Gear Path Generator

OpenSCAD script to generate a gear extruded along a path. An example module is included to generate a circular gear with specified addendum, dedendum, tooth count, and pressure angle. Only one of radius or pitch is specified, and the other measurement is calculated.

Instructions

Update (2018-Jan-27): the OpenSCAD code seems to work, but is not completely generic, as a path needs to be defined. I'll leave the addendum/dedendum stuff up to the user (via intersect / etc.).

Update (2016-Jan-19): The OpenSCAD version of the involute gear tooth generator is complete (with addendum, offset, and involute diameter settings), and the path rotation has been included. Now it's just a matter of sorting out the maths so that others don't have to pull their [gear] teeth out to make things work.

Update (Dec 12): Extrusion compensation is now coded in -- change the 'inset' parameter to alter how much extra space is added to the teeth interface.

Update (Dec 14): Additional points on the sine wave can be added by adjusting the 'points' parameter.

Update (Dec 16.1): The non-basic version of the script produces a gear with a hole (for circular gears), and allows a path to be defined for "extruding" the gear. Meshing will work best for linear gears (e.g. circle, rack), but should also work for non-linear gears (e.g. nautilus).

Update (2018-Jul-16): Updated OpenSCAD code has been created for gear generation, and supplemented with example code for a circular gear. This new implementation is untested.

Be careful not to look directly at the generator and you should be fine. It cuts the curve into tiny pieces to calculate angles and lengths for the gears, so a smooth function should give reasonable results. Sizes are scaled based on the 'radius' value so that the circular gear generator will still work.