Rotational and Linear Motor commands

Defines a rotational or a linear motor using an element on a selected part. You can then use the Simulate Motor command to display a kinematic simulation of the motion in an assembly.

You use motor features to help you observe how a set of under-constrained parts will move relative to the part you define as a motor. This allows you to design and simulate complex mechanisms where the movement of a set of interrelated parts needs to be simulated.

This is useful when working with assemblies that contain moving parts such as gears, pulleys, crankshafts, parts that travel in grooves or slots, and hydraulic or pneumatic actuators. For example, you can specify that a crankshaft part (A) in a mechanism rotates around an axis you specify (B).

You can then use the Motor Simulation command to playback a kinematic simulation of how the under-constrained parts in the assembly move.

Press F5 to replay the animation.

You can define properties for the motor, the motor rate or speed, motor direction, and any limits you may want to place on the motor.

When you define a motor feature using the either the Rotational Motor command, or the Linear Motor command, an entry is added for the motor feature to PathFinder. You can select the motor entry in PathFinder to edit the motor feature later.

Types

You can define the following types of motors:

Steps

The basic steps for defining a motor are:

Motor Definition and Simulation Guidelines

You can define as many motors as you want in an assembly. When you define multiple motors in an assembly, use the Motor Group Properties dialog box, available with the Simulate Motor command and the Animation Editor tool to specify which motors you want to use, whether you want to detect collisions during the simulation, and so forth.

When working with more than one motor, use the Animation Editor tool to specify when the motors start time, duration time and stop time for each motor. This allows you to design and simulate complex mechanisms where the timing and positioning of the parts is critical to understanding the behavior of the mechanism.

Note:

Only motors in the active assembly participate in a motor simulation. If you want subassembly parts to move in response to a motor simulation, you need to make the subassembly adjustable, using the Adjustable Assembly command on the PathFinder shortcut menu.

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