Alibra Atom3d Drawing Gears

[Barry Smith 4Participant @barrysmith4]

Hi, thinking about buying into Alibra Atom3d for 3D drawing of parts and have a trial version but can’t see any easy way of drawing spur gears for 3d printing?

I like the rest of the package and it seems to handle extruding quite well without me or it creating degenerate lines which I trouble me in autocad / progecad.  I do have other gear orientated software but would like to keep it all within one package/interface if possible.   Freecad is another alternative but I don’t find the constraint based sketching interface intuative.

[DC31kParticipant @dc31k]

As I understand it, Alibre have their own forum where questions about use and capability of the software are usefully answered (including the most efficient way to achieve your aim if it is not native to the software level you choose). A simple google search finds a good spring-off point:

e.g. https://www.alibre.com/blog/the-math-behind-involute-spur-gears/

On that forum, almost everyone who posts would be a user of the software. You thus have a far greater chance of a canonical answer than here, where only a sub-set of the membership will use Atom3D and a sub-set of that sub-set use the software for drawing gears.

In a similar manner, their sales people would be able to tell you if the gear-creation capability is included in the software product level you are considering purchasing.

For 3D printing specifically, the ability to apply a generous fillet to the root of the gear, to beef up its bending capacity and reduce stress concentration, is a consideration. Gears made for additive manufacturing do not need to be made the same shape as ones for subtractive manufacturing as no cutter is involved in producing the tooth space.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

I am fairly sure that ATOM has “scripts” where you will find one for spur gears, it is in my Pro version.

There is also a more extensive add on that can be downloaded which was suggested to me by one of the Alibre “staff” who is a regular here when I wanted to do helical gears. This is the link to the latest version which was altered to give what I needed. It will do DP and MOD, external, internal, helical etc and you can then use other Atom features to modify the output such a the bore and a boss if needed.

Edit, I just checked and it does not look like Atom has scripts so the gear generator in my link would be the best option, it produces quite nice gears

[David JuppParticipant @davidjupp51506]

Atom does NOT have Scripts.  However there is a free utility produced by an Alibre user which does work in Atom3D and can produce several gear types (as per Jason’s post above).

[David JuppParticipant @davidjupp51506]

And the utility should work with the trial of Atom3D – you can verify suitability before buying anything.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

These were done in Atom3D using the above mentioned utility thatI suggested someone install and printed in Carbon reinforced filament, solid fill with a Bamboo Labs printer. Keyways also easy to add at the drawing stage. They are for a full size fractional HP engine

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

The utility is quite good as there are lots of things you can adjust, even if not 3D printing it can be used to get all the machining data such as depth of cut and OD. Also does Cycloidal for the clock makers as well as bevels, rack & pinio.

[John HinkleyParticipant @johnhinkley26699]

Thanks to all for your contributions to the thread.  I have just added this utility to my copy of Alibre Atom.  First impressions are very favourable; I look forward to using it in future projects.

John

 

[David JuppParticipant @davidjupp51506]

If for some reason there is a reluctance to install the utility mentioned by Jason, an alternative approach was posted on the Alibre user forum many years ago.

https://www.alibre.com/forum/index.php?threads/best-way-to-generate-gears-in-alibre-design-expert.7974/post-46203

I’ve tested the file in that post in Atom3D and it works (though a later file in the same thread uses features not available in Atom3D).

I make no claims as to which option is ‘better’.

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