Throughout these lessons, we will cover the calculations and methods of modeling a pair of spur gears that is used in a windmill water pump engine. We will begin this tutorial with a brief tour of the finished spur gear pair assembled onto a mounting stand while demonstrating how these two gears work together. After exploring an Excel spreadsheet of gear calculations, we will then insert these values into a design sketch, which will be used to drive the major features of each gear of our spur gear pair. To speed up the design process, we will then apply some design automation by embedding SolidWorks equations and global variables into some Smart Dimensions so that multiple gear designs can be created in just a few minutes. In the end, we create both our pinion and wheel gears of the windmill engine, assemble them together with our mounting stand, and then make them work along with a discussion of potential modifications that can be made to optimize our design. Ultimately, you will be leaving this tutorial not only with a good understanding and appreciation of how a spur gear pair is created, but also with a model that can be used for various other spur gear applications of your own design. Software required: SolidWorks 2012 and higher.
Introduction and Project Overview Hi everyone, my name is Chris Scarlett, I'm a certified SolidWorks professional with over 14 years of computer aided design experience, both in industry and in teaching to college students specializing in various CAD programs, including AutoCAD, Revit Architecture, and SolidWorks. I also provide design and prototyping services and train use in SolidWorks for various clients in our area. Plus I enjoy working on my own design projects. Now, in this course, we're going to design a spur gear pair as part of a windmill water pump engine, using SolidWorks part-modeling techniques using advanced sketch geometry and incorporating various automation functions. Some key takeaways from watching this course include the creation of values derived from various equations used in spur gear design, incorporating these values into sketch geometry, creating model geometry for the teeth and base, and then incorporating global variables and equations to help automate our design. We will also talk about various tips along the way and traps to avoid. Now, by the end of this tutorial, we'll have learned how to create a spur gear pair that fit together and move flawlessly while creating a template that could be used for various other spur gear pair designs of your choosing. I'm excited to work with Digital Tutors and share these techniques with you. So let's get started with our first lesson.