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Unread 06-05-2011, 16:13
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Randy Forgaard Randy Forgaard is offline
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Location: Hollis, NH, USA
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Re: Slowing down the action of a cylinder with flow control, mechanical or via softwa

Quote:
Originally Posted by jspatz1 View Post
A hard stop on the cylinder will probably not be any less problematic than a hard stop on the frame (it will still "slam"), and is very hard on the cylinder itself.

It is always easy to shorten the working length of a cylinder. Simply add a spacer between the clevis and the nose of the cylinder, so that it bottoms out externally on the spacer instead of internally on the piston. You can always use a cylinder that is a little longer than needed with this technique, but you can't get more stroke out of a cylinder that is too short.
All good points, many thanks. That's a very good point about shortening the working length of the cylinder, and that a hard stop on a cylinder is at least as hard (and damaging) as a hard stop on the frame.

I am inclined to have us look carefully at your suggestions in your earlier post about reworking the design of the arm to use springs, counterweights, and/or shock absorbers to more organically use the pneumatics for what it is intended. We will also experiment with flow control fittings (we just ordered some this afternoon) to see if that might get us most of the way there, since it's such an easy solution.

Thank you again!