What Axomek does
The machine elements the app calculates, how they work together in one project, and where the results come from.
Axomek calculates machine elements: shafts, rolling bearings, gears, joints and drive components. You describe the parts in one project, and the app solves them together. Results update while you type or drag.
The same calculation engine runs in the desktop app, in the axm command line and in AI agents that use it. A project is one file, *.axm.json. Whatever changes the file, you see the same results.
What you can calculate
The modules are grouped as the navigation on the left shows them.
| Group | Module | What it calculates |
|---|---|---|
| Project | Overview | Every module's status, the governing checks, system life, power loss |
| Assembly | Every shaft, gear and bearing in place in 3D, coloured by its checks | |
| Shaft system | Shaft | Stepped shafts on supports: deflection, slope, bending moment, stress, support loads and tilt, critical speeds, strength after DIN 743 or the FKM guideline |
| Bearings | 14 rolling bearing types and matched pairs: load distribution, contact stress, ratings and life after ISO 281, ISO 76 and ISO/TS 16281, lubrication, friction, thermal speeds, fits | |
| Housings | Bearing seat stiffness of a housing wall by finite elements, or of an imported mesh | |
| Gearing | Gears | Spur and helical pairs after ISO 6336, with scuffing |
| Planetary | Sun, planets and ring after ISO 6336 | |
| Bevel | Straight, spiral and Zerol bevel pairs after ISO 10300-1 and -2 | |
| Worm | Worm pairs after DIN 3996 | |
| Plastic | Thermoplastic gears after VDI 2736 | |
| Connections | Fits | ISO 286 limits and press fits after DIN 7190 |
| Keys | Parallel keys (DIN 6892) and splines (DIN 5480, ISO 4156) | |
| Bolts | Bolted joints after VDI 2230 | |
| Welds | Fillet and butt weld groups after EN 1993-1-8 and -1-9 | |
| Contact | Hertzian contact of two bodies, with the stresses below the surface | |
| Motion and drives | Drives | Belt and chain drives between shafts |
| Motors | The magnetic pull of an electric machine's rotor on its shaft | |
| Guides | Profile rail guides after ISO 14728 | |
| Ball screws | Ball screws after ISO 3408 | |
| Springs | Helical compression, extension and torsion springs after EN 13906 |
Each module has its own page in this help. Start with the shaft and the bearings if you are not sure where to begin.
How the modules work together
A project is not a set of separate calculators. Parts that touch each other share their loads.
- A shaft support can carry a bearing. The bearing is then loaded by that support's reaction, at the shaft's speed.
- A gear pair, a belt drive or a rotor can be mounted on shafts. Its forces, torque and mass then load those shafts, and through them the bearings.
- A support can sit in a housing. The housing's seat stiffness then acts in series with the bearing.
- With bearing coupling switched on, the shaft follows each bearing's non-linear stiffness, and the bearings pick up the moments from the shaft's slope.
So if you change a gear's helix angle, the shaft deflection, the bearing loads and the bearing lives all change with it.
Elements that need no shaft, such as a bolted joint, a spring or a press fit, can live in the same project on their own.
What the results are based on
The methods follow published standards and guidelines: ISO, DIN, VDI, EN and the FKM guideline. Each module page names the standard, the edition and the method, and says what is not covered. The theory pages explain the background.
Every check compares a result with a limit you set, such as a minimum life or a maximum deflection. The checks banner at the top of the results says how many pass. See Reading checks and safeties.
The engine is checked against closed-form solutions, standard tables and the worked examples of the standards. axm verify runs these checks on your computer.
Where you work
- The desktop app. Projects are files on your computer. Once a project is saved to a file, every change is saved to it as you work, and changes made by
axmor an agent appear live. - The web app. The same interface and engine in a browser. Calculations run on your own computer, not on a server.
- The command line
axm, for scripts, batch runs and AI agents. See The command line and AI agents.
The web app works without an account: your work stays in the browser until you save it to a file. An account is needed for the desktop app, axm, cloud projects and the assistant. During the preview every module and feature is open to everyone, with or without an account. The licence lasts 14 days offline and renews itself while you are online.
Next steps
- Take the tour of the screen.
- Build your first project in about ten minutes.
- Read Units and conventions before you enter real loads.