A Simple Hydraulic System Can Be Made Out of Syringes and Aquarium Tubing

Syringe Hydraulic Arm PDF   – Download in PDF Format

Hydraulics is used in many applications we see or apply every day. The brakes in an automobile or the lift on the bucket of a tractor are ii very mutual applications. Nosotros tin experiment with unproblematic hydraulics using plastic syringes for cylinders and pocket-size plastic tubing for the hydraulic hose. One definition I read for hydraulics was, "the movement of pressurized liquids through confined spaces".

Like working with gears, pulleys, or levers; a mechanical reward can be realized past using different size cylinders on the end of the hydraulic connections.     Past trading altitude moved with the amount of force the advantage is realized.

The story of my father'south company Champall Manufacturing in a 25 minute video. I created this several years ago as a DVD, not the all-time narration but an interesting story.

History of Champall Manufacturing – Link to YouTube video

Testimonial to Popularity of the Project

Sandy Gady 7th and 8th course Math,Scientific discipline, Pattern and Engineering instructor  "I have done the hydraulic arms with the syringes, they are then cool it'southward across clarification. I used to do them when I taught sixth grade in a pocket-sized boondocks. We had lots of retired people with saws, so they would cut upward the wood we needed. I and so enlisted several of them to come into the classroom and we taught kids how to apply drills, screwdrivers and hammers to get together the finished project. In the end, they had a hydraulic arm that moved in three directions. I've had contact with some of these students since, and many of them still accept their hydraulic arms twenty years later. They still beam with pride when they talk about them. Cost of materials, about $v.00. Educational value, priceless".

Leap Downwardly to Boosted Syringe Experiment

The tubing I used was the blazon used for aquarium airlines. Fuel line for model glow engines would work merely is more than expensive. There could be medical sources also. Then I plant ane/eight″ ID x 3/16″ OD tubing at a Fleet Subcontract shop which is a tight fit.		Syringes can be purchased where farm supplies are sold. I used the 12cc size as the pump and the 6cc size as the actuator cylinder.

I used 1 flat washer on the pin bespeak of the gripper office of the arm, not sure it is needed.		8/32 Auto screws were used to concur clamps on and for pivot points.

I used these copper plated ½" tube straps to spike the actuators (syringes) to the forest.		The upright part of the arm is a furring strip. This inexpensive wood is used when installing drywall.

	The base of operations can be made from flake boards also, best to pick out the improve boards as some are warped. This board was labeled as ane" x 6" but true dimension was smaller.

Making Upwardly the Parts
Normally I am making upward kits for a class, so I will get all the parts fabricated starting time. That style few tools are needed to complete the project and it is safer for them not having to apply saws or drills.

A "right triangle" is cut from scrap forest that is at least ¼" thick. The long side is i ½" long and shorter side is ¾" long.		These are the wood parts needed before drilling the holes. The pocket-sized triangle piece can be made from a chip piece of ¼" wood.

Construction

Make another bend a short distance from the previous bend in the contrary management.		This is what the pushrod should look like, two volition exist needed. I was going to apply music wire which is stiffer but it is also harder to bend.

	Plastic tubing to be used at a begetting for the wire pushrod can be cut from the tubing in a pen. Putting it Together It is at this point that the students would start assembling the parts that had been fabricated.

Mounting the actuator to elevator the arm. I notice information technology easier to test the fit of all pieces earlier gluing the woods wedge.		Actuator to elevator the boom is securely strapped at the right angle. I should have mounted this slightly higher.

The straps need to be pulled over the syringe very tight and then that it does not shift when force per unit area is applied.		Using two nuts tightened against each other should let the nut to the inside to have a pocket-sized gap from the wood and non come off. The two sparse pieces of wood need to turn freely on the commodities.

The wood piece with plastic tubes is glued to the stop of the syringe actuator. Hot glue holds fairly well or you tin can use pocket-size wood screws to attach the wood to the end of the syringe.		Bring the gripper plates together, pull the actuator out to almost full extension, and insert the pushrod ends with the 90 degree bends into the small holes.

Curve the wire xc degrees downward into the plastic tubes.		Carefully bend the wire dorsum so the pushrods do not fall out. I was going to use music wire which would take been stiffer merely the newspaper clip material is much easier to bend.

Push the tubing on the syringe where the needle would usually adhere. If the fit of the tubing is besides loose, stretch the ends of the tubing while heating it volition shrink the tubing at the ends. Too much heat is non practiced, just enough to compress the tube slightly for a tighter fit on the syringe.		Actuator for gripper attached to blast. It must be placed at the right spot so amount of travel is correct for the gripper.

1/8″ ID x 3/xvi″ OD Tubing Fits the Syringe Tight

Filling the Cylinders

Office of the key to success with this project is getting as many of the air bubbling out of the lines as possible. In car restriction lines this is known every bit "bleeding the brakes". I am not sure I have the best process for this
but I volition give some suggestions.

Bring the actuator cylinder plunger down, pull the line off and pull in some water into the line with the larger cylinder. Put the line back on the small cylinder and push button water into information technology. When it is total, turn the actuator cylinder upside down and so the water does not drain out.

The next steps are to pull water into the large syringe and line, repeating this until the air bubbles are gone. No doubt it volition take several strokes of pulling h2o through and pushing some of it out until the bubbles are gone.		Pocket-sized actuator cylinder with water to top of syringe end when positioned upside down.

Notation: some of the hydraulic kits are on auction right now.

Syringe Artillery College for Kids 2014

Ram characteristic added to this arm.

Boosted Experiments

I have been working on building a simulator to demonstrate Pascal'due south Principle of fluids using syringes and plastic tubing.

"Pascal's Principle states that when there is an increase in pressure at any point in a confined fluid, in that location is an equal increase at every other bespeak in the container."

What exactly does this hateful in exercise? For the simulator I used a large syringe that has a piston cross department bore of 34 mm and pocket-sized syringe with cantankerous department diameter of 13 mm. Like other mechanical systems there is a mechanical advantage where distance moved and force tradeoff. When the smaller piston is pushed with a force, that strength is distributed equally across the larger piston cross section causing a greater internet force. For the fluid to be spread beyond the larger cross department more than fluid volume must be moved from the smaller cylinder.

For my first experiment I worked from the other management and pushed the large cylinder a short distance of 8 mm which extended the small cylinder a much longer distance of around 60 mm until it could not motion whatsoever farther. I calculated this also which was off the showtime fourth dimension but repeated trial proved that calculated and observed were very close.

For calculations we need the formula for the expanse of a circle :

Area of Circle = π x radius²

Large Piston   cross department area = 3.fourteen x (34/ii)²  =907 sq mm

Pocket-size Piston  cross section area = 3.fourteen x (13/two)² = 133 sq mm

Moving the large piston 8 mm will displace amount fluid = cross section x length of movement

Fluid Displaced = 907 sq mm x viii mm = 7256 cu mm

The movement of the minor cylinder should be the fluid displaced / cross section area of pocket-sized cylinder.

7256 / 133 = 54.6  mm  movement of small cylinder

Bodily move was recorded at  60 mm  or half-dozen  centimeters. My calculations included some rounding errors and measurement of piston might not take been authentic.

I accept not checked the amount of strength generated but did check the amount required just to move the contrary cylinder.  Moving the small cylinder with the large cylinder took a large corporeality of force, 1250 grams or around 12 newtons. This is like pushing downward on the short end of a lever.  Pushing the small cylinder took very little force.

Air Powered Model Car

I built the OWIKit Air Racer kit which uses compressed air to power  the machine much like how a steam engine functions.  Information technology is a rather difficult kit to build with so many pieces and the tiny O-rings.   Blog commodity on building OWIKit Air Powered Racer.

morenofouldlairity.blogspot.com

Source: https://ideas-inspire.com/syringe-hydraulic-arm/

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