Online Program for Valve Gear Design

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VGC
Posts: 111
Joined: Tue Sep 22, 2009 3:17 am
Location: Europe / earth - yet in freedom ;-)

Online Program for Valve Gear Design

Post by VGC »

Hello,

now I finally like to introduce a new program for designing valve gears - and "designing" really means designing! Not only showing results of manually adjusted specific parts.

The program runs online, meaning that the main calculations are done on a web server, and the input areas and results are shown in the browser.
For using the program for productive purposes, a Firefox Browser ist recommended. Internet Explorer does far not meet the actual web standards, so it cannot be used. An actual version of Firefox that does not need a deep installlation can be downloaded from http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox_portable

The program itself is fully translated to English, but the main web site originally is only available in German and has to be translated by a Google translation tool. But this is very simple, just click the US/English flag top right on the main web site and follow the instructions.

Please note: The direct test access from the website is only made for a first preview of the program capabilities!
To use the program with most features activated, a user account can be ordered by email.

Cheers
Stephan


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Online Program for Valve Gear Design (Walschaerts, further valve gears coming later):


ValveGear Constructor

Image

To go to the English version, click on the flag right on top of the web site.
Last edited by VGC on Sat Mar 25, 2023 2:13 pm, edited 2 times in total.
VGC
Posts: 111
Joined: Tue Sep 22, 2009 3:17 am
Location: Europe / earth - yet in freedom ;-)

Re: Online Program for Valve Gear Design

Post by VGC »

Hello again,

as there were some questions about entering the program, I have added a short comment on the web site:
Just klick the US/English flag on the main web site and then klick on "More details for beginners". You can leave the new pop-up window opened and follow the steps there.

Note: The Firefox version in this comment does not need an installation process like many other programs, so it does not change any settings on your computer. If you want to remove it again later, just delete the folder where you have unpacked it.

If there are any questions, you can send me a PM.

Greets
Stephan
Curtis_F
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Location: Reedley, Ca. 93274
Contact:

Re: Online Program for Valve Gear Design

Post by Curtis_F »

Stephan,

Thank you for the more detailed instructions. I needed them. :oops:

This is a very cool program.


Cheers,

Curtis F.
25+ Years of SolidWorks experience...now I feel old.
"You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink."
"Winning an argument on the internet is like winning the Special Olympics."
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VGC
Posts: 111
Joined: Tue Sep 22, 2009 3:17 am
Location: Europe / earth - yet in freedom ;-)

Re: Online Program for Valve Gear Design

Post by VGC »

Thanks! 8)

Nice to see that the entrance is open now ;-)

I would be glad to read about your experiences with VGC. Need an own account for extended functionality?

Greets
Stephan
VGC
Posts: 111
Joined: Tue Sep 22, 2009 3:17 am
Location: Europe / earth - yet in freedom ;-)

Re: Online Program for Valve Gear Design

Post by VGC »

Hello again,

there is some unfortunate news for English speaking program users:
I am sure that some time ago, the Google translation function gave a similarly designed result of the main program website. But now, all of the website style ist gone when clicking the translation bookmark given in my annotations on the program website.
When there is some time left, I will check if I can find a workaround without too much need of changes, but I can not promise that this will succeed.
As I do not have the time to include my own translation/replacement funtions also to the main program website in these months, there will be no perfect solution für English speaking users or the next time.

But please note that the program window itself (not the main program website) can already be switched to English, and with a browser that submits its user language (like Firefox), it switches to English itself during opening.
Please also note that since Firefox 4, there is an error in the SVG graphics interface that often disables the program context menu on nearly horizontal lines. Therefore the old Firefox 3.6 is offered to be downloaded from the VGC program website, with some little adjustments for using the program at once. Concerning security issues, you should not use this old version for visiting unknown websites, or generally for surfing on other sites than VGC, as this version is not supported any more and the security problems (if / as far as they exist) already are known to hackers worldwide.

If someone generally does not want to use an old browser version, one also can use Google Chrome (I had made some changes to make this possible). Using this browser, the open/save window of the program does not close itself after using it.

Meanwhile there also is a quick start form that probably also is useful for English speaking users. This form asks for some basic dimensions and makes some basic settings (that the user had to make himself before), then a pre-optimized valvegear is displayed which the user can continue working on (if this still is necessary!).
The URL of this form comes with the personal access data when they are requested.

So far, just ask for an access code and start trying - you would not be the first one who wonders if he really already has finished it's work ;-)

Greets
Stephan
Online program for valve gear design:

ValveGear Constructor [EN]

Image

With automatic pre-optimization, DXF export, etc.
VGC
Posts: 111
Joined: Tue Sep 22, 2009 3:17 am
Location: Europe / earth - yet in freedom ;-)

Re: Online Program for Valve Gear Design

Post by VGC »

Hello,

after years, I would like to update the official introduction post for "ValveGear Constructor".

Since I published the program more than 15 years ago, I offered access for free and later on noted the possibility of voluntary donation which always was without any consequence for the user. Only last year I ended the free phase and offered access for a rather small price, related to the small group of users.
The price was related to the gauge of the locos.

Today I decided to deactivate the price categories below 10 1/4" gauge, so the lowest price for garden railroaders will be that of 10 1/4" gauge.

This decision is based on the main decision to focus on park railroads (program access and design service if necessary) and original narrow gauge and standard gauge locos (design services).

The fact that I made this current decision today is based on bad experiences with some customers in Switzerland some time ago and impolite behaviour of interested persons in Germany and Great Britain this year, although recent prices really were not impolite. Instead I had very good experiences with users in park railroad size and above (who paid a lot more and were happy with that, as one of them said).

The above pricing change will take place in May 1, 2023. Whoever would like to have an access in this year for the current pricing (in Steps up to "G" gauge, 3 1/2" gauge, 5" gauge, 7 1/4" [US: up to 7 1/2"] gauge, 10 1/4" gauge) may order and pay until then, so he can choose the activation time within this year.

Contact me via PM or use the contact info on the program website.

Best regards
VGC
Online program for valve gear design:

ValveGear Constructor [EN]

Image

With automatic pre-optimization, DXF export, etc.
VGC
Posts: 111
Joined: Tue Sep 22, 2009 3:17 am
Location: Europe / earth - yet in freedom ;-)

Re: Online Program for Valve Gear Design

Post by VGC »

Now I updated the official VGC website with my new "Iterator", a (mathematically) simple micro-solver for 1 or 2 equations with 1 or 2 variables, but very useful for closing the gap between "only new design" and "only remodeling of an existing valve gear".
For broad use, I added some more resulting parameter values to the valve gear diagram which also can be used as target for a preset target value.
This allows to easily modify an automatically pre-optimized valve gear or to efficiently optimize areas of a "reproduced" valve gear.

The program description and manual on the main website have been updated accordingly.

The "last few corrections" took me >25 hours...
VGC
Posts: 111
Joined: Tue Sep 22, 2009 3:17 am
Location: Europe / earth - yet in freedom ;-)

Re: Online Program for Valve Gear Design

Post by VGC »

I am thinking about offering some access for 50% off for some days around christmas.
Special projects can be negotiated individually!
Whoever is interested, please PM me.
Online program for valve gear design:

ValveGear Constructor [EN]

Image

With automatic pre-optimization, DXF export, etc.
VGC
Posts: 111
Joined: Tue Sep 22, 2009 3:17 am
Location: Europe / earth - yet in freedom ;-)

Re: Online Program for Valve Gear Design

Post by VGC »

Last call...
Online program for valve gear design:

ValveGear Constructor [EN]

Image

With automatic pre-optimization, DXF export, etc.
User avatar
Loco112
Posts: 977
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Location: Dallas ,Texas. USA

Re: Online Program for Valve Gear Design

Post by Loco112 »

Didn't Docksterdale do this years ago in DOS?
VGC
Posts: 111
Joined: Tue Sep 22, 2009 3:17 am
Location: Europe / earth - yet in freedom ;-)

Re: Online Program for Valve Gear Design

Post by VGC »

Depends on what you think "this" is ;-)
Dokstadoodle (or whatever his name was ;-) ) needs each detail dimension from you and shows a valve gear and diagrams resulting from these dimensions. Optimization is not included there in any way but has to be done manually.
One of its users told me that he spent about three nights or more for getting acceptable results.

Today, three to fifteen minutes may be enough for this, or to be precise: Not for getting an "acceptable" result, but for getting an almost "perfect" result. (If you deal with Walschaerts valve gear.) But not just with _every_ software ;-)
Online program for valve gear design:

ValveGear Constructor [EN]

Image

With automatic pre-optimization, DXF export, etc.
User avatar
Charles T. McCullough
Posts: 384
Joined: Fri Apr 06, 2007 2:25 pm

Re: Online Program for Valve Gear Design

Post by Charles T. McCullough »

Charles J. Dockstader wrote the DOS version (around 1998), which he later converted to run in Windows (2007 is the date I have). The programs were placed in the Public Domain and are FREEWARE. I don't know if he is still around but I have his phone number and address from the 2010 date in a PDF file. There is one exe file as a master program to call each of about 70 exe files (one for each style of valve gear and variations, as in Walshaerts Inside Admission, Walshaerts Outside Admission, etc.) There is a PDF file to explain the programs and a few doc files for special info for some of the programs.
.
I downloaded the zip file on 12/13/2017, but the newest file in the zip is from 2010. There might be further updates available on the web.
.
When this program suite came out it was astounding! But, yes it required a lot of manual tests/guesses for some values to zero in on some dimensions.
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Everything I see about this on-line program for valve gear design (ValveGear Constructor [EN]) has the look and feel of Dockstader's ground breaking programs, but I am sure they are much improved and simplify a lot of the brain busting of Charlie's programs. (How could a line drawing of a typical valve gear be drawn so differently that the two program suites would not look somewhat alike!)
.
I never designed a complete valve gear from any of Charlie's programs (I could not have built anything anyway! I'm an Engineer/Computer_Programmer, not a machinist!), but I did modify various dimensions in the programs from a standard design to see how it would affect the operation. Funny how a tiny little tweak here or there can make a complete muck of things!
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