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BertilRogmark12-Amethyst
12-Amethyst
July 30, 2016
Question

Cam-follower mechanism question

  • July 30, 2016
  • 2 replies
  • 4460 views

I am working in WF3.

I am modelling a Swedish Navy Sailship from about 1650 and have now come to the guns of the lower decks – the ports should open and the barrells poke out through the openings.

I have modelled a gun-unit which works fine and I am now trying to make a drive-rail running along the line of guns to do the required movement of all ports simultaneously.

The drive rail moves in a straight line (up and down in the picture below) and should push the lever on the gun-unit to its open position. The return movement of the gun-unit lever will be by means of a spring as the drive rail moves downwards again.

The gun-unit lever move approximately 90°.

I have connected the drive-rail with a gun-unit lever using a slot connection and it works fine.

My problem is that the drive rail has to move a certain distance to move the gun-unit with the largest turning angle and therefore a slot connection is not good enough.

I have tried to use a cam-follower connection using the surface of the little pin on the drive-rail as one part and the surface of side of the gun-unit lever as the other, hoping that a cam-connection with a lift-off property would do the job but Proe will not accept this.

Am I trying to do the impossible? Is such a cam-follower connection not possible?  

If somebody wants to have a go at it I would be happy to upload a zip file (16 Mb)

Grateful for any help

Bertil Rogmark

rail_and_gun-unit.jpg

2 replies

B
BertilRogmark12-AmethystAuthor
12-Amethyst
July 31, 2016

Silly mistake!

Defined the flat cam-surface front and back points incorrectly.

Redefined them and the thing works!

    Dale_Rosema
    23-Emerald III
    Dale_Rosema23-Emerald III
    23-Emerald III
    August 1, 2016

    Don't forget to mark your answer as correct in case someone has the same silly mistake and searches on your post.

    Thanks, Dale

    T
    23-Emerald IV
    TomU23-Emerald IV
    23-Emerald IV
    August 2, 2016

    I hope we get to see a video of this is action. 

    B
    BertilRogmark12-AmethystAuthor
    12-Amethyst
    August 2, 2016

    Hello Tom,

    attached are 2 videos, one showing a single gun_unit and one showing the whole broadside.

    My current problem id that while all gun ports open to the same angle, their respective closed position vary as much as 20°.

    The current model has cam-follower without the lift-off feature which means that the gun port that has the largest "close" angle prohibits the drive rail to conrinue and close all ports properly.

    I do not have the Proe-feature of simulating a rubber-band connection so I cannot simulate the closing movement as desired.

    In real life the cam follower would be with lift-off feature and there will be a spring or rubber band pulling the individual gun ports to their correct closed position. Video Link : 7139 Video Link : 7140

    T
    23-Emerald IV
    TomU23-Emerald IV
    23-Emerald IV
    August 2, 2016

    That is really cool!  Could you change the point of contact on the levers so each one travels a different distance (to match the angle variation)?

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