Overview
In a shaper machine the cutting stroke should be slow and the return stroke fast, so less time is spent moving the tool back without cutting. A crank driving a slotted lever produces exactly that, and this model shows why.
The six-link chain is built from rigid bodies, revolute and prismatic joints and rigid transforms, driven by a crank at constant angular velocity, with scopes reading the ram's motion.
How it works
Drive
A revolute joint turns the crank at a constant angular velocity.
Convert
A block on the crank slides inside the slotted lever and makes it swing, and a connecting link turns that swing into the ram's back-and-forth motion.
Measure
PS-Simulink converters route position, velocity and acceleration into scopes over a 10 second run.
Read the result
The forward stroke takes longer than the return, the return reaches a higher peak velocity, and acceleration peaks at the stroke reversals.
What's next
- Measuring the quick return ratio and stroke length
- Force and torque analysis
- A hardware prototype to compare against the simulation