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Building Prototypes Dan Gelbart part 10 of 18 Flexures

Building Prototypes Dan Gelbart part 10 of 18 Flexures on HackerTube: recommended by 2 Hacker News commenters across 2 separate months, 2015–2023.

Dan Gelbart

lecture · intermediate · evergreen

Open on YouTube

Part 10 of Dan Gelbart's prototype-building lecture series, covering flexures: flexible joints that give precise, frictionless motion. It shows how a cheap piece of aluminum can become a nanometer-accurate mechanism.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN recommends the series as a fascinating, practical course in precision prototyping, with the flexure episode singled out as especially impressive.

people recommended it
2
separate months
2
strong recommendations
1
discussed on HN
2015–2023
“He starts off with a $10 piece of aluminum that took maybe an hour or two to make”
— hwillis, Aug 2015, in “High precision air bearing CNC lathe and grinder [video]”

What HN commenters said

3 Hacker News comments link this video. Each one links back to its thread.

hwillisAug 2015Strongly recommends

Part 10 [1] of his prototypes series also features incredibly impressive precision. He starts off with a $10 piece of aluminum that took maybe an hour or two to make, and is completely accurate down to nanometers. I worked in a nanotech lab with an electron microscope, and the idea that you could make a mechanical device that could accurately move a few pixels on my screen blew my mind. I thought I was hot shit with all my electrons and magnets... nope. Dan's flexure is so sensitive that radiative heat from his hand moves the end stage 100x more than mechanical input. You could move it by shining a laser pointer at it. Insane. The final part [2] is also very neat, and starts with a really remarkable demonstration of stiffness. [1]: ▶ this video [2]: [link]

in “High precision air bearing CNC lathe and grinder [video]” · View on HN

mikewarotOct 2023Recommends

I found Dan Gelbart's series about building prototypes [1] to be fascinating, and helpful. I was especially impressed with his video about flexures.[2] [1] [link] [2] ▶ this video

in “” · View on HN

6nfMar 2019Cites it

In the industry flexures are considered to have 'infinite' life if they are correctly designed and if you stay well within the working parameters. If you stay within about 2/3rds of the elastic range it lasts forever. Dan Gelbart: ▶ this video

in “Additively manufacturable micro-mechanical logic gates” · View on HN

Topics & tags

Mechanical & precision engineering3D printing, CNC & maker projectsflexuresprecision engineeringprototypingmechanical designmachining