The objective is to position a rodeye assembly to connect two levers which are in planes at an angle to one another, with the bolt holes in the balls of the rodeyes in contact and alignment with the attachment holes in the levers. This requires 3D rotation of the rodeye assembly as a whole, 3D rotation of the balls within the rodeyes and adjustment of the assembly length. As complex as this description sounds it is simpler than doing it in Rhino 8, at least for me with my current level of expertise.
The file contains the rodeye assembly as it was imported from the supplier’s website and my result so far with copies of the rodeye assembly roughly in place to show generally what the result should look like but but the lower ends are not accurately positioned. There’s also some notes.
I’d be very grateful for suggestions on how to do this using R8 tools and snapping rather than trial and error.
work with more layers / colors.
don t use yellow as this is reserved for selected objects ( select one yellow object, then _selcolor)
→ properties assign something else.
draw some axis on the initial part. (cyan) in this case.
draw some axis on the steel part / your construction. (pink-red, not on the screenshot - see file)
a simple line with _CenterSnap _CenterSnap
from the 2 cyan edges / arcs (you can directly snap to the edges center)
draw an additional line from center and with (temporary) ortho-snap (just press shift)
then _orient3Pt is your friend.
also using a custom _cplane might help - and save this cplane under _namedCplanes
turn on / off layers while searching the correct source/target points
I strongly recommend you to use misalignment spacers for this assembly and remove the regular washers. The latter collide with the body of the rod ends anyway.
Also, the 0,04 inch thick plates are way too thin for such large rod ends and bolts. Most likely they will twist easily once you add some force to the assembly. You have to use at least 2-3 times thicker sheet and optimize the mass by adding some holes in the thick plates.
In this specific case the misalignment is limited by travel stops which I didn’t show for simplicity. The washers shown are not standard size but MIL-spec special smaller OD used specifically for rod eye spacing as well as some other applications. They can be stacked as required for the application. Handy for one-off and small volume situations. Certainly the spacers you suggest would be the part of choice in other situations.
I also left out some stiffeners on the upper lever to increase visibility. The 0.040 levers are 4130 steel with welded stiffeners and are adequate for the anticipated symmetrical loading.
Your result is spot on - exactly what I wanted to accomplish. Thank you.
Rather than creating helper centerlines as you suggest I tried to accomplish the same effect with object snaps and orient3pt and was successful with the placement of the upper ball. After looking at your file I concluded that in the long run adding the centerlines would make things easier and possibly allow some things that snaps couldn’t accomplish.
I also had my mind made up that I needed to find a way to “telescope” the length of the assembly while orienting the lower ball into alignment with its mating bolt hole. After looking at what you did it dawned on me that I could snap the lower ball into place independently and then place the lower rod eye by snapping the spherical centers of the ball and ball retainer together.
I’m still mulling over how I would make the upper and lower parts collinear after that. I guess that’s where a custom c-plane would be handy. I think two orthogonal rotations of each housing will be required.
Am I headed in the right direction here? Can you provide a more detailed sequence of operations for this part of the task?
i just just used temporary ortho (shift key) for the 3rd / last point in both _orientPt - Actions.
you can also interpret _orient3Pt as:
1st target Point defines the origin
2nd an axis
3rd the rotation around the axis
and yes define a custom cplane would make it easier / more consistent.
check out how to define a cplane with 3 Points.
then do some simple action / training with orient3Pt to get familiar with the concept.
in class I demonstrate the command with:
_truncatedpyramid (N=5)
_textObject (solid = yes) … make sure to have string that shows spacial orientation correct.
“Abc” or “Tom” - do not use “ioi” or “OTTO”
