[HN Gopher] Active Ball Joint Mechanism with Three-DoF Based on ...
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       Active Ball Joint Mechanism with Three-DoF Based on Spherical Gear
       Meshings (2021)
        
       Author : gnabgib
       Score  : 44 points
       Date   : 2024-09-24 02:07 UTC (20 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (ieeexplore.ieee.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (ieeexplore.ieee.org)
        
       | mikewarot wrote:
       | Holy cow... Hobbing gears like these looks like a nightmare.
       | There's going to have to be some backlash, or some precision
       | grinding.
        
         | DannyBee wrote:
         | Agreed. This design is going to be very very hard to machine
         | precisely and very expensive to prototype
         | 
         | They don't even say exactly what they did or how long it took
         | or how well the tolerances turned out. They only give the
         | classic understated view:
         | 
         | "Many parts of the prototype were built from high-performance
         | plastics with high machinability and stable properties because
         | the components of ABENICS have complex shapes, which makes
         | estimating problems during prototyping difficult. Construction
         | from strong materials such as metals will also improve the
         | capability of the device."
        
           | dist-epoch wrote:
           | If they could make this work in plastic, it will be even
           | easier to get the tolerances with metal. You can also mold
           | the parts.
        
             | 1970-01-01 wrote:
             | Casting and metal printing are the only options. And
             | casting of gears is not a solution unless you're using
             | exotic metals.
        
               | alnwlsn wrote:
               | Can it even be cast? It looks like this would be really
               | difficult to get to come out of the mold. Unless you go
               | investment casting over die casting.
        
               | 1970-01-01 wrote:
               | Anything can be cast if your budget allows for it.
               | Ferrari engines are a good example.
        
               | adrian_b wrote:
               | It should be possible to make it by milling, even if that
               | would waste a lot of material.
               | 
               | For casting, the initial mold must be made by milling
               | anyway (or 3D printing), even if some intermediate molds
               | could be made by casting themselves.
        
         | torpfactory wrote:
         | Eh, they make precision stuff like this all the time. If they
         | wanted to make a bunch they would first standardize the sizing
         | then create production tooling for the grinding setups. Those
         | gears would come out basically perfect every time.
         | 
         | The bigger problem is the output link is supported by the gear
         | meshes. This means whatever load you put on it is directly
         | supported by the small mesh contact patches. A more traditional
         | system can have roller or ball bearing or bushing support.
        
         | 1970-01-01 wrote:
         | Exactly my thought. They're hand waving all complex
         | manufacturing to 3D printers. This will be a hard plastic gear
         | for the foreseeable future.
        
       | ur-whale wrote:
       | What I find truly amazing here: an IEEE article where you can
       | just click on the PDF button and actually read the article
       | without hitting you head into a paywall.
        
         | gh02t wrote:
         | Thankfully the open access model is becoming more popular,
         | though I still find it insane that a lot of publishers demand a
         | huge fee to publish articles as OA. I know they have to pay the
         | bills and I guess it's better than ads, but they hardly even do
         | anything anymore with online publishing and volunteer
         | editors/reviewers.
        
       | lloeki wrote:
       | Was wondering if it's ABENICS (2021), and it is.
       | 
       | Video: https://youtube.com/watch?v=hhDdfiRCQS4
        
       | voxadam wrote:
       | (2021)
        
       | hartmel wrote:
       | Previous HN discussion:
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34160356
        
         | carabiner wrote:
         | Even more previous:
         | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28556208
        
       | tiahura wrote:
       | When can I get my hip and shoulder replacements?
        
       | smusamashah wrote:
       | Won't this have lots of wear and tear?
        
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       (page generated 2024-09-24 23:01 UTC)