new tractor idea possibly....

[boggen]

went a searching, and came across "4 bar linkage" as a search term to bring back wanted results for a equation and gave useful extra links to deal with linkages. along with needed term "vectors" for programming.

i came across Wolfram Research: Mathematica, Technical and Scientific Software and downloaded and installed the free player. to run through some of the demo's pretty cool. ran through there website for there main software package at $5,000 bucks... no way to pay for that. and does not look like it covers what short term goals i am wanting, let alone long term goals looks like programming would still be needed.

been trying out some different IDE / compilers software to deal with C/C++ programming language. and hope, i still remember the basics of the language. way to many years since last used... but so far just been fighting the most basic controls / code and libraries, for data-basing, and getting the software packages just barely working without throwing errors with "hello world!" examples. i would have hope it would have been much simpler... it been one of them days were "drag and drop" has came close to dragging computer into the trash can.

of course then i saw Artisan AutoCAD Inventor Professional Software for FREE? thread at the end of the day...

at this time not sure what tomorrow will bring, i may drop right into C++ programming if all goes well. if not i may look at a couple videos for autodesk. and make some calls between autodesk and wolfram to make a decision.

though i maybe at or near my max download limit for internet package i have. will find out tomorrow. and that may put a big hurt, or downloading any trails or free doings.

 

[boggen]

i did get a "auto response" from John Deere friday.

and then just when i went to close out of email. it looks like either auto response or perhaps an actual human typed a comment up with notation of within 30 days will respond, going to place more towards an actual human response from Caterpillar.

the more i get into this, the more i realize, there is so much more!

 

[PapaPerk]

went a searching, and came across "4 bar linkage" as a search term to bring back wanted results for a equation and gave useful extra links to deal with linkages. along with needed term "vectors" for programming.

i came across Wolfram Research: Mathematica, Technical and Scientific Software and downloaded and installed the free player. to run through some of the demo's pretty cool. ran through there website for there main software package at $5,000 bucks... no way to pay for that. and does not look like it covers what short term goals i am wanting, let alone long term goals looks like programming would still be needed.

been trying out some different IDE / compilers software to deal with C/C++ programming language. and hope, i still remember the basics of the language. way to many years since last used... but so far just been fighting the most basic controls / code and libraries, for data-basing, and getting the software packages just barely working without throwing errors with "hello world!" examples. i would have hope it would have been much simpler... it been one of them days were "drag and drop" has came close to dragging computer into the trash can.

of course then i saw Artisan AutoCAD Inventor Professional Software for FREE? thread at the end of the day...

at this time not sure what tomorrow will bring, i may drop right into C++ programming if all goes well. if not i may look at a couple videos for autodesk. and make some calls between autodesk and wolfram to make a decision.

though i maybe at or near my max download limit for internet package i have. will find out tomorrow. and that may put a big hurt, or downloading any trails or free doings.

What will you be using the software for? AutoCAD is excellent for drafting, etc.

 

[PapaPerk]

You may know all of this or some of it... But I thought I would share some info with you.

A good rough simulation software is Phun. Download - Algodoo It has a childish feel but still very powerful for general simulations. It's is free and allows you to experiment with linkages, etc. Pretty handy.

Lego Technics are also excellent tools for experimentation. On the free side... Linkages can also be made from cardboard to understand their dynamics and outputs.

AutoDesk Inventor or Solid Works are excellent solid modeling software. With these programs you could construct your entire machine. However there's a learning curve, etc.

The old drafting table with T-Square and engineer scale is also very useful. And there's little to no learning curve. Very handy for getting general size of things and visualizing constraints.

 

[boggen]

thanks for the link PapaPerk! will check it out, here in a day or so.
ya pretty much sum it up PapaPerk. i am caught in the eye of a storm.

it is the gap between, software packages, that i am so far am feeling *ughs* about. and been hitting Wikipedia to re-learn all the "spin words" tossed out there. CAD, CAM, CASE, CFD, etc...

at moment though, i am caught between, just sitting down, and just coding something up. that would take a good amount of fair to long time. vs waiting it out and research through the major software packages out there. and see about working with the program. but at moment, everything almost seems counter initiative. there is collaboration between CAD, CAM, Simulations, etc... software. but at moment i am... kinda in that eye of storm. looking for what would work for next couple stages through development.

one of wolfram software has caught me eye to some degree. due to integrating, the full range of everything. from 3D design, to electrical, to fluid, to heat, to stress, to other... hoping various selections of various grades of metals.

on other hand. the model library of the simple stuff of things, various bearing types, gears, cylinders, metal structural members, various channels of metal rods. springs, various wheels, etc.... with ability to double click or goto properties and change dimensions, or obtain some variables to let a computer function / small program change things of a set range of variations and let computer program go through the various simulations with statics back...

and now that i have hit Wikipedia i am at in idea, beginning of a new Phase. of what software package or packages. would work well long term.

===================
it would be awesome, to have access to a model library that has following things...

--various types of gears
--various types of bearings
--various types joints (hinges, pivot, etc..)
--various types of wheels (car / truck / agriculture / etc..)
--various types of tracks
--various types of hyd cylinders and just actuators to pneumatic cylinders.
--various types of valves, both simple stuff, ball valves, knife valves, butteryfly valves, but also the more complex valves, of 2,3,4,5,6 way valves and various patterns.
--various engine types (gas, diesel, propane), axial, internal combustion center shaft, inverted etc....
--various pumps and motors (electrical, hyd, and like)
--various transmissions

and just fully developed 3D / CAD models, that you can just go in and "scale" the dimensions. 2 foot by 3 foot engine, and then cylinders, rods, and everything else scales down/up. it does not mean the engine will actually work. but... *shrugs* partial reason of wanting to get into a large company, to be able to sink my teeth into these larger model libraries i would imagine, and fairly sure, that they have already. and pay the CAD folks to create basic stuff as needed. and let the CAD folks focus more on various models, that really do not fit into a specific generic theme and in that more into specialty made parts

example of some random specialty made part. a hyd cylinder, with hyd valve (proportional valve) mount directly on the cylinder. with metal pipes going between both ports on cylinder and to the valve. then hyd hoses going between valve, and hyd pump or main hyd lines on the machine. perhaps instead a of a regular end cap with a couple brackets on the end of the cylinder itself. a different end cap with valves built into it the end cap itself. or rather off to one side of the end cap. so when a cylinder took on a large extreme force. the hyd metal pipe between cylinder and valve. would more likely handle a higher PSI. and then let the hyd rubber hoses. only needing to flex and handle a set amount of PSI. and not needing to take on the "sudden shock loads" that a hyd cylinder might see. a rubber hyd hose is more likely to rupture, or split or crack and be prone to vandalism. i would imagine vs a hyd metal pipe would be. ((ya i know off the wall, thought, that i can already think of as having more con's than pro's vs the general doings on machines)) but more of odd ball things. that i would of hope seeing CAD folks doing. vs creating things over and over and over again. ya i know there is a lot more that goes on. with all the various workings of even a simple gear, but that is were the specialized engineers come into play. let them fine tune things. vs having them design it, and then going back to fine tune it themselves.

it is that software package that i am looking for that has the resources and abilities. of almost "drag and drop" capability for rapid design. that can spit back specifications or states of this or that with minimal fuss beyond the learning curve itself. and knowledge to understand what ya looking at / wanting to know.

 

[PapaPerk]

I think AutoDesk Inventor would allow you to do SOME of what you want to do. It has basic parts libraries, etc.

Mathematica when I used it, was for crunching numbers. I think Excel could do most of that for you.

 

[boggen]

off to uninstall a bunch of software... IDE / compliers for C++, wolfram, and lego software

downloaded some "lego" apps. 100's of lego pieces! but i will pass on lego's. if another software package had library like lego's do, that would be awesome!

autocad inventor is on the download list. waiting for later tonight, for download.

filled out form for "solids works" demo. just tried calling US & CANADA 800-693-9000 to see if i could expedite a demo. and 10 minutes late (just closed) for sales.

keeping for now...
Microsoft visual studio 2012 express
Mysql database server
www.imagemagick.org 2D image manipulation coding package
Apache OpenOffice - The Free and Open Productivity Suite word,excel, etc...
paint that comes with windows.

off to see if i can find some sort of model libraries, and comparison website for all the various software.

 

[boggen]

quickly gave up on comparison websites.

finally typed in "hyd cylinder 3D" after trying multi other search terms. and getting a pretty good amount of websites back now. for 3D models!

Most downloaded models - GrabCAD

3D CAD Browser - Catalog - Top 500 3D Models - Page 1

3D Warehouse ((google sketchup requires google username/password to enter))

3D CAD MODELS - Design World YA!!!! only clicked a couple links, but downloadable 3D models, and specs to go along with stuff!! and the puppy dogs are looking at me like i am crazy!

Free 2D & 3D CAD files, models and drawings of mechanical, electrical & mechatronics part catalogs. ok designworldonline lead me to tracepartsonline!

http://duplomatic.partcommunity.com/PARTcommunity/index.jsf?pageid=18393 hyd valves

http://www.eaton.com/Eaton/ProductsServices/Hydraulics/Tools/Eaton3DCADLibrary/index.htm collections of hyd valves!!!

http://www.vexforum.com/wiki/index.php/VEXCAD tracks
not sure correct "term/s" to use to bring back "tracks" rubber or metal. beyond tank tracks.

http://www.vexforum.com/wiki/index.php/VEXCAD

http://machinedesign.partcommunity.com/PARTcommunity/Portal/machinedesign

http://www.3dcontentcentral.com/parts.aspx
===========
off subject
always end up at the site at least once, in a given project, to pickup a formula / equation.
www.engineeringtoolbox.com

 

[boggen]

autodesk inventor... and going through tutorials on autodesk site
Inventor Tutorials - WikiHelp,

and also videos from YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. by robcohee. he seems to do video, and then sends ya off to do tutorials that autodesk has.

*shrugs*, my brain is mushy poo, and time to break for the night.

i am already feeling the squeeze. of wanting an actual CAD / 3D mouse or rather make that a controller. the old wheel mouse and rotating things and panning things for viewing, gets a tad frustrating at times.

will wait for another half hour, and hit autodesk website, so i can download the 2 to 4 gigs of another app during unlimited download times. just so i have the app downloaded, in case inventor does not have what i am completely looking for.

 

[Ken]

Reading this long discussion on how to in the mind get farm equipment to work in real situations.
Was reminded of a inventor named Laturno probally mis-spelled Built elec. motors in the wheels and small generator on frame of what ever the machine was to do.
A loader commonlly called the bouncing betty had 5 buttons on dash for movement forward, left, right ,rearward. the fuel tanks were in the frame .
All before the modern electronic controllers could work in any weather conditions and didn't need a table smooth surface to get around.
Study history of international tractors company. every time the engineers built a piece of farm equipment that the farmers liked the bean counters turned it down as to costly.
With all the electronics . hydrolic motors hoses and parafanalla in your design should something like a operator that has no idea what he is doing connect the wrong hose to piece of equipment. insted of folding turning or doing as designed it curls all into a mass of junk. Who is to repair all of this when a part is bent due to trying to run into a power pole in field .or miss alignment in corn crop and it takes out the corn row instead of doing what was thought it is doing.
Again reading all most all of this forum just what are you trying to build.
Farmers buy equipment to get the job done if it doesn't it is sidelined for something that does.
Example is dairy men buying these 1/4 millon dollor automatic milkers and the electronics get hit by lightening.
Do you ask the cow to be patient while waiting for the repairman to arrive. Or harvesting the rice crop and the weather has turned the field into a 4 inch deep pond . have to use a dozer to drag the combine across the field. fill the trailers to take to the storage area and the tractor (driver trying to get his head phones adjusted) runs the tractor into drainage ditch. turning it over.
Can all the planning over come just the changing weather conditions.

Sometimes I cannot sleep also.
ken