Thursday, September 29, 2016

Positioner (drawing)


I started thinking about how to make an easily adjustable wooden arm, in the style of an indicator holder. The original idea was to use it for holding a dust collector tube at the lathe, so the tube could be moved right where it is needed. On further thought, a strong and easily adjustable arm is useful for many things: a camera mount, a lamp or flashlight holder, a 'helping hand' for soldering or welding, a microphone mount, to name a few. I've seen them speckled around the international space station in photos, as laptop or clipboard holders. 

The Noga style holders are a great design, but would be difficult to make of wood. They're also not particularly suited to larger sizes. So I instead took a hint from a milling machine vise stop I once saw.

This style is much better suited to being made of wood. They keep some of the multi-axis locking magic of the Noga style. Two screws will quickly lock the working end anywhere within the reach of the arm (as opposed to just one on the Noga).


I drew a sketch of what a wooden one would look like. The body of it could fit in a hand or be a meter long. The pivot pins would be brass or stainless steel. The lower pivot could be locked with a thumbscrew on the underside, or a hex key from the top side. Multiple arms could be connected to reach around in tight spaces. Tubing could be used for the 'forearm' segment, to allow wires or air or whiskey to flow through.

As with all the drawings on here, if you want one made I'd be glad to make it come to life-

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