Annular Snap Fasteners and the Like

[Joselito]

Greetings:

Description: Two 1" thick square plates, 8" on each side must be attached to one another temporarily. The attachment will be conducted remotely and from only one side of the attachment(that is, when the two plates are bonding or have bonded, only the top face of one of the plates will be accessible to any tooling used to separate the plates).

Needed: Since only one side of the plate connection will be visible, something on the order of an annular, multi-tab snap fit is what I'm looking for. I am interested in coming up with an alternative to the annular snap fit but am having a difficult time of it. Any constructive info is welcomed. Thanks alot in advance.

 

[stressriser]

Can you use magnets?

 

[Joselito]

Hi StressRiser:

Here are a couple of things I left out:
-The two plates are aluminum
-One of the plates is part of a permanent structure(the same plate whose back face is not accessible).
-a 500 lb separation load is necessary (If snap fits or magnets are being considered)

...and the fact still remains that the two plates must be joined/parted remotely. Really what this means is that a good method for joining the plates would be one that is not a physical connection such as a nut/bolt but is something on the order of a magnet or a snap fit.

Good idea with the magnet. I know that I could find magnets which would resist a 500lb load, even with 2" of aluminum between them, but I think the cost would be prohibitive. One other point, the plates will be immersed in water.

Thanks Stress Riser

 

[trihydrate]

If you were able to use a suction plate and pulled a good vacuum, the 8 inch square plate would allow over 900 pounds of separating force.

 

[Joselito]

Trihydrate,

Very good idea. The problem calls for a method of attachment with the ability to be applied remotely, that offers a force greater than 500 lb, and which is not a permanent(i.e. nut/bolt) attachment. All of these are satisfied very well by a vacuum. However, these plates will be attached for long periods of time and will be in an environment not especially condusive to maintaining a good vacuum.

I will look in to this idea this week and report back.

Thanks again for the input guys (trihydrate & stressriser). Very creative.

Joselito