In the need for an ever increasing fast paced life, many tools are created to simplify and speed up minor tasks. Screws are highly engineered components that are widely used as fasteners in industry. In some applications standard stock can be used but a large number applications require custom design which requires many iterative design steps. The main objective of this thesis is to develop a computerized screw program that executes completely within Pro/ENGINEER solid modeling software, therefore reducing design and manufacture times and provides efficient results. The decisions to utilize Pro/ENGINEER for this project were: 1) it is used throughout many industries, 2) it is one of the main platforms for solid modeling and 3) it is a powerful tool that may be utilized to build repetitive geometry.
Many documents have been published on fundamental screw design and various companies have written software programs to simplify and expedite the design of screws. However, there is no design program that integrates screw design into Pro/ENGINEER solid modeling software. With the use of Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 3.0 [From PTC, Parametric Technology Corporation], a subprogram was written within this solid modeling program to assess the user’s inputs and generate outputs, which can be used directly in manufacturing. In this thesis, the subprogram developed not only allows for easy iterative design and modeling of screws, it also has the advantage of obtaining solid models, drawing and design parameters in a single package.
The focus of this subprogram is on screws and their thread types. The user has the option of choosing from four main screw thread types (square, ACME, buttress or unified) and a user defined custom thread, from which the computer will prompt a series of relevant engineering queries. Once the inputs are made, the program will generate an actual part drawing of the screw and a chart, listing all the screw geometries and useful engineering calculations. In this thesis, four different thread types have been modeled and results have been confirmed. These tools will allow the user with a standard Pro/ENGINEER commercial license to run this program and generate screw design parameters and drawings.