Gauge Ball Diameter

[Tim Q]

Has anyone created a gauge ball to measure between two planes?
I have measured two planes, something like a vee block, and I want to construct a diameter tangent to the planes and I want to input the diameter.

This is a crude example of what I want to end up with.
gauge ball.JPG

Thanks

[neil.challinor]

You can construct a circle tangential to two lines. For the view you show in your post, assuming we are looking down the z axis, you would need to create a generic plane at the Z height where you need the diameter and with a 0,0,1 vector. Next, intersect your two V-block planes with the generic plane to create two lines then create a constructed circle tangential to those two lines.

This is some example code for how it might look..

PLN1 =FEAT/CONTACT/PLANE/DEFAULT,CARTESIAN,OUTLINE,LEAST_SQR
THEO/<-20,20,10>,<0.7071068,0.7071068,0>
ACTL/<-20,20,10>,<0.7071068,0.7071068,0>
TARG/<-20,20,10>,<0.7071068,0.7071068,0>
ANGLE VEC=<0,1,0>,SQUARE
SHOW FEATURE PARAMETERS=NO
SHOW CONTACT PARAMETERS=YES
NUMHITS=3,NUMROWS=3
SPACER=15
AVOIDANCE MOVE=BOTH,DISTANCE=10
SHOW HITS=NO
PLN2 =FEAT/CONTACT/PLANE/DEFAULT,CARTESIAN,OUTLINE,LEAST_SQR
THEO/<20,20,10>,<-0.7071068,0.7071068,0>
ACTL/<20,20,10>,<-0.7071068,0.7071068,0>
TARG/<20,20,10>,<-0.7071068,0.7071068,0>
ANGLE VEC=<0,1,0>,SQUARE
SHOW FEATURE PARAMETERS=NO
SHOW CONTACT PARAMETERS=YES
NUMHITS=3,NUMROWS=3
SPACER=15
AVOIDANCE MOVE=BOTH,DISTANCE=10
SHOW HITS=NO
F1 =GENERIC/PLANE,DEPENDENT,CARTESIAN,$
NOM/XYZ,<0,0,8>,$
MEAS/XYZ,<0,0,8>,$
NOM/IJK,<0,0,1>,$
MEAS/IJK,<0,0,1>
WORKPLANE/ZPLUS
LIN1 =FEAT/LINE,CARTESIAN,UNBOUNDED,NO
THEO/<-10,10,8>,<0.7071068,-0.7071068,0>
ACTL/<-10,10,8>,<0.7071068,-0.7071068,0>
CONSTR/LINE,INTOF,PLN1,F1
LIN2 =FEAT/LINE,CARTESIAN,UNBOUNDED,NO
THEO/<10,10,8>,<0.7071068,0.7071068,0>
ACTL/<10,10,8>,<0.7071068,0.7071068,0>
CONSTR/LINE,INTOF,PLN2,F1
CIR1 =FEAT/CIRCLE,CARTESIAN,IN,NO
THEO/<0,21.213,8>,<0,0,1>,30
ACTL/<0,21.213,8>,<0,0,1>,30
CONSTR/CIRCLE,TANLINES,LIN1,LIN2,

[Matthew D. Hoedeman]

he really needs a cylinder for this, doesn't he, since he is working with 2 planes. Unless, of course, he is aligned to those 2 planes so that they are "perfect" (level to one, rotate to the other).

If he can make 2 planes offset from the measured planes, with the offset being the radius, the intersection line of the 2 offset planes would be the axis of the cylinder of the size he needs.

[neil.challinor]

Yes, offset planes would work if he's not aligned. Ultimately, there are several ways this could be done - just depends on what the end goal is and personal programming style / preference.

[Tim Q]

Awesome! Thanks for the help. I'll give that a try.

[RandomJerk]

If you get the circle in the wrong quadrant, reverse the planes

[dwade]

I use this quite often for ball depth or height. I'm thinking Bob Mappes is the person that gave this code to me years ago. Change the diameter in the TOP_BALL feature to match your gage ball size

CON_40 =FEAT/CONTACT/CONE,CARTESIAN,IN
THEO/<0,0,-0.3167>,<0,0,1>,5.6625,0.09,0.5097
ACTL/<0,0,-0.3167>,<0,0,1>,5.6625,0.09,0.5097
TARG/<0,0,-0.3167>,<0,0,1>
START ANG=0,END ANG=0
ANGLE VEC=<1,0,0>
SHOW FEATURE PARAMETERS=NO
SHOW CONTACT PARAMETERS=NO
CON1_PNT =FEAT/CIRCLE,CARTESIAN,OUT,NO
THEO/<0,0,-5.4699>,<0,0,1>,0
ACTL/<0,0,-5.4878>,<0,0,1>,0
CONSTR/CIRCLE,CONE,CON_40,DIAMETER
ASSIGN/V15=DEG2RAD(CON_40.ANGLE/2)
ASSIGN/V16=SIN(V15)
ASSIGN/V17=0.257/V16
ASSIGN/V18=V17+CON1_PNT.Z
TOP_BALL =GENERIC/SPHERE,DEPENDENT,CARTESIAN,OUT,$
NOM/XYZ,<0,0,-0.267>,$
MEAS/XYZ,<CON_40.X,CON_40.Y,V18+.257>,$
NOM/IJK,<0,0,1>,$
MEAS/IJK,<0,0,1>,$
DIAMETER/0.514,0.514
COMMENT/REPT,Distance from face to top of theoretical .514 diameter gage ball
DIM DIM_4= LOCATION OF SPHERE TOP_BALL UNITS=IN ,$
GRAPH=OFF TEXT=OFF MULT=10.00 OUTPUT=BOTH
AX MEAS NOMINAL +TOL -TOL DEV OUTTOL
Z -0.0103 -0.0100 0.0100 0.0100 -0.0003 0.0000 --------#---------
END OF DIMENSION DIM_4

[Tim Q]

Thanks for the help!