Quote:
Originally Posted by s_forbes
Is there any chance you could post the excel file that's shown in your powerpoint? I'd love to see which methods you used for all of your calculations, as they obviously have been working well for you.
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Hmmmm. I will have to think about that. It is a custom tool I made and is not really "ready" for others to poke and prod on. Plus the hardest part is the estimating of loads you will see at the joints. Most people do a good job at predicting weights, but forget about force created from accelerating masses. I wouldn't want to be associated with a failed mechanism that some used the "Ike Beam Calculator" for.
I will recomend an excellent book.
"Machine Design: An Integrated Approach" by Robert Norton. This is a great book that goes into component design and fatigue analysis. It has a limited section on gears, but should be good enough for most FIRSTers. It is the book we used in Machine Design II at Purdue. This is a Sr. level collegiate course and requires basic understanding of Statics and Dynamics. Since it covers stress and strain, it does go to a basic enough level that a bright student could likely teach themselves. The part I like best is that it gives great examples. There are several examples for beams, cranks, poles, springs, gear-trains, cams, pin joints, ....