My name is Javier and I am Mechanical Engineering student from Spain. I have been interested in FreeCAD few month and just this week I have started to write some python code. At the moment I am trying to create a tool that I have called "Bearing Creator". The idea is to have a graphical way to generate bearings and put them in an assembly (too ambitious I think). I have searched in the forum for similar project and I have found a post discussing something about bearings, but is stagnant. At the moment I am able to create fixed ball bearings from a script and I have created a graphical dialog too (only test functional). With time I think I can complete it.
The plain code that creates the bearings is:
Code: Select all
import Part
import math
#Variable
R1=15.0
R2=25.0
R3=30.0 #Variables. The main body of the bearing is created from 4 cylinders
R4=40.0
TH=20.0 #Ball bearing thickness
NBall=10 #Ball number
RBall=5.0 #Ball radius
RR=1 #Bearing edges rounding value
B1=Part.makeCylinder(R1,TH)
B2=Part.makeCylinder(R2,TH)
IR=B2.cut(B1) # Creates inner ring.
FI=IR.Edges
IR=IR.makeFillet(RR,FI)
B3=Part.makeCylinder(R3,TH)
B4=Part.makeCylinder(R4,TH)
OR=B4.cut(B3) #Creates outter ring
FO=OR.Edges
OR=OR.makeFillet(RR,FO)
T1=Part.makeTorus(R2+(RBall/2),RBall)
VT=(0,0,TH/2)
T1.translate(VT) #Creates ball race
IR=IR.cut(T1)
OR=OR.cut(T1)
Part.show(IR)
Part.show(OR)
CBall=((R3-R2)/2)+R2
PBall=TH/2
for i in range(NBall): #Creates a number of NBalls
Ball=Part.makeSphere(RBall)
Alpha=(i*2*math.pi)/NBall
BV=(CBall*math.cos(Alpha),CBall*math.sin(Alpha),TH/2)
Ball.translate(BV)
Part.show(Ball)
This is the result.
The graphical dialog menu has very simple parameters and the workflow is:
1-Select Bearing type(Fixed,Axial,Tapered,all)
2-Select Measure(Inner radius, Outter radius, width, search(just search in database))
3-Select/Type Measure Value
4-Select Bearing that suits from the found bearing list.
5-Done!
The idea is, once you are in the assembly, select a cylinder (or not), select the tool and the program should be able to put your desired bearing at the position selected.
Issues I have at the moment:
-my menu dialog only shows up the first time I import it. I type "import Bearing" and it shows, but if I close it, will never show again.
-Is possible to fusion all the parts created by the script? I have tried with the fusion tool but FreeCAD just stops working until I kill it. I think that maybe because the bearing will be a part inside the assembly this is unnecesary.
-What is more efficient(memory, speed,...): Create the bearing from booleans or use sketches?
I am very new at FreeCAD scripting, do not hesitate to point my errors
Thanks!
