I am still playing with FreeCAD and have completed the first front wheel draft. The hub is not final as it is just a cylinder with a few bits and not aesthetically pleasing. I am having the very devil of a job positioning the spokes. The obvious answer was to create a polar array but the computer said no. I ended up using the transform tool which is a real pain in the bum.
I have found more free software. This is Active Presenter. More free stuff than I can shake a stick at. I'm beginning to sound like Corbyn on his soap box. This is what it does. It also records sound but I deleted the audio as it consisted of key board clicks and some rather special words.
The steam bike front wheel. I was thinking traction engine wheels for a steam punk theme. The colours are there because it's possible, having studied the result perhaps it shouldn't be. I get a bit carried away.
I may have found the solution to some of the operations. This box with the yellow scribble in appears when one selects a body. it has lots of control parameters that can be entered and also True or False choices. I'll give it a whirl when all else fails.
Today I intend making a start on the front forks, not the four candles as they are handle bars.
Have fun.
I have found more free software. This is Active Presenter. More free stuff than I can shake a stick at. I'm beginning to sound like Corbyn on his soap box. This is what it does. It also records sound but I deleted the audio as it consisted of key board clicks and some rather special words.
Today I intend making a start on the front forks, not the four candles as they are handle bars.
Have fun.
Good work Adrian, so now that you've got the wheel, and if all else fails, you can switch to plan B and turn it into a unicycle!
ReplyDeleteAt least it's keeping you out of mischief!!
Have a good weekend...[;o)
Cheers Trevor, I'm just starting parallel link front forks with a leaf spring. Head angle of about 35° and a hundred to one twenty millimetres of trail. I will need friction dampers of some sort. It's great fun during the evening.
DeleteI'm just wondering how long you have been working at this, Adrian? It seems that you're, logically, starting with the simplest bits first, but when it comes to all those convoluted shapes for some of the other components (e.g. casings) I'm wondering how many lifetimes you have up your sleeve!
ReplyDeleteOn more mundane note, I love the way you've got the shine on that wheel - it'll never stay that shiny once that steam engine gets fired up!
I've just had a vision of a thirty-journal crankshaft driven by a line of thirty Mamod steam engines!
Best wishes - - - Richard
Richard, it is all about learning the modern way to do stuff with free stuff. This will all be simple as the engine will be a uniflow unit. Pattern making and material specification will be down to someone else if I win the lottery and decide to build it. Not much chance of a lottery win as I don't chuck money away entering it. It's just a dream. I have had a few hobby bikes and a couple of racing cars. they were so clean they were surgically clean. My road car is a skip.
ReplyDeleteAll the macro gear is clean and ready for an insect or three but I have snaps of most of the ones here down to 1mm size. There are some Dragons which having a car now I can go and see.
A brilliant start Adrian. I wouldn't have the concentration or stamina to do all that. With the right colours you could end up with a steampunk steam bike. BTW I installed ActivePresenter. Thanks for the link.
ReplyDeleteJohn, I do get frustrated with it. One of the problems is working ot what does what and to what. Despite it being a little unpredictable at times it is the best free CAD I've tried to use.
DeleteI found Active Presenter a little hit and miss as I use two monitors but once I realised it matters what is where then it works a treat. Render times are fast. I finish all video in Blender and Handbrake it works fine with the latter two.