Nice video dude, could you try to make this Z pattern silicon muscle actuator in round shape covered with mesh sleeving? Would be nice see performance of it. Good work !
How effective would it be to create a series of concentric circles, that all inflate around their respective centers, with a linkage from circle to circle so that they are all flat when deflated, but when inflated they will "puff out" spherically. Put the thing in some sort of PVC tube, and now the expanding motion is forced into a more linear pathway, no?
Hello, Do you know anywhere I can buy one of these already made? I need it for a proof of concept for one of my projects and the ones I am trying to 3D print are not coming out right. At this point, due to time constraints, I need to buy one for the presentation. Thanks,
Using a bit of compressed air to pop casts out of molds sometimes works. If its really stuck though you may want to use more mold release on future castings.
If you use a press then it gets easier. I used an old drill press to compress the material then put spacers under the edges of the form. This allowed me to push the material all the way through the mold. I presses against a larger block of wood so I had no back plate to the mold. It will be stuck to the underside of the top plate you are pressing down on. If you do not have a press, then turn the mold upside down after you press the material. Put a small block under it. press down on the outside of the mold. It will slide down past what was the top of the form when you were pressing. If it doesn't, then you will need to sand the inside of the form to reduce drag.
Imagine you make all your bed springs out of this
It would be cool to see some type of arm with these controlling it.
That looks sweet
Nice video dude, could you try to make this Z pattern silicon muscle actuator in round shape covered with mesh sleeving? Would be nice see performance of it. Good work !
How effective would it be to create a series of concentric circles, that all inflate around their respective centers, with a linkage from circle to circle so that they are all flat when deflated, but when inflated they will "puff out" spherically. Put the thing in some sort of PVC tube, and now the expanding motion is forced into a more linear pathway, no?
I'm frankly not sure how such a structure would act. What you're saying sounds somewhat like what a bellows actuator is, but I don't know.
XYZAidan I'll check it out- thanks!
Hello,
Do you know anywhere I can buy one of these already made? I need it for a proof of concept for one of my projects and the ones I am trying to 3D print are not coming out right. At this point, due to time constraints, I need to buy one for the presentation.
Thanks,
Sorry, these are not mass produced by anyone.
Is there any trick for demolding because I couldnt demold the molds
Using a bit of compressed air to pop casts out of molds sometimes works. If its really stuck though you may want to use more mold release on future castings.
If you use a press then it gets easier. I used an old drill press to compress the material then put spacers under the edges of the form. This allowed me to push the material all the way through the mold. I presses against a larger block of wood so I had no back plate to the mold. It will be stuck to the underside of the top plate you are pressing down on. If you do not have a press, then turn the mold upside down after you press the material. Put a small block under it. press down on the outside of the mold. It will slide down past what was the top of the form when you were pressing. If it doesn't, then you will need to sand the inside of the form to reduce drag.