Connecting Parallel Plates Without Bolts, Welding, or Epoxy

[vc66]

All-

I have a somewhat odd situation. I need to connect two disk-shaped parallel plates. They need to be removable from one another (fairly often, this will happen); however, There can be no screw heads protruding on either parallel face. I'm thinking that I need to connect them around the border somehow, but I can't think of an elegant way to do it. I have a couple of crazy thoughts as to how to do it, but I would like to know if there's anyone who has ever run across anything like this before, and may know an easy way to solve my problem.

Thanks for the help.

V

 

[GregLocock]

On the big thread idea check out the details of a large ships rifle's breech. Typically they used a quarter turn of a segmented thread.





Cheers

Greg Locock

SIGlease see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

 

[chicopee]

about the stainless steel "u" clamps that are used on swimmimg filters whereby the selector head is clamped to the filter bed housing.

 

[jetmaker]

What about dovetailing the parts together??

 

[KENAT]

Or if they're rotary some kind of bayonet fit.

Oh the fun of throwing out suggestions knowing only a tiny part of the problem;-).

KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...

 

[MikeHalloran]

A stainless 'plate' only .150" thick at 8" diameter is not particularly rigid, and is technically sheet, not plate.

The only realizable thing I can suggest is something like a Voss v-band clamp on a much smaller scale. In days of yore, similar clamps were produced in quantity for coupling the shells of stacked precision potentiometers, most of which were less than 100mm diameter.

Bevel the outside circular faces of the plates and reduce their diameter a bit.
Machine the clamp from the solid with a complementary internal v-groove, cut it in half, join the halves with tiny tangential screws, done.

Old machinists like the challenge of making the clamp from two pieces of stock so there's a seam but not a gap.

Really old machinists can match the plates and the clamp so only the screw heads are visible when assembled and viewed at any normal viewing distance.

Seventeenth century machinists could do stuff like that so well that the joints were not detectable under ordinary magnification, but no one alive today seems to know how to do it.



Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[carnage1]

That's not true mike, I know ONE. (you should see some of the crazy cams for running the logic on my last employers machines that he cut by hand on a Bridgeport vertical mill)

Luck is a difficult thing to verify and therefore should be tested often. - Me

 

[btrueblood]

Yes, machinists like that are still around...good luck finding them (I'm sure as heck not telling you who MY favorite machinists are!)

 

[jedward]

can you thread the OD of each and use a common "nut" with the same thread on the ID? screw parts together

 

[unclesyd]

Could you used 2 flush clinch nuts with a connecting stud. Here are two suppliers, Camcar and Captive.

http://www.captive-fastener.com/catalog.html

http://www.camcarsolutions.com/powergrip.asp

 

[bigBboris]

What about creating vacuum between plates?

 

[hydtools]

The idea of vacuum made me think of the idea of grease on the faying faces to exclude air. Slide or twist the plates together.
If the plates are about 8" diameter, there is about 50 in^2 area. Needs only 3 psi to hold the 150 lbs mentioned above. Excluding air provides about an atmosphere of pressure.

Ted