modeling a loose pin in a guiding groove track with loose play - similar to "point on curve" , but with play between pin and grove

we are moddeling a barrel cam shift system similar to sequencial transmission. The path of the guide track (groove) is perpresented by a spline, then we have a "point on curve" bloc to have teh shiftfork pin follow the track. very similar to the example: using-the-point-on-curve-block-flapping-wing-mechanism.html

however we want to represent that the pin is smaller then the track groove, aka it has some play or loosnes to it.

point on surface only works with flat infinite 2d plane, not on a 3d curved surface.

any suggestions welcome.

[Yifeng Tang]

Just a thought: use the centerline of the groove as your "curve". Now, instead of using the center of the pin as the "point", add a primatic joint between the center of the pin and the "point" frame, so the point that is following the curve and move with respect to the pin center. In another view, the pin can have a bit of play with respect to the curve. You can use the "limit" in the prismatic joint to specify the range of the play. You probably need to add a small mass to the point frame to avoid zero mass.

Another thought: use point cloud to represent the left and right side of the groove, and apply contact force modeling between the groove and the pin cylinder.