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Mechanical puzzler

Imagine 2 steel disks, 1" thick x 12" dia., 12 inches apart, in parallel, riding on four shafts on linear bearings. One disk is connected to a hydraulic cylinder. As the cylinder extends, the first disk contacts a surface with 500 lbs of force and stops. The second disk, the one connected to the cylinder continues to move four inches without increasing the 500 lbs of force between the first disk and the surface.

If I use big springs, it seems to me that the force will increase too much beyond the 500 lbs. I could do it with 2 cylinders but I would like a simpler, cheaper solution. Any ideas?

Reply to
Tom Gardner
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Air spring? A pneumatic cylinder between the two plates connected to a reservoir precharged to give 500 lb force. The reservoir needs to be large enough relative to the volume of the cylinder so that compressing the cylinder does not raise the pressure in the cylinder/reservoir system too much.

This is a common setup on cam operated machinery in place of springs.

Another possibility is a preloaded spring. If, to take an extreme example, you used with a spring with a free length of 112 inches and a spring rate of 5 lb/in you'd have an initial force of 500 lb and a final force of 520 lb. Whether you can find/make a real world spring(s) that will fit in your mechanism is another matter, but worth investigating.

Ned Simmons

Reply to
Ned Simmons

I like the gas spring idea. I've been thinking about them recently and they seem like a good answer to applying a constant load. ERS

Reply to
Eric R Snow

Is there an indusrtial eq. to the gas springs that hold up my hood?

Reply to
Tom Gardner

Yes, for example...

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Often used in press tools and similar high force apps.

Ned Simmons

Reply to
Ned Simmons

If you're going to be doing this have a look at the reservoirs Bimba offers. They're built like the SS body Bimba cylinders, can be ordered in many sizes, and are relatively cheap. I think Numatics offers something similar.

Ned Simmons

Reply to
Ned Simmons

Easy peasy -- but finish your dogburger.

Reply to
Don Foreman

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