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Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
Optimizing a universal joint design
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[QUOTE="DaveC426913, post: 6468981, member: 15808"] [B]TL;DR Summary:[/B] Looking for a hinge-joint that has the required freedom of movement in a compact and practical design. First, a caveat: this is one component of a project, which is difficult to describe without quite a but of digression. If my descriptions seem illogical, it may be because I haven't described the function of the component in its proper context. I assume it will take a little bit of back-and-forth before I'm understood. For those of you who have known me online, this is a revisitation of my [B]tesseract[/B] project.I'm designing a wireframe of a ... "cube-like thing" from hollow tubing (may be brass hobby tubing, may be 3D printed). It needs to have joints - actually vertices - that can deflect by [B]at least 45 degrees in any direction[/B]. I have been using universal joints, like they use in automobile drivetrains, but they are not ideal. U-joints are meant to undergo rotation, and mine does not need to. MY problem with the u-joint is that it's bulky. The actual length of the joint mechanism (vertex) takes up more of the cube's edge that I can afford. What I want is a [B]compact design[/B]. By that I mean I'm not concerned about the width, just the length that the parts of the joints take up (independent of scale). Every vertex is a sphere with 4 (four) of these universal joints merging from it equally. (only one shown here). [ATTACH type="full" width="505px" alt="1615755222483.png"]279775[/ATTACH] I am looking for a joint design that: - provides a deflection of at least 45 degrees in any direction - is as compact as possible (i.e. short along its primary axis) - provides minimum play (eg. a piece of string provides unlimited deflection but can just as easily collapse) - is robust (string for example, will break over time) - can be [B]practically[/B] constructed I've tried several designs - everything from ball-and-socket joints** to string to springs. **interestingly, a ball-and-socket joint can't deflect by 45 degrees at all. Looking for suggestions. [/QUOTE]
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Optimizing a universal joint design
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