Hey, this is Leo from team 033Z. I was just wondering what the best CAD program for chain movement. Our team is trying to CAD a lift that uses chain but we can’t find a software that allows chain movement.
Solidworks can model moving chain, but there is little practical purpose in doing so. When I design machinery (I’m a manufacturing engineer), I sketch something looking like a belt to represent the chain for the sake of appearances and checking clearances and operation. Actually modeling moving chain looks cool in a rendering but just slows down regeneration of the models.
The attached document has useful information about CAD software.
CAD for VEX Robotics.pdf (191 KB)
You can do it in Inventor and probably Fusion too. James Pearman did a tutorial moons ago I’m sure.