Bend metal to construct servo & motor brackets, for robotics

  Bending metal is part of building a robot, a gripper/claw/clamp/hand arm, or general motor or servo control. Something has to hold the motor in place, and somehow you have to keep that servo from moving. Metal cut and bent to fit the job is what is needed. What about joints and levers? To get a clamp to function it needs to connect to a servo or motor. Formed metal is a great way to make a linkage.
   In the bottom of the photo is a hand gripper. You squeeze the unseen handle which pulls a string which pulls the bottom of the gripper part, making the  yellow lever pull against the nonmoving arm.. I made a servo version that has three joints so it can grip, move left/right and up/down.
Look at all the sheet metal I had to cut form and bend! So where did the metal come from? What did I need to fabricate it?

Step 1 Raw material and tools

  I used common (and cheap) formed metal. The skinny piece is a angle trim that holds ceiling tile to a wall It's about 3/4 inch per side. The piece above it is the coner molding for dry wall mudding. And the big piece is a metal wall stud. All these pieces of metal is formed already, so I had to cut the piece then hammer it flat on cement so it becomes a piece of sheet metal.
   Tools needed is a marker, hammer, and sheet metal cutter or tin snips.
  Cut the molding bigger than you need. Bend with plyers any rounded edges (like on the stud), then lay on cement and hammer flat. Make your marks of where you want to make your cut then cut. use a small square so your lines are true.

Comments

[rimar2000]

I collect from the waste those steely strips used for industrial packaging, they are very useful for this purpose. They came in divers sizes and steels, generally rust-protected.