Model my Own Gears!?

Austin asked an interesting question after yesterday's excellent "Looking Out" and Rhino session.  "Is there somewhere I can get files for gears? Or do I have to make them?"

The answer, like so many in this class, is "Yes!"

There is a lot of value in modeling a gear.  You have to think about geometry, tolerance, angles of rotation, gear ratios.  Lots of stuff.

But there's also value in not reinventing the wheel, pun intended.

For him, a good place to start would be 3DContentCentral.  Loads of mechanical CAD models you can manipulate in Rhino.

For others, look around.

All gears in this project courtesy of 3DContentCentral.