Tutorial For Creating Auto Reversing Lead / Guide Screws

Hello! I hope this is the right place to post.

I am new to 3D modeling and Shapr3D, so I hope this question isn’t too much of a noob thing… But I have googled that crap out of this topic and scoured these forums and cannot find anything. I need to creat auto reversing lead screws. I found one person on YoutTube creating one with AutoDesk, but it’s more of a show vs. a tutorial (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2RfssFvevk)

Anyway, I need to make auto-reversing lead screws like this one:

I found that one on Thingaverse, but I need to create my own at various lengths and diameters.

Does anyone know of a tutorial / howto on making these? Or perhaps a series of topics to string together to get there?

Thank you in advance,

David

Welcome to the forum and to 3D modeling. Here’s something I did about four years ago when Shapr3D was solely a lean and fast direct modeler. Many many features have been added since then. Hope this helps.

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Thanks, @TigerMike . I will pull this into Shapr3D in the morning. I think what I am looking to do is a variation of this design. My application is for an auto reversing guide screw, like on a cable spooling machine or hose reel. So, the ‘nut’ would be more of a shuttle that would track back and forth on the screw, changing directions at each end. Thanks for the information and models.

David

Here is an update on my post… I think I have figured it out:

  1. Sketch circle-1 to the desired shaft diameter, centered on Z axis. I used 25mm.
  2. Extrude circle-1 to the desired height.
  3. Name body RHShaft.
  4. Copy RHShaft to LHShaft and hide this body (you will need to Copy by moving, so move it back the same amount to put it back in the original position)
  5. On the right side view of RHShaft, sketch thread profile onto the side of the shaft (I used an ellipse about 2.5 mm high an 1.75 mm deep). Rename it to thread-sketch).
  6. Revolve the thread-sketch around RHShaft using a positive multiple of 360 and a height appropriate for your shaft height. Each multiple of 360 yields 1 revolution around the shaft.
  7. Subtract the shapes & hide the resultant body.
  8. Repeat steps 6 and 7 for the LHShaft and thread-sketch, this time using a negative multiple of 360 to get the left-hand threads.
  9. Show the two resultant Bodies. They should be superimposed on each other.
  10. Intersect the two bodies (this operation took a long time on my computer).

After the intersection, you will have an auto-reversing thread for a lead screw. The shuttle assembly is next…

I will try to post some pics shortly. Stay tuned.

hth,

David

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