Pneumatics for my axe

[maddox]

We use a rather large 60*25*950 solid sheet of 7075T6 ali for the axearm of Obsidian. I guess a 30*12 will do for a feather then.
My supplier for this stuff is Dejond, Wilrijk, Belgium. So P&P would make it rather expensive to get it from there.
For the gears, racks and simular stuff we buy at Stoffels, also in Belgium. Or go pure custom, but thats a very expensive option.

[terrorhurtz]

We use 2014T6 aluminium alloy for the axe shaft on THz.
The rack and pinion material is EN24 steel.

You could buy a length of round rack (not spur round rack) from HPC e.g. part 141-020-025 for £64 then drill and tap a hole in the end for a large bolt to hold the piston on.
see http://www.hpcgears.com/newpdf/round_racks_1_5mod.pdfhttp://www.hpcgears.com/newpdf/round_racks_1_5mod.pdf

The three most common strong aluminium alloys are:
1) 6082 - a weldable, medium strength alloy.
2) 2014 - high strength. Poor weldability. Not suitable for forming (bending).
3) 7075 - Strongest of the common alloys. Also not suitable for welding or forming. Tends not to be available in less than 1/2 thickness.

Generally you would go for the T6 tempers in the above alloys. This is the usual one most people supply.

All available from http://www.metalfast.co.uk/http://www.metalfast.co.uk/

Ed works in an aitcraft related business, so has access to alloys that us mere mortals can only dream about.

[Kenny]

i found metalfast expensive compared to a ebay shop called alum-droitwich search for it they has a good stock of ali and can get what you want

[Mouldy]

eds on about a material called alumec, strong as hell, machines very nicely and its not too expensive.. minimum thickness is 20mm plate though.

[geeza]

Beat me to it Dave.

[maddox]

If you have the wallet for them, these are usable.

[terrorhurtz]

Compact but fairly heavy. They have a lot of excess material on the barrel.
Search on ebay for pneumatic cylinder.