Looking to buy gas shocks for our robot

Technical
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Looking to buy gas shocks to test out on one of our robots, does anyone know where to purchase them? If so how do you find what size is needed?

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McMaster carr is the go to place for gas shocks for 4130. What exactly are you using them on? Need alittle more context before I can help you size them.

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I am looking to use them on a 2017 125-esque intake . if that helps

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There are plenty of places besides McMaster Carr to order Gas Shocks, at a far better price.

Here’s one example:

https://industrialgassprings.com/gas-springs/

The times I have ordered gas springs, they have usually been from companies trying to open hoods, trunks, or raise awnings.

In selecting gas shocks, the key attributes are the force and stroke length. The product of these two should be twice the amount of work you need the shock to perform, just to deal with the usual inefficiencies. My personal design strategy has been to provide the full stroke length and (on average) twice the force my calculations expect to be necessary.

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Much like the real world, if you have more money than time, overnight it via McMaster (or drive to the warehouse while placing the order).

Now is absolutely the time to shop around and find a better deal.

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On our latest design for a climbing lift, one of the dads bought a range of lift supports (gas shocks) from our local O’Reilly’s. We tested a few out and settle on needing 4 for the design, and then returned the rest. He works in an auto body shop and has pretty good rapport with the auto shops, so YMMV.

For that particular support we have a product sheet now for all the important details for the future.

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If you do this, be sure that the mounting balls are included in the package - most of the lift supports I’ve bought at auto parts shops as replacements don’t include them.
Added: for that matter, they’re usually a separate item on-line as well, but the companies that sell the shocks will sell you the mounts at the same time, and may offer a variety of mounting options. (Through-bolt or welded-to-a-mounting-plate, for example).

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We bought ours from Amazon this year - generally you can narrow down based on the lengths you want and I found a good selection of options.

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