mechanical rigging help

[someone]

I am trying to animate the mechanical component shown in the attached image. The problem that I am having is that I need the to find a way to link each of the armatures to the their respective wheels so that they each rotate with the wheel and the joint in the middle works (the way that it looks like it should). I think the attached image should clear up what I am trying to say. This probably isn’t too difficult but I am just learning constraints and don’t really understand how to use most of them. Any direction would be very much appreciated.
Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Thanks

Attachments

[MCollett]

I am trying to animate the mechanical component shown in the attached image. The problem that I am having is that I need the to find a way to link each of the armatures to the their respective wheels so that they each rotate with the wheel and the joint in the middle works (the way that it looks like it should). I think the attached image should clear up what I am trying to say.

If the two ends are fixed to points whose motion is already determined, then you can get the ‘obvious’ behaviour of the joint in the middle using an IK constraint. But there is a lot going on on the RH wheel, so your system may not be that simple.

If you want more detailed suggestions, perhaps you could post the .blend file.

Best wishes,
Matthew

[someone]

Ok thanks I’ll try that out and if it’s not going well I’ll post the blend file
Thanks for the advice