In this, part four of the series, we will be creating a vee pulley using mirroring and patterning tools. Fig. 15 shows the completed pulley.
This takes your skills another step forward as we learn how to use more of the handy tools available in the Alibre Atom 3D program. In part three, we learnt how to produce a 2D drawing from the 3D model that we had created of the 17mm deep socket, so, after completing this vee-pulley design, you might like to produce a drawing of it too.
The process begins
Start by opening the Alibre Atom program and looking at the home page. Click on the New Part icon. You can determine what each icon represents by moving the cursor over it; some text will appear stating what that particular icon does.
The workspace will open up with a ribbon toolbar across the top of the page and the Design Explorer table down the left side. In the working area of the page, there should be some grid lines representing the XY, YZ, and ZX planes. Select the YZ plane either by highlighting and clicking the lines of that plane in the workspace or by clicking YZ Plane in the Design Explorer. (When I say to click on something, I am meaning one click on the left mouse button.) Then click on the Activate Sketch button at the left end of the toolbar ribbon running across the top of the page.
What we are going to sketch first can1.