Grinder Gimbal and Interface Fabrication

Date: 4.3.17
Location: Logan HS
Time: 2 hours
Goal: To create an interface and gimbal to allow the grinder to move multi directional freely.

Mr. Pitz worked with some students to fabricate the gimbal part of the grinder. This complex part has to allow the grinder to rotate and move up and down to grind a weld all while supporting the weight of the grinder.

Flange bearings were used on the outside edges and measurements were taken to ensure the grinder could rotate.

Concerns are in order to grind horizontally across a vertical surface the side mounts may hit the metal plate that needs to be ground down. This would cause a problem, but we don't know how severe it will be until we assemble the arm and test it. We feel right now it will effect the grinding operation minimally.

In other areas, we had concerns about the strength of the aluminum "U" bracket we fabricated out of some 1/4" tube stock. A test model was created and welded against a piece of aluminum. A 3/8" bold was used to secure it and then pressure was placed in a downward motion and then assessed. It held up much better than expected strength wise.

Test platform for gimbal prototype.

Testing the strength of the aluminum "U" bracket we fabricated out of some donated tube stock.