FCGear Workbench - Question / Verification on Property/Value

[LHC]

I've been fiddling with the FCGear workbench. I have come across something in the property/value tab where you modify parameters for the gear.

I have my units set to imperial (inches) and have noticed that while the property/value tab displays units in inches - If you input information in inches it seems to then internally divide by 25.4 and update with a result labeled in inches.

For example - I put in a height of 1 ( by first hitting the "=" key and then entering a "1") It results in the value being displayed as .0394 in (1)

Same behavior for the module setting.

I can get what I want by multiplying the inch value I input by 25.4, the internal calculation then divides by 25.4 and I am left with the imperial value I wanted.

Sooooo...... Just to confirm there is something I am not missing here. You MUST imput values in the gear property/value table in mm - regardless of the overall unit setting in Freecad. Is this correct? If so, might be a good idea to put this in the documentation somewhere.

Cheers,
Lewis

[Kunda1]

If you don't get a response in a few days, open a ticket on https://github.com/looooo/freecad.gears
(looo (the maintainer) is busy with packaging v0.19 ATM and may not be available)

[LHC]

Ok - I've never done the ticket thing before but will have a go at it if no response - thanks.

[LHC]

I have soldiered on and despite the weirdness of the property/value editing in the FCGear workbench I made a few gears. After a few attempts I managed to make this assembly ! So proud of myself here - it's a sort of milestone for me with learning Freecad. I'm getting more comfortable with the assembly 4 workbench too. Freecad truely is an awesome program. The more I learn, the more I like.....

[Kunda1]

I have soldiered on and despite the weirdness of the property/value editing in the FCGear workbench I made a few gears. After a few attempts I managed to make this assembly ! So proud of myself here - it's a sort of milestone for me with learning Freecad. I'm getting more comfortable with the assembly 4 workbench too. Freecad truely is an awesome program. The more I learn, the more I like.....

Well done, soldier!

[GeneFC]

For example - I put in a height of 1 ( by first hitting the "=" key and then entering a "1") It results in the value being displayed as .0394 in (1)

As another user of "inferial" units I can say this happens in many places in FreeCAD. The solution is to add units to your numerical input. Instead of "1" enter "1 in".

There are some places where this does not work, but I have found only a few.

The Sketcher is absolutely perfect in my observation. Core functions like Pad and Pocket work correctly. Other WBs, addons, and operations are mixed.

Gene

[LHC]

Thanks - I believe I tried the "1 in" and it would not accept it, but ill verify later when I'm back at the computer. Now that I'm aware of the issue though, hopefully it won't cause as much pain in the future. Here in Canada we use both inferial and metric - but it's a weird mix. Woodworking is strictly fractions and I grew up with that.

Side note of possible interest - I have Russian in laws and most of them are engineers. This metric/imperial discussion came up once as everything I had ever seen in Russia was metric. Made sense to me because of its proximity to Europe. However when I asked about the fasteners used on cars the response was "oh, the usual automotive fasteners - 1/4 inch, 3/8 inch, 1/2 inch nuts and bolts"

I never did dig into that one further to find out why........

[r.tec]

I can add something similar: the early Ford Escorts were built in UK and on the Continent. The engines nearly came soley from England. So you had metric units on the body and imperial units on the engine. Very weird.
I cannot understand it, as metric units are like the ten fingers on your hands, i.e. completely natural. Twelve inches to the foot, three feet in the yard and so on

[Roy_043]

completely natural

History suggests that this is not the case:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obsolete_ ... easurement

[r.tec]

Oh no, history proofs that Germany as a country not even existed. What later became Germany were hundreds of little principalities with nearly all having their own units to the nuisance of the merchants and inhabitants. The introduction of the metric system made an end to all this silliness.