Soul_Venom
Student
- May 14, 2025
- 1
First time poster here so if this is not the correct forum for the topic the mods can move it.
I am designing a device for patent and part of the design is giving me fits. I have zero background in engineering. The part I am having trouble with is two sets of belts on 1"x2" rollers. The bottom set is fixed in position. There will be a 1/8" piece of sheet steel bent into a U shape [flat bottom], holes drilled into it to attach the rollers. One of the bottom rollers will have a sprocket and drive chain running to a motor. The bottom is not the problem. It is the top. In my current rough design I have the rollers attached to 1/4" rods. The rods require some sort of flat surface like a washer part way up the rod just high enough to clear the roller and 1/16" thick belt. There must be a spring on each rod exerting 6lbs of pressure. The rod must then travel through the frame and some sort of stop must hold it so it cant come out. So the top belt is turned by contact friction with the lower belt and small single semi-soft items will pass between the belts held in place by spring tension.as the items come through the springs compress and the top rollers lift to allow passage. I must figure out the best way to get both sides of each roller to lift evenly and not bind left to the left or right. Some sort of H frame but I cant envision how that would work & attach reliably to the rods. It also must have a base for the springs to push against. And then there is the frame itself. My first thought was to use two 2" strips of 1/8" steel with bushings and hex standoff between them but I am not sure if that is the optimal so I am posting here. Is there a better way to build a frame or mount these rollers?
I am designing a device for patent and part of the design is giving me fits. I have zero background in engineering. The part I am having trouble with is two sets of belts on 1"x2" rollers. The bottom set is fixed in position. There will be a 1/8" piece of sheet steel bent into a U shape [flat bottom], holes drilled into it to attach the rollers. One of the bottom rollers will have a sprocket and drive chain running to a motor. The bottom is not the problem. It is the top. In my current rough design I have the rollers attached to 1/4" rods. The rods require some sort of flat surface like a washer part way up the rod just high enough to clear the roller and 1/16" thick belt. There must be a spring on each rod exerting 6lbs of pressure. The rod must then travel through the frame and some sort of stop must hold it so it cant come out. So the top belt is turned by contact friction with the lower belt and small single semi-soft items will pass between the belts held in place by spring tension.as the items come through the springs compress and the top rollers lift to allow passage. I must figure out the best way to get both sides of each roller to lift evenly and not bind left to the left or right. Some sort of H frame but I cant envision how that would work & attach reliably to the rods. It also must have a base for the springs to push against. And then there is the frame itself. My first thought was to use two 2" strips of 1/8" steel with bushings and hex standoff between them but I am not sure if that is the optimal so I am posting here. Is there a better way to build a frame or mount these rollers?
