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Re: Engineering 101

To: Mike Rambour <mikey@b2systems.com>
Subject: Re: Engineering 101
From: Trevor Boicey <tboicey@brit.ca>
Date: Tue, 26 Jul 2005 14:03:33 -0400
Mike Rambour wrote:
> The only redeeming parts are that he wanted nearly $3,000 
> for something that takes less than $300 worth of steel and $200 worth of 
> ACME stuff, his was obviously homebuilt with rough cuts and welds of 
> questionable quality

   I find if you 45 the corners off every steel joint, really makes 
things look a lot more professional. It's almost cheating, go from 
"homemade looking" to "beefy industrial grade looking" with a few cuts 
with the angle grinder.

>   After looking at the cost of the ACME stuff, I started wondering about 
> hydraulics but I need to move 2 items 3ft apart  in unison and not sure 
> if that will work, 4 pistons one on each corner might work but they need 
> to more equally.  Think I will stay with stuff that I know very little 
> about but a little more than hydraulics.  The steel part, welding, etc. 
> is the extremely easy part for me.

   Screw-drive garage door openers are a good source of long acme thread 
rods. (10 feet+, although if it's like mine it's actually two five foot+ 
rods joined in the middle with a hinge that is exactly the right size to 
keep the threads in phase as the shuttle moves overtop. No doubt so that 
it fits in the box in the store.

   Actually, a screw drive garage door opener might have a lot of useful 
bits for you. String motor, gear reduction drive, etc.

   As for hydraulics, messy. They will all leak eventually.

-- 
Trevor Boicey, P. Eng.
Ottawa, Canada, tboicey@brit.ca
ICQ #17432933 http://www.brit.ca/~tboicey/






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