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Flexure Attachments That Make Cents
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For many years Helical Products Company has been recognized as the pioneer in the design and manufacture of helical beam type couplings, universal joints(UJ's) and precision machined springs. The unique capabilities of the HELI-CAL Flexure have solved countless design projects for engineers in many different diverse industries.
But curiously, engineers or designers often fail to recognize how important the integration of the flexure/attachment is in improving component performance. Typically, the portion of a coupling that fastens, clamps, meshes or otherwise contacts adjacent components is referred to as an "attachment." It is these various attachments and their potential impact on system design we will discuss here.
| First, let's consider some of the special characteristics inherent to a HELI-CAL Flexure. Flexured couplings and UJ's are backlash free and provide constant velocity rotation regardless of misalignment. Any means of attachment used in conjunction with this type of product should maintain these properties, and best complement them. The most common form of coupling attachment, set screws, can introduce backlash into a system unintentionally. |
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Having said this, it should be noted that Helical does sell many flexures with set screw attachments. [The key to assuring this attachment method does not compromise effectiveness of the entire system is knowing the configuration of the adjacent components, D-shafts for example, and the anticipated duty cycle the component will encounter.]
Clamp style attachments are frequently used as a zero backlash, positive means of transmitting rotational motion between components. When compared to set screws on a performance basis, clamps squeeze around the shaft circumference rather than creating a dimple in the shaft. Clamp attachments better lend themselves to applications where the components are assembled and disassembled occasionally. Clamps require more linear space for the coupling, are inherently less dynamically balanced and slightly more expensive to manufacture. At times neither of these attachment methods may be optimal for your application. This raises the question, "What other alternatives do I have?"
The variety of attachments available is limited only by the imagination of the design engineer, and the laws of physics. The configuration of coupling attachments can be as simple as the plain bore or as complex as a pinion gear. The purpose in seeking a customized attachment is to minimize the cost, optimize performance, simplify design, reduce system size, or reduce weight.
By using the HELI-CAL Flexure along with an attachment, the engineers are allowed to dream in their system design. Most designers view a special or modified standard with a cost being too great. In actuality, customized attachments more than pay for themselves. The proper attachment will minimize assembly-production time and reduce the total number of parts to purchase, to maintain in inventory, and to assemble. All of this produces an overall production savings.
Pictured are some examples of customized attachments and the benefits they have provided:
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| A custom blind attachment designed to transmit torque in a single direction. | Integrating a lever arm into a clamp attachment flexure allowed linear motion to be converted to rotary motion. | Detachable caps permit flexure installation where components cannot be spread apart to slide the flexure onto component shafts. | A threaded shaft attachment offers several advantages. Fine axial length adjustments and blind assembly are just two potential uses. |
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901 W.
McCoy Lane · P.O. Box 1069 · Santa Maria, CA 93456-1069 Phone: 805-928-3851 · Fax: 805-928-2369 sales@heli-cal.com · engineering@heli-cal.com |
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Copyright © 1997-2007 Helical Products Company, Inc. -- All rights reserved. |
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