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- S T A C K U P V2.1
-
- Copyright © Feb 1990 by William C. Bowling. All rights reserved.
-
- This program is shareware. Feel free to distribute it in its archived form
- with all files included and unaltered. See READ.ME for more info.
-
- The unARCed file should have all the following files included. If the file
- sizes don't match or if you have additional files something has been done
- which I didn't intend.
-
- CreateMatl 11448 ----rwed
- CreateMaster 18784 ----rwed
- Install 132 -s--rwed
- MasterDim 939 ----rwed
- StackFile 511 ----rwed
- CreateStack 12388 ----rwed
- Stackup 20064 ----rwed
- READ.ME 1215 ----rwed
- Launch 47972 ----rwed
- Launch.info 957 ----rwed
- Disk.info 3677 ----rwed
- MatlProps 77 ----rwed
-
- You will also have Stackup.doc which I am now writing so I couldn't very
- well include its size here. Can this be a paradox? Oh boy!
-
- -----------------------------------------------------
- D O Y O U N E E D S T A C K U P ?
-
- This program is intended primarily for Mechanical Engineers who do a lot
- of design work. During the course of my career as a Liquid Fueled Rocket
- Engine design engineer, it became obvious to me that something like this is
- sorely needed. If you do not concern yourself with tolerance stackups when
- you design a machine then this program is not for you.
-
- The program does a loop type stack analysis. It also takes into account
- the thermal effects of the system. For me, this is necessary since my
- machines usually are doing something in a cryogenic environment while they
- are assembled and fabricated at ambient temperature.
-
- -----------------------------------------------------
- OVERVIEW.
-
- Stackup will calculate gaps and interferences which you have identified
- as critical. Once the data is entered into the different files the analysis
- will be done by Stackup. If one of the dimensions or material types changes
- the program will incorporate the changes into your analyses. Just edit the
- appropriate data file and run the stack analysis. Results can be sent to
- your screen or printer.
-
- INSTALLATION.
-
- UnARC the file in a clean directory. Hard disk or floppy makes no
- difference. The install script file will create a directory called Files
- and move the sample data files into it. Just type INSTALL at the CLI prompt
- and you will be all set. If you launch the program from the CLI, make sure
- your stack is set to at least 20K. If you launch with the ICON, don't worry
- about a thing.
-
- The program consists of a bunch of modules. To start the program from
- the CLI, type RUN Launch. You MUST be located in the directory where the
- program is located and you MUST start the program with Launch.
-
- HOW IT WORKS.
-
- The very first thing you have to do is set up your stacks. The program
- will not do that for you. You need a layout of your machine where you can
- identify the critical gaps and interferences you want to analyze. It would
- be WAY beyond the scope of this document to try and teach you how to do
- stack analyses. I have to assume that you are at least familiar with how
- to do them by hand.
-
- The loop analysis used with this program adds the maximum dimension values
- going right and subtracts the minimum dimension values going left. It then
- adds the minimum dimension values going right and subtracts the maximum
- dimension values going left. This way, you are able to quantify the maximum
- and minimum gaps or interferences at the given area of interest. This
- requires, however, that you ALWAYS start at the left side of the gap you are
- interested in. When you start at the left, your sign conventions will
- indicate that positive values are gaps and negative values are
- interferences.
-
- Let's say that you have 12 areas you want to check. Each of these areas
- is referred to as a stack. Many of the dimensions in each stack will be
- common to the others. You need to number each of the dimensions you use and
- enter them into the Master Dimension file. Each dimension is associated
- with a part and it is made of some type of material. Code each of the
- different types of material and make the entry into the Master Dimension
- file. The Material Properties file will contain the temperature data for
- your system with respect to each of the material types. Edit this file and
- enter the Alpha DT associated with the material. Note that the entry is the
- product of the co-efficient of thermal expansion/contraction and the
- temperature difference. If you are colder than ambient the number you enter
- will be negative and vice versa if you are operating at a warmer temperature
- than ambient. Typically, these numbers will be in the order of magnitude of
- 10E-3. Now you set up your stacks.
-
- The stacks govern the relationship of the dimensions to one another. If you
- have laid out your stacks properly you will see that you can progress
- sequentially through the machine going from left to right and right to left.
- When you go from point A to B to C etc... the distance you travel is defined
- as the magnitude of a dimension and either left or right. The dimension has
- already been coded to correspond to those in the Master Dimension list so
- you enter that dimension code and the direction of travel (either L or R for
- left or right). The entry for left or right is case sensitive. It must be
- lowercase l or r.
-
- Now that you have everything defined, just run the Tolerance Study module.
- You will be prompted for which stack you want to compute and where you want
- the output sent. If something looks a little tight or loose just go to the
- Master Dimension list and change the dimension you want. Everything which
- uses that dimension will be changed accordingly.
-
- --------------------------------------------
-
- THE MOUSE AND STACKUP.
-
- Most everything is pretty well intuitive. To edit an item in one of the
- modules you need to select the item number to be edited. I suggest that you
- use the sample data files and just load them and play with them. They are
- real data files which were used to size a tester I designed. The machine,
- by the way, works fine and has lasted a long time.
-
- The Tolerance Study module asks for keyboard input from you. This will
- change in future releases but, for now, that is how it works.
-
- May I be so bold as to suggest that you save your work frequently? Make
- sure you know the way this thing works before you get angry with it. When
- you are entering data into the modules you should save as you go and then
- load the files back. Make sure all is right with everything.
-
- Once you have a system defined with all the data files, back them up
- (make copies of the datafiles). This program works with the specifically
- named files and doesn't care of you have already defined one set of master
- dimensions when you are ready for the next machine. I suggest that you do a
- LOAD from the modules to see if files you want are already there. If they
- are, and you write a new file, you will lose the old work.
-
- -----------------------------------------------------------
-
- I would appreciate any comments you have about this software. If you
- find something which isn't right (bugs) PLEASE let me know. This thing
- isn't foolproof but then how many Mechanical Design Engineers do you know
- who are fools?
-
-