PROJECT 4 - MOVING / JOINING PARTS

For my fourth installment for Benv2426 I decided to go with something that I have been wanting to try within grasshopper for quite some time - Modelling a wall of moving gears.

At first, i thought this process would be quite simple, but as I have now been working on it for well over 11 hours today,  I have realized that it will indeed not be as easy as I originally thought.

Before I began, I began brainstorming all the possible ways for me to make the gears themselves. Sure, I could just cheat and download an already done script off the net which I don't understand, but then, whats the point in that? there's no challenge - It defeats the purpose of me going to university.
My first attempt began with something very simple  - A Circle. I figured by dividing the circles radius into even points, I could then create a second circle, and align the points crookedly, so that I could make it a zig zag pattern.

After a good two hours of trying I soon realized that this was indeed beyond me. It had seemed to easy a thought to work, and I was definitely right. This is experimental modelling after all, and so I endeavored for yet another way to achieve what I had set out to do.

My next attempt followed this similar notion of thinking, by getting two circles, joining the vertices with a parallel line between each opposing set, and then numbering them for reference. I had originally planned to take every second and third vertex and extrude it further away to created the jaded gear effect. However again, after another 5 hours of trying different combinations, I was still unsuccessful. Hell, I had even tried to place a rectangle I created with curved edges at the centre of my circle, and then placed it on each division point in the hope of being able to get them to work like an attractor point, all facing towards the center..but again, I was unsuccessful for one reason or another.

It was at this point I began getting frustrated, so I walked away from the computer. My eyes, blurry and bloodshot as I attempted to regain my focus upon my return back to the desk in my  room.

I began to attempt yet another...well..attempt at creating this stupid gear which I had already devoted the better part of my Thursday to. This time, rather than creating a circle, I created a radial, divided the distance by an arbitrary figure, added a rectangle yet again with curved edges to each vertex point, and then attempted to rotate3d to gain this same movement as what I had tried earlier. My idea behind it was to create all the shapes to point towards the center of the circle, and then it would have been as simple as solid unioning the two faces once extruded to my desired outcome..but this did not work.
Here is a picture for reference..

I began trying yet another way -one which I made significant progress with. I began by creating a point and circle, offsetting it and then dviding and sifting it to get the desired effect of a gear. By offsetting the inside, I was able to create the smaller area within the centre for which to create my gear's starting point. This configuration was one I had thought of previously when attempting to place stadium seats inside a stadium I designed (personal project on grasshopper). It was essentially done by creating a zig zag pattern from two circles, and then playing around with the parameters as I mentioned previously. It was at this moment I shouted "YATTA" (Japanese for I Did it!)

Call me crazy, but after spending over 12 hours at this point on a bloody gear, one has to proclaim such an achievement (in my books anyways)

After yet another several hours of messing around with this configuration I had thought of, I began to play around with the parameters as well as the multiple integers. I was able to come up with the basis for my first successful attempt. As you can see, I have created a gear which is not perfect, but it does have a much more categorized look towards it compared to the previous stage.

I figure experimental modelling is about learning new things, and the only way you learn is through experience. I could have just found someone else's work online, but as I mentioned in the above, what would that have achieved? I know my skills with grasshopper are still somewhat limited seeing as we've only been using it for about 7-8 weeks now, but for someone who was never good at maths, this algorithmic modelling is starting to come to me :)

My next step will be to continue modelling the gears until I am satisfied that they will work in all sizes. Of course, in order to do this, I am really going to have work do some mathematical calculations in regards to gear ratios, turning circles, gatored gear types etc.

A major principle of gear movement I found upon researching this, is that gears have to have identical gear ratios and spacing of their subsequent teeth in order to work properly, especially at high speed. I want them to be parametric, so that when I move the slider to a larger number, the gears all stay uniform.

For a few more hours I muddled around with different things, and came up with a simple, yet elegant pattern for some of the gears. I have several other patterns in mind which I will get around to doing tomorrow or in days to come - but for now..im happy :)

I'll keep you posted - Eliot / Hank / Rebekah (or anyone else) - If you are looking at this, drop me a comment for some feedback please :) I want to get this assignment finished as quickly as possible so that I may spend time printing every component. It will be a wall of many moving gears after all, and that will take time, even if the gears are predominantly small.

:) Time to model some of the supporting framework!