Here is a picture of the current progress:

The motor mounts are built into the chassis, and held in place with a retainer disks:

I now have to somehow fit all this inside...

At least the fan fits nicely!

Method

It was printed by i.materialise using the Rubber-like material.

Results

Unfortunately while the material is more flexible than the typical additive manufacturing it does not provide much grip. This could be improves slightly with a different tread pattern, with something like a straight knurl; but I still don’t think this material is suitable for producing tyres.

• Hub + Bonded Grip
• Hub + Moulded Tyre
• Hub + Printed Tyre
• Hub and Tyre Printed

The Hub

The hub can either be created by additive manufacturing or machined.

Hub + Bonded Grip

This is the simplest method (described here) for creating custom wheels. The grip is bonded to the hub, and can be anything from sticky lint roller to cricket bat grip.

Hub + Moulded Tyre

Silicon rubber (http://www.benam.co.uk/products/silicone/addition/dragon-skin/) can be moulded and then bonded to a hub. The mould can be additive manufactured to allow tread patterns (but you are limited to shapes that you can extract from the mould). I think it would be good practice to make the tyre inner diameter slightly smaller (or size for size) to allow a nice tight fit. Bonding the interface between the hub and tyre could prove tricky, the correct adhesive would have to be found).

Hub + Printed Tyre

Similar to the moulded tyre but instead it is printed from a rubber (like) material, e.g. the rubber like material from materialise (http://i.materialise.com/materials/rubber-like). This allows for more intricate tread patterns; as with the moulded tyre it would be best to make it undersized.

Hub and Tyre Printed

Utilizing multi-material additive manufacturing, the hub and tyre can be printed in one operation. An example process would be using VeroWhitePlus and TangoBlackPlus on an Objet Connex machine, starting off with the VeroWhitePlus with the hub and gradually transitioning to the TangoBlackPlus to make a seemless one part wheel. This has a few advantage, there would be no bonding and the resolution is finer than the materialise process which would allow for finer tread details.
However I have received an estimate of £125 per wheel…

Summary

I am going to go for the ‘Hub + Printed Tyre’ approach as the ‘Hub and Tyre Printed’ is too expensive. I am sure it will take a few attempts to get to a suitable method, but I will try and show all the lessons learnt.

Warning: This is a massive bodge, however i could not see any other method for doing it.

Instructions:

• Goto http://bl.ocks.org/veggielane/raw/449293ab850608d73a93/
• Change the String Length, String Param and Output Param.
  • The String Param is the Input parameter name.
• Copy all the relation text.
• Paste it into the relations dialog in Creo.

The source can be viewed: https://gist.github.com/veggielane/449293ab850608d73a93

Caveats:

• Only works on a known length string.
• Only works on whole numbers (but can output to a Real Number parameter).
• To output to an Integer create the output parameter before adding the relation (it defaults to real).
• For long strings the relation can get quite large, and i am unsure about the performance hit.

PS C:\temp> $async = New-Object -ComObject pfcls.pfcAsyncConnection
PS C:\temp> $connection = $async.Connect($null,$null,$null,$null)
PS C:\temp> $session = $connection.Session
PS C:\temp> $session | Get-Member
PS C:\temp> $session.CurrentModel.CommonName

And the output looks like this (a list of all the methods and properties on the session object):

These can then be accessed:

PS C:\temp> $session.CurrentModel.CommonName
prt0001.prt

This could be handy for automating repetitive tasks, it is quite powerful as it uses the COM object from the VB API. I will show more useful examples at a later date.

Visual Basic API

This may be called the Visual Basic API, however it can be accessed via any of the .net languages (and i belive anything with COM access), I will show examples in:

• C# .NET
• Powershell

Posts will be tagged with vb-api.

J-Link API

J-Link is the Java API for Creo, it is the most powerful free API and has the ability to start when creo is loaded

Posts will be tagged with j-link.

Web.Link API

This is the ActiveX component inside the embedded browser in Creo. It can be access via JavaScript and therefore its supersets (e.g. CoffeeScript and TypeScript).

Posts will be tagged with web-link.

Compiling

If you want to compile the files they are available on github, and use Java SDK 6 described in Creo J-Link Compiling

If you don't want to there is a released binary also available on github releases.

Installation

Copy the files into a folder, i am using C:/temp/ for this example.

First change the java_app_classpath location in the protk.dat file to your directory.

name     Engr.Creo.Jlink.LaunchPane
startup  java
java_app_class  LaunchPane
java_app_classpath C:/temp/LaunchPane/
java_app_start  start
java_app_stop   stop
allow_stop      true
delay_start     false
end

As per Creo J-Link Running Program, change the protkdat location to your folder, And revise the location of your java executable.

jlink_java_command C:\Program Files\Java\jre7\bin\java.exe
protkdat C:/temp/LaunchPane/protk.dat

Finally update the LaunchPane.properties file with your desired locations.

name=LaunchPane
icon=C:/temp/LaunchPane/icon.png
url=http://www.google.com

Then run your application as per Creo J-Link Running Program

config.pro

These lines need to be added to your config pro:

jlink_java_command C:\Program Files\Java\jre7\bin\java.exe
protkdat C:/temp/LaunchPane/protk.dat

jlink_java_command points towards your JRE and doesn't use the internal Java shipped with Creo (which i couldn't get working); in this case I am using JRE 7. If Java's bin directory is in your system path, you can shorten this to jlink_java_command java
protkdat points towards your application's protkdat.dat file.

protk.dat

This file contains all the information creo needs to launch the program.

name     Engr.Creo.Jlink.LaunchPane
startup  java
java_app_class  LaunchPane
java_app_classpath C:/temp/LaunchPane/
java_app_start  start
java_app_stop   stop
allow_stop      true
delay_start     false
end

The user guide details what each of these are, the important entry for me was the java_app_classpath this avoids needing to put this folder in the systems CLASSPATH.

Running

Creo should now load the J-Link program on startup, if you set delay_start false then its loaded but not started. You can then start it via the Auxiliary Applications menu.

JDK Version

Currently I have only managed to run programs compiled with JDK 6 available at the Java Archive Downloads. However the programs do seem to run using JRE 7, see Creo J-Link Running Program, for details on how to run an application.

Command Line

I initially used the command line to compile the .java files. Here is the batch file that resided in source directory.

"C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_45\bin\javac" *.java -classpath "C:\Program Files\PTC\Creo 2.0\Common Files\M070\text\java\pfc.jar"
pause

I am using a 64bit machinem so am using the 64bit jdk, you will have to change the paths to javac and pfc.jar depending on your creo version.

IntelliJ IDEA and Eclipse Luna

After having success with compiling with the command line, I decided to switch to an IDE; I managed to get programs compiling with IntelliJ IDEA and Eclipse Luna. The important step is to ensure they were using JDK 6 for compiling. I ended up using IDEA, but the different was marginal.

Output STEP File (.stp)

This saves a STEP (.stp) file with the filename of the original part to the specified directory:

The directory has to be in the working directory. Note the calls to reset-loc before and after.

Output IGES File (.igs)

Type Options

Here are the option types for each file type:

Creo View (*.ed): db_1007
Creo View (*.edz): db_1011
Creo View (*.pvs): db_1101
Creo View (*.pvz): db_1102
IGES (*.igs): db_134
VDA (*.vda): db_136
DXF (*.dxf): db_137
Neutral (*.neu): db_198
STEP (*.stp): db_539
PATRAN (*.ntr): db_540
Cosmos (*.ntr): db_541
Stereolithography (*.stl): db_549
Inventor (*.iv): db_551
Wavefront (*.obj): db_552
Render (*.slp): db_553
SuperTab (*.unv): db_556
VRML (*.wrl): db_557
DWG (*.dwg): db_560
TIFF (*.tif): db_563
JPEG (*.jpg): db_566
ECAD IDF (*.emn): db_569
EDMD (*.idx): db_570
ECAD Lib IDF (*.emp): db_573
EPS (*.eps): db_582
TIFF (Snapshot) (*.tif): db_585
Optegra Vis (*.gbf): db_810
Medusa (*.asc): db_811
XPatch (*.facet): db_812
Shrinkwrap: db_813
ACIS File (*.sat): db_816
Parasolid (*.x_t): db_837
PDF (*.pdf): db_922
PDF U3D (*.pdf): db_923
U3D (*.u3d): db_924
Picture (*.pic): db_129
Zip (*.zip): db_9000

They are normally created in the 'Mapkeys' editor, which also saves them to config files.

Format

mapkey {SEQUENCE} @MAPKEY_NAME{DESCRIPTION};@MAPKEY_LABEL{NAME};\
mapkey(continued) {CONTENT};

Where:

• {SEQUENCE} is the character sequence.
• {DESCRIPTION} is description shown in the Mapkey Editor.
• {DESCRIPTION} is description shown in the Mapkey Editor.

Note the mapkey spans multiple lines, using \ to end a line and then mapkey(continued) on the next line.

Valid Characters

Here is a list of valid characters that can make up a makey sequence:

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
0123456789?></.,":';|}{\][+_)(*&^%$#@!~=-`

Alternatively the function keys (F1-F12) can be used by using the dollar sign e.g. $F4

Examples

These can be placed in creo config files (config.pro/sup), and will be loaded on start up.

Calling Command Line

The @SYSTEM macro can be used to run programs from the command line.

When run is typed, it runs a batch file located in the current working directory:

mapkey run @MAPKEY_NAMEThis runs a bat file.;@MAPKEY_LABELRun Bat File;\
mapkey(continued) @SYSTEMbatfile.bat;

In order to run programs in other directorys it needs to be escaped:

mapkey run @MAPKEY_NAMEThis runs a bat file.;@MAPKEY_LABELRun Bat File;\
mapkey(continued) @SYSTEMC:\\temp\\batfile.bat;

If there is a space in the path or filename it wont work (or at least i can't get it to). I have tried using brackets "C:\Program Files\7-Zip\7z.exe" but that doesn't work. A workaround I found is to use windows short paths, create a batch file called shortname.bat:

@ECHO OFF
echo %~s1

Then call that with your long path:

C:\>shortname.bat "C:\Program Files\7-Zip\7z.exe"
C:\PROGRA~1\7-Zip\7z.exe

You can then use that in your mapkey (with escaped slashes):

mapkey(continued) @MAPKEY_LABELPurge;\
mapkey(continued) @SYSTEMC:\\PROGRA~1\\7-Zip\\7z.exe;

If you want to chain command line programs, use a & symbol between them (called left to right):

mapkey(continued) @MAPKEY_LABELPurge;\
mapkey(continued) @SYSTEMC:\\PROGRA~1\\7-Zip\\7z.exe & pause;

Calling Purge

If your system PATH contains the Creo bin path (which it should):

mapkey purge @MAPKEY_NAMEThis purges the working directory.;@MAPKEY_LABELPurge;\
mapkey(continued) @SYSTEMpurge;

If however your PATH is not set correctlym use the short name (shown above) to the bin path:

mapkey purge @MAPKEY_NAMEThis purges the working directory.;@MAPKEY_LABELPurge;\
mapkey(continued) @SYSTEMC:\\PROGRA~1\\PTC\\CREO2~1.0\\PARAME~1\\bin\\purge & pause;

(This is for Creo 2.0, your installation may be different).

Reset Dialog Location

Creo dialogs (open and save) annoying rememeber their last used location, this resets it back to the current working directory (useful for saving file mapkeys):

mapkey reset-loc @MAPKEY_NAMEReset dialog location;@MAPKEY_LABELReset Location;\
mapkey(continued) ~ Command `ProCmdSessionChangeDir` ;\
mapkey(continued) ~ Close `file_open` `file_open`;

Calling Other Mapkeys

You can call other Mapkeys using this syntax:

%reset-loc;

This will call the reset-loc mapkey. I also use them to create aliases of other mapkeys for example:

mapkey $f4 @MAPKEY_NAMEOutput;%zr;%laser;

Click Here for a list of all the mapkeys in this blog.

Status of the build: