Lessons

Step-by-step lessons, each with numbers to check your work against. Every lesson is written for the current version of the app.

LinkLab

Your first fourbar 15 minutes
Draw a crank-rocker, make it exact, watch it move, trace a coupler curve and read its velocity and acceleration.
Kinematics of a point 15 minutes
Read the angle, velocity and acceleration of any link, plot the path and speed of a coupler point, and check the transmission angle.
Forces and torque 20 minutes
Give the links mass, find the joint forces and motor torque held still and at speed, and see how the forces grow with speed.
Balancing the fourbar 15 minutes
Watch the total centre of mass move, add counterweights that hold it still, and see what balancing costs in torque and joint forces.
Pin clearance and play 15 minutes
See how much the output can be off because every pin has play in its hole, push the mechanism by hand to feel it, and find the pin worth improving.
Export for CAD and spreadsheets 10 minutes
Get the links as DXF sketches for SolidWorks or Inventor, and the mechanism's numbers as CSV for a report.

Your first cam 15 minutes
Read a double-dwell motion program, see its s, v, a, j diagrams and compare cycloidal, simple harmonic and polynomial motion.
Sizing the cam 15 minutes
Choose the prime circle from the pressure angle and the radius of curvature, and see what happens when the cam is too small.
Spring, forces and follower jump 15 minutes
Add a spring and a follower mass, read the cam force and torque, and find the speed at which the follower leaves the cam.
Export and 3D printing 10 minutes
Add a hub to the cam, export it as an STL for printing, a DXF or STEP for CAD, and the profile points and data for a report.