Compressed Air Vaccum Gripper (Prototype)

Hi,

this is a prototype of a vacuum robot gripper that creates its own vaccum using the venturi effect. 

It weighs around 6 g and can lift things up to 1.5 g (I just blew into the air intake) EDIT: @DickF tested it and was able to lift 11.4 g at 6 bar. It also has a bracket so that you can mount it on your robot arm.

It is still in an early stage and might change a lot in future versions.

Its dimensions are approx:

50 x 40 x 20 mm

Air intake diameter: 5.5 mm

Connections on bracket: 2 x Ø 5.5 mm; 30 mm apart

How do you print it?

It consists of only one part and can be printed in around 2 hours with supports. I recommend a 0.12 mm layer height, a 20% gyroid infill, inner walls width of 1 mm, tree supports and PLA.

How do you use it?

The gripper has 3 openings: 

• Air intake (marked with “IN”)
• Air outlet (marked with “OUT”)
• Vaccum opening (not marked - please let me know if you know a better word for it)

If you blow air into the air intake it will leave the gripper at the air outlet. This creates a vaccum at the vaccum opening. If you want to lift something with the gripper, just place the vacuum opening on the surface of the object (e. g. a small piece of paper) and blow air into the air intake. The more air you blow into it the stronger the vaccum gets which results in the ability to lift heavier objects. 

I hope you like it. As always: If it does not work for you please leave a comment or shoot me a message instead of just posting a 1 star review, I'm sure there is no problem that can't be solved.