figured while it was warmed up, I'd throw a sheet (well, two half sheets) of 1/4" BB on it and cut some more out.

He's starting to get the hang of the gears now. Awesome to see, hes not quite 20 months old and very good with his motor skills.

[myxpykalix]

Andrew I kind of get the feeling that this is not for the LITTLE BOY but more for the BIG BOY.....am I right?

Was this grid and gearset based on the set that (you) or someone else had created and posted some time ago? looks good

[myxpykalix]

I'm trying to work with the files from here:
http://www.instructables.com/id/IPho...for-Engineers/

it is an iphone cover and thus the gears are small. I want to enlarge them for the size of an ipad. I'm having trouble trying to figure out how to resovle a problem.

The issue i have is that i can import the different gears and give them a Z height thickness of .25" (quarter inch).
When i do that i can load up all the gears on one and enlarge them to the size i want and they will all be relative to each other in size and thickness, no problem.

The problem i'm having is that because the "main body" file is thicker because it has the sides on it when i try to load that up either with the gears on the same page or by itself i can't get it to a size where its "aspect ratio" or size is relative in size to the gears.
It has to be correct or the gears won't mesh or the rivet holes won't match up.

Can you tell me how to figure what the the thickness of the main body file so that i can try to figure out what size i can make it to accomodate the gears?
The problem is the files are stl's and they load up as 1.25" thick files (which they aren't), so the thickness of the "main body" file is unknown.

What i can't resolve is that i can't just resize the main body file by eye or guess because the gears won't mesh or the rivet holes won't match up.

One idea i had was to load the main body file up and measure the distance between centers of rivet holes and try to quantify(?) that to the larger size?

Another thought i had was to cut the sides off the main body so that i'm only dealing with the flat base and see if i can figure it that way?

If you look at the pic you see that the gears when imported are relative in size to each other but the body is not.
I was thinking a clunky way to work this out might be to set the gears together like you see in the picture then take the main body file and enlarge it till you can align the center and rivet holes

Or if you have some ideas on how i can figure this out i'd appreciate it.

[myxpykalix]

I haven't done it yet but i think i might have figured out how to make this work.

Take the jpg of the gear configuration and line the gears up over top the picture the same way.

Make a square the size of the main body.

take and copy the center holes from each gear exactly where they are relative to the way they are positioned within the main body.

delete the gears and leave only the holes and the outside and i now have a "new" case. I can then do any fancy cutouts in the back if i want. Ami on the right track?