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Oscillating arm holder or 'clamp'

B

bigjws

Member
Does anyone know who or what kind of shop may be able to make the 'holder' pictured below. It goes to an old A-OK touchfree, made of some kind of plastic or poly-something. I've got an old distributor (the actual company has been out of business for over a decade!) that I'm trying to do the research though, but they are extremely slow -- so I thought someone out there might have an idea where that kind of material is used that may be able to make a few for me. Thanks!

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I would attempt to make that part myself. McMaster-Carr has the stock. Use a hole saw to make the large hole, drill the bolt holes, then saw in half through the large hole. I know I made it sound easy and you'd probably mess up once or twice, but it sure looks doable. If you don't want to attempt it though, most any machine shop should be able to make that.
 
bigjws said:
Does anyone know who or what kind of shop may be able to make the 'holder' pictured below. It goes to an old A-OK touchfree, made of some kind of plastic or poly-something. I've got an old distributor (the actual company has been out of business for over a decade!) that I'm trying to do the research though, but they are extremely slow -- so I thought someone out there might have an idea where that kind of material is used that may be able to make a few for me. Thanks!
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bigjws,

If you can find a friend with a 3D Printer that uses a plastic that meets the strength & chemical resistance requirements ... that could be a real nifty solution. With someone, I picked up a bit of 3D printing experience with ABS & PLA plastic ... but I am not sure if you need to go with a Nylon material capable printer or some other specific plastic capable 3D Printer or not. No drilling required but precise computer aided drawing skill would be very helpful. An STL file tends to be the norm.

If you choose to go the hand crafted route like IB Washin inferred ... maybe a chunk of polycarbonate (Lexan)???

mike walsh www.kingkoin.com
 
Check out Sonnys. That simply looks like a uhmw bearing cut in half. They use or used them on some mitters.
 
Just to add to my previous post. If it is used in a bushing bearing situation then there are plastics that is a bearing quality material & would be a better choice based on that need.
 
Making it myself is my first option .. but I'm just not that educated in plastics 101! Buckeye's suggestion of Sonny's looks pretty good -- the UHMW material they have is grey instead of white, but sounds like what I have. McMaster-Carr has this stock, but of course they have about 10 versions .. regular, high-temp, extra-slick..etc! I was hoping maybe one of you guys out there who has worked on Automatics in the past might know what specific plastic is used for this application?
 
Just wanted to follow up in case anyone else needs comes across this problem in the future. I took Buckeye's suggestion and looked up stock at McMaster-Carr, and ended up buying a 12"x12'x1" of enhanced temp UHMW -- about $40. Cut up it and made some brackets - that side sheet will make a ton of these! Seems like it should work just fine. Thanks for the input guys!

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