I am trying to use Onshape for the Everybot. I’ve seen CAD where mechanisms can be moved around but not taken apart. In particular, I want to be able to move the Everybot hopper from ground to up positions. How do I do that?
I have no CAD experience. (Except Ctrl + Z)
I am assuming you imported a STEP file into onshape. This means that the geometries of all of the parts have been translated, including their position on the robot, but none of the assembly mates exist (assembly mates are what define the relationships between parts - there are many different ones which serve different functions). This means, in its current state, trying to move parts of the robot will not make them function correctly, (no assembly mates = no movement).
To make this work, you will need to learn a little bit about assemblies in onshape. https://cad.onshape.com/help/Content/assembly.htm?tocpath=Assemblies|_____0.
For your use, select all of the parts that you do not want to move and use a “group” mate to keep them all together. Then select all of the other parts that you do want to move, and add another “group” mate. Then, depending on how the everybot works (I assume it is a single hinge, but I haven’t paid attention to it this year), you will probably need to add a revolute mate between the two groups. I recommend watching tutorials if you get confused about something, the help center is very good at explaining things.
If you have any questions, feel free to PM me.
I got the mate and assembly working, i can move the hopper in an arc, but i still have some learning to do on the tri axis. I’m able to move the CAD around but it’s always on the wrong angles lol.
Does onshape work offline as long as the things are saved?
No, unfortunately. That is a big downside if you don’t have reliable internet access.
I’m having trouble being able to rotate the hopper about the gears. I’ve “fixed” the drivetrain to the [onshape assembly template] and the hopper and arms are free-moving.
If you right-click on any mate, you should have the option to animate it. Just put in limiting angles and it will show you the motion you have. Make sure you’re using the correct mate as well (in your case, likely revoloute).
Looking on the left side i dont see a mate listed. It shows (0).
You’re going to have to make a mate if you want it to move. Group the entire base, group the intake parts, and then mate the two groups together.
So group drive base and the intake separately. Which way should i click and drag? Left to right or right to left?
Well i got this far…
I’m going to assume that I have to make the drivebase and the 2 2x1 bars fixed so the hopper can rotate against the gears?
Edit: What’s a mate connector? I didn’t notice the red icon on the left menu.
It might help if you go through the Onshape tutorials, they are really quite informative.
https://learn.onshape.com/courses/fundamentals-onshape-assemblies
will do
Thanks for sharing your file with me @Aaron_Li. What I did was group all of the top level subassemblies individually except for the arm assembly. This makes them easier to manage and act as one part.
I then took the arm assembly and created two different groups: one for the pivoting part of the arm, and the other for the fixed part mounted to the frame. I created a revolute mate between the gear on the rotating assembly and the bearing on the fixed assembly and limited it’s travel to that of the everybot arm.
I then fixed the frame part of that assembly, as well as one part in each of the top level assemblies to make sure they never moved relative to each other.
At this point the mate we made in the arm assembly should still function in the top level. Onshape’s animation system works incredibly well, so I made a quick video to show you how to animate it. The original upload to YT is a bit fuzzy, but all I’m doing is right-clicking on the mate, selecting animate, lowering the number of steps, selecting reciprocating playback, and hitting play. It’s really powerful, and now you can do the same in your file to see how it rotates.
Hopefully this helped! Please let me know if you have any other questions.
Thank you for your hard work! I will check it out some time!
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