Bought a pair of these tiny turnbuckle rods with spherical joints for the 3-link differential mechanism on my rover design. They’re used in RC monster trucks for something. Found via a video of a rover build by a random hobbyist. Internet+capitalism = answer for everything.
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Even found it in red, the color of my design, so I won't have to paint it. The body/frame it will go in will be 3d printed in red PLA. If I hadn't found this, I'd have had to assemble it myself out of ball joints and threaded rods from mcmaster carr...
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I found this part off this build I think... the blue bits
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I don't recall doing 3d linkage design in undergrad in the kinematics of machinery class. It was all 2d. It was a bitch trying to get some intuition for how the differential on the Mars rover works.
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I *think* it's basically like a cable-stayed bridge, except the "cable" has to be capable of both tension and compression. The "tower" end is just above the pivot point on the rocker-bogie (the side assembly with 3 wheels), while the "bridge" end is attached to connecting rod
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Hypothesis for how this works to be verified with a test mechanism build... it's basically the rover's hip joint, where if one side goes up the other side presses down for traction
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The interesting thing about designing with COTS parts is that your design gets interestingly constrained by the key components you choose. The dimensions of this turnbuckle are going to drive the entire geometry of my rover now.
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these rods btw are designed with right hand threading on one end and left hand threading on the other, not entirely sure why, but I think it's so you can tighten/loosen it after installation to change tension, by rotating the middle hex section alone
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For those curious, this is for my build for the yak rover program. Others are doing other builds, but mine is a from-scratch attempt to replicate a nasa style 6-wheel rocker bogie design under $300 in parts. This pair of turnbuckles is like $13.
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