8-Manufacturing and testing of the first linear actuator

After a long time waiting for shipping (2 months !!), I finally received all the necessary parts to manufacture the linear ball screw cylinders. As a reminder, I had written a small article on the new design of the actuators: available here!

Testing the first cylinder

To start, the videos of the linear actuator tests, you will find the details for manufacturing and the parts in the following.

Target achieved: 630mm actual stroke! and 12 kilos per actuators, with engine

Course du vérin : 630mm — Actuator stroke: 630mm

Poids du vérin : 12.2 kilos — *Actuator weight: 12.2 kilos*

I’m really happy with the behaviour of the actuators, they seem very robust and stable, I can’t wait to test them in real life. The others are waiting patiently for the arrival of the 5 other motors.

Photo des 5 vérins attendant leur moteur ! — *Picture of the 5 cylinders waiting for their engine !*

Arrival of the parts

A small overview of the arrival of the parts, in 2 parts:

the first one: globally all the hardware: screws, washers etc… but especially, the ballscrews of length 750mm, pitch of 20mm, a small wonder!

Photo montrant l'arrivage des pieces — *Arrival of the parts, part 1*

photo montrant l'extremite des vis à bille — *End of the ballscrews*

photo montrant la noix SFA de la vis à billes — *Ball screw nut*

second: all parts are laser cut, bent or machined. I am very happy with the quality of the parts, except for the painting of the parts that connect the cylinder to the platform. The supplier is going to redo them with a new painting process, more robust I hope.

*Arrival of the machined and laser-cut parts*

*Supporting part of the motor and the ball screw*

Assembly and manufacture of the actuators

Once the parts are unpacked, we check the dimensions, they are all OK, with some problems of diameters on some holes, but nothing significant. The assembly begins!

Actuator end, with cylinder — Actuator *end, with cylinder*

The assembly process is not particularly difficult. However, it is important to sequence the steps correctly, especially when positioning the tube. This will ensure that everything is aligned properly before tightening. Detailed instructions will be provided for the cylinder kits.

Assembling the cylinder/simulator connection parts

These parts are a crucial part of the simulator, they must be strong and allow the full range of motion. I improved an existing design available on the internet, with bent steel U’s, ball joints and custom machined spacers to allow the angle of the ball joint to be increased (by reducing the diameter).

Once again, I am very satisfied with the result, which is not far from the 3D rendering.