Air O Matic steering

[frank8003]

get a NAVY guy
They have to fix it all at sea
or else mission is compromised
Expertise is if someone else can make that mechanism than We can take it apart and rebuild it.

 

[CARNAC]

get a NAVY guy
They have to fix it all at sea
or else mission is compromised
Expertise is if someone else can make that mechanism than We can take it apart and rebuild it.

That's true. Over 60 days ago we just had a machine break at work and the part was out of stock and couldn't be found as the mfg doesn't make it anymore. I said take the broken part over to a shop that has a former Seebee chief working there...that was the day I found out about the non-availability. 2 more weeks of "smart people" &^%$ing Zeroes who thought they knew better. Two days ago I highly suggested the equipment operator sneak the part over to the Seebee chief. Two hours later.....machine part ready and today the equipment is back up on line. Navy Seebees Can Do, Done Did.

 

[dmetalmiki]

As in (my(our Group)) Motto, "We are the Kiddies, We Have the Thecno, We Can;t be beat".

 

[tobyS]

Okay, a brief look over and I have an 'alternative' idea.

I see the valve that controls the air in the drag link as the heart of this system. That "link" has mechanical stops (inside) to give the part full strength by the arm-strong method (as if no compressed air is present). Inside, it is a valve that has a plunger acting against a spring (both forward and back). And the airflow is large enough to handle full flow...making it a larger "valve".

I build high security jail locks using pneumatics, most of which are pilot controlled internally in the valves. It occurred to me to put the larger valve closer to the cylinder and use pilot lines to control the valve. The link valve then, would have a piston actuator (both directions) and only use pilot line flow, making it handle a small fraction of the air volume and reducing the size of the valving in the link. While having only pilot flow will reduce the valve size, the overall "link" size may not be smaller so it can handle the mechanical stresses.

Sure, there is a very limited market here, but this is not only an A3 part, but could readily go on any deuce (and not be a $4,700 kit) by replacing the drag link and adding the cylinder.