How can I make this toothed gear wheel?

Question

This is part of something I'm doing, a mechanical part resembling a gear wheel with a great many teeth.

All I can think of is to make one tooth, then use the Array Modifier to do a radial symmetry of 40 copies of it. How do I then join them up cleanly?

Or is there a different approach than this?

Maybe this YouTube video will help: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TkqLlK9R9U — curious_1, Mar 13 '24 at 03:23
Hi. Please use a title that matches the content of the question. It should be descriptive but succinct, unique and identifying, summarizing the issue so that anyone searching for a similar problem is likely to find it. Remove anything superfluous, avoid using words like "this", "help with", "issue" or "question about", instead describe what "it" is. Remember, your title is the first thing potential visitors see, answers you get depend heavily on how insightful it is. See What is the problem of asking “How do I do this?" — Duarte Farrajota Ramos, Mar 13 '24 at 06:10
You can enable the addon Add Mesh: Extra Objects in the Preferences, then you can add an object in the viewport with Shift+A > Add > Mesh > Gears > Gear and play with the settings to get a custom shaped gear object. Or build it from scratch with the answer by @moonboots — Gordon Brinkmann, Mar 13 '24 at 08:48

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 13 '24 at 07:49

3

There are several ways to do it, you can create this shape:

Array it 40 times:

Give it a Simple Deform modifier, Bend mode, 360° on Z:

answered Mar 13 '24 at 07:49

moonboots

Just to make this more helpful for the OP who anticipated this answer: are the segments joined cleanly? – Joachim Mar 13 '24 at 10:06
3

You'll need to apply the modifiers, select all and press M > Merge by Distance, or if you want to keep it non-destructive, enable the Merge option of the Array modifier and add a Weld modifier under the Simple Deform ;) – moonboots Mar 13 '24 at 10:31

1 Answers1