Open Source Mini Project on Ellipse Template Jig (Archimedes Trammel)Science

An Archimedes Trammel is a simple mechanism to draw an ellipse. It consists of a base which has two perpendicular channels/rails/tracks, two sliders and a connecting rod. The sliders are confined/trammelled into each of the tracks and the rod is connected to both the sliders at two different points such that if the rod end is rotated, the sliders move in a to-and-fro motion. This motion of the sliders causes the rod end and all other points on the rod to move in an elliptical path. The distance between the rod end to the first pivot (closer pivot) is the minor radius and that to the second pivot is the major radius of the ellipse. The midpoint between the two pivots rotates in a circular path and has the diameter equal to the distance between the two pivots.