Shape Computation Lab

Designing a Mechanical Gear

Tzu-Chieh Kurt Hong

02/20/2019

This video shows a mechanical design application to generate a gear in the Shape Machine. Designing the shape rules is straightforward. The first shape rule draws an initial circle defining the outer radius of the gear. The second shape rule offsets a 24-gon to define the inner radius of the gear. The third shape rule subdivides the outer radius to specify twelve wedged parts. Finally, the fourth shape rule specifies the design of a tooth at the outer boundary of the wedge. The mechanical gear is generated by the serial application of shape rules 1-3 one at a time, and the parallel application of shape rule 4 to all twelve parts of the design.

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