The Design and Manufacture of a Gear-Coupled Serial Chain to Trace the Butterfly Curve
Abstract
This paper presents a design and manufacturing methodology for a mechanical system that draws trigonometric curves assembled from a series of links connected by gears. We demonstrate this technique using 11 gear-coupled links that trace a butterfly curve. The equation of a butterfly curve is converted to the relative rotations of the links of a coupled serial chain assembled so it operates with one input. We present a procedure to determine the adjustments to the gear ratios and link dimensions necessary for practical manufacture of the mechanism. The results are demonstrated by a working prototype.
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