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vintage style manipulator

Posted: Aug 3rd, 2014, 8:06 pm
by ssrc30
I was searching around for possibilities for a manipulator to use on my upcoming ROV build. I looked at Super Armatron as I've heard of some good success with those arms. Then I came upon this one. I don't see a reason why it wouldn't work with a little modification. Any ideas?

Re: vintage style manipulator

Posted: Aug 4th, 2014, 9:32 am
by sthone
I've hacked up and used the original Armatron for a manipulator and if this one is similar the gears for the fingers are probably spring loaded. I removed the springs and glued the gears to the fingers but the worm gear will still pop and skip on the other gears if you try to close them too tight. This was built into the design so you could never strip any of the gears. While it will probably work just keep in mind it won't have that tight of a grip.

This is what the inside of the original look like.
Image

-Steve :sting:

Re: vintage style manipulator

Posted: Aug 4th, 2014, 10:10 am
by ssrc30
That setup should work perfectly fine then as I'm not planning to do any major lifting. My rov will mainly be for a local environmental study on the pollution in local waters. The most I'll be lifting is maybe a pop can that someone threw in the lake. My biggest focus is going to be on video evidence.

Re: vintage style manipulator

Posted: Aug 8th, 2014, 11:02 pm
by Ian MacKenzie
Original Armatron.

Re: vintage style manipulator

Posted: Aug 9th, 2014, 12:33 am
by ssrc30
I always wondered what those looked like on the inside. So yours will be a 3 DOF grabber when you're done with it then? Ideally that is what mine would end up being as well but I'm just not that mechanically talented lol... I'm starting my ROV next weekend so I will see if I even still have room for an arm when it is done. Might have to modify my design a bit now that I think of it.

Re: vintage style manipulator

Posted: Aug 9th, 2014, 5:53 pm
by ssrc30
I found this online and I think I may give it a try. Whether I use it, or not, will depend on how well it works. I don't see why it wouldn't operate as it's suppose to.

http://aquaticus.info/manipulator

Re: vintage style manipulator

Posted: Nov 13th, 2015, 9:42 pm
by Ian MacKenzie
I had to do a bit of work on it so I took a few pics showing the internal layout.