Pneumatic Claw

So i had a fairly large air cylinder, a solenoid valve, a bit of boredom and an air compressor. The result? A metal-crushing, comically large pneumatic claw :D  Who wouldn't want one?

The claw took me about a day to build, and cost me nothing to build. However, since it is relatively unlikely that you will have the required pneumatic parts ready, so it will probably cost you a bit more.

Step 1: Materials

You will need the following:

- Pneumatic cylinder- make sure it has a large diameter, something over 2 inches is probably best. stroke length around 4 inches, and     pressure handling of 110psi to be safe. check ebay. mine is a bimba stainless steel 2in diameter, 4 in stroke length.

- Plywood - i used 1/2 inch, 4ply for the gripper parts, and some thicker, 10ply? dense hardwood plywood i had laying around. the thicker stuff is mechanically indestructible. got the thinner stuff for a different project at lowes.

- 4 way poppet valve - i got mine for free, mine is a bosh rexroth type 840. check ebay. they are made specifically to extend and retract pneumatic cylinders.

-pneumatic tubing. size depends on your valve.

-pneumatic fittings: three hose barbs, depending on your tubing size. one coupling, one pneumatic quick connect.

-electrical switch and some wire.

- random (thick (3/8)) nuts, bolts and wood screws.

- 13.74g of common sense

Comments

[monty324]

haha, 13.74 g of common sense

[biolethal]

lol you'd be surprised... most people only have about 7.86 g.

[monty324]

i just weighed mine and i have 10.04 g. is it ok for me to build it

[rgeelen]

you could use a solonoid for a cheaper alternative

[hossweightlifter]

I'm doing something similar to this except I'm doing it with metal for removing trees and stuff