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Building Prototypes Dan Gelbart part 10 of 18 Flexures

Dan Gelbart · 113.8K views · 2013-02-04 · 12:55

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Overview

Part 10 of Dan Gelbart's prototype-building lecture series, covering flexures: flexible joints that give precise, frictionless motion. It shows how a cheap piece of aluminum can become a nanometer-accurate mechanism.

On Hacker News

HN recommends the series as a fascinating, practical course in precision prototyping, with the flexure episode singled out as especially impressive.

Recommended by 2 HN people across 2 months · HN mentions 2015–2023

Topics

Mechanical & precision engineering3D printing, CNC & maker projects
Search by tags
flexuresprecision engineeringprototypingmechanical designmachining

What people said

hwillis · 2015-08 · Strong recommendation

Part 10 [1] of his prototypes series also features incredibly impressive precision. He starts off with a $10 piece of aluminum that took maybe an hour or two to make, and is completely accurate down to nanometers. I worked in a nanotech lab with an electron microscope, and the idea that you could make a mechanical device that could accurately move a few pixels on my screen blew my mind. I thought I was hot shit with all my electrons and magnets... nope. Dan's flexure is so sensitive that radiative heat from his hand moves the end stage 100x more than mechanical input. You could move it by shining a laser pointer at it. Insane. The final part [2] is also very neat, and starts with a really remarkable demonstration of stiffness. [1]: [VIDEO] [2]: [LINK]

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mikewarot · 2023-10 · Recommendation

I found Dan Gelbart's series about building prototypes [1] to be fascinating, and helpful. I was especially impressed with his video about flexures.[2] [1] [LINK] [2] [VIDEO]

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6nf · 2019-03 · Reference

In the industry flexures are considered to have 'infinite' life if they are correctly designed and if you stay well within the working parameters. If you stay within about 2/3rds of the elastic range it lasts forever. Dan Gelbart: [VIDEO]

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Sources

Video by Dan Gelbart, played through YouTube.

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