Universal Joint that will lock in place

[Dodger6600]

I am working on an impact hammer to test for anomalies in soil, essentially locating sinkholes. I have a 3 foot air cylinder that I need to hang from a steel frame. Ideally I would like it to be able to hang plum with the ground regardless of the slope in which the frame is sitting on. How can I get some kind of universal joint to "lock" in place regardless of the orientation? Ive calculated that it shouldn't withstand too much more than 700 pounds of force. Thanks for any help.

 

[tygerdawg]

My first 'redneck engineering' thought was a fabricated ball & socket affair with a pneumatic clamp. I envisioned a block o' steel, split, with the socket cavity hemispheres machined into each half. Hinged on one side, pneumatic cylinder clamp on the other. Designed to provide enough mechanical advantage for good clamping. Your hammer would need the associated ball portion that fits.

The link from the ball to the hammer may be problematic, though.

TygerDawg
Blue Technik LLC
Virtuoso Robotics Engineering

http://www.bluetechnik.com

 

[FeX32]

Universal joint that locks into place (angle) need be custom. Interesting, there must be a better way.


Fe (IronX32)

 

[FeX32]

The way you describe what you want it is not easy to envision the details that are crucial. (there is room for interpretation) Possibly, a rough schematic would help.


Fe (IronX32)

 

[MiketheEngineer]

Could you simply mount the plate on a "universal" near the top of ram plate and just let it find its own angle at each punch. My guess is that it will (might) change a bit every time and you be constantly resetting it.

I am no expert on this - just a thought

 

[monkeydog]

Sounds like an oil drilling problem.
Suprised the Oil & Gas members have not chimed in yet.

 

[GregLocock]

I agree with tygerdawg. A large lockable ball and socket. This has the advanatge of a huge bearing area. 700 lb is well inside the capacity of a 1.25 inch ball joint.

The normal solution would be to allow the drill to hang freely and then have an adjustable stay off each side to lock it in position.



Cheers

Greg Locock


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[GregLocock]

The latter solution is much more resistant to jumping around and impacts and so on.

Cheers

Greg Locock


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[dvd]

Sounds to me like you need to express some limits. Obviously the frame cannot rest upon a vertical surface with the cylinder then hanging perpendicular to the surface normal. Is this going to be used on a grade of 10%? 20%? What is going to keep the frame from tumbling over on severely out-of-plumb impacts? Is the frame so massive that it will resist overturning? I think that frame needs to be brought into plumb and the cylinder position maintained.

 

[KENAT]

My first thought like Greg was to separate the 'locking' from the power transfer 'universal joint' but I have a feeling I'm missing something.

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[Dodger6600]

The terrain shouldn't be too severe of a grade and the frame will be roughly 5' x 3' x 4.5-5' tall. Ideally, the impact area (6" diameter circle) will be the only area that will be leveled. The need for the u-joint or ball-socket joint will just allow the air cylinder to hang plum regardless of how the tires are situated. The cylinder is threaded and also has a bearing built in to potentially allow for a pin connection. I think a ball-socket joint may be feasible if I can somehow get the ball welded/connected to some piping that can then be threaded on cylinder in one direction and tightened in the opposite direction. Potentially two separate pieces. Any case I would like to be able to disengage the air cylinder in case I need to replace it. Thanks for the input fellas.