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Melty Gooseneck happens to be the nickname of one of
Sturton's more disreputable friends, but that is sheer
coincidence.
Metal goosenecks are used in various applications where
it's useful to have a flexible arm (well, neck, really) that
can be adjusted and then hold its position. Examples
include magnifying glasses, desk-lamps, fibre-optic light
pipes, and those "helping hand" things that have clips for
holding components while you solder them.
These are all very well and good, but they're not great.
For one thing, the gooseneck can only hold a modest
load
without sagging. For another, when you adjust it, it
always spring back slightly, away from the position you
wanted.
Enter the MaxCo. Melty Gooseneck. It consists of
flexible
silicone tube, sealed at each end and filled with a
substance that melts at about 40°C. Some low-melting
alloys would be suitable, for example. It also contains a
heating tape, running inside the tube, connected via a
switch to a suitable power supply.
To adjust, simply press and hold the switch until the
contents of the tube melt. Move the now-flaccid
gooseneck (we are mixing our anatomical metaphors
here,
I know) into the perfect position, then release the switch
and hold still until the contents cool and solidify.
Gadulka!
Your gooseneck is now perfectly positioned, and as rigid
as
a long thin rod of metal can be.
For [bungston]
https://www.princet...tgerstalk121602.htm
Some solids melt when you cool them. [MaxwellBuchanan, Nov 03 2016]
DragonFoot
https://www.youtube...watch?v=AXkY3WKG6M4
Another technology that might be a more suitable alternative for some applications [notexactly, Nov 10 2016]
[link]
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Cool! The invention, that is, not the stealing. |
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Useful for shining a light on the sticky extra you have with your coffee, otherwise referred to as a goo-snack. + |
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I grew weary waiting for the gooseneck to solidify and help me with my sauna repairs. Conducted with the sauna running full blast, of course, because otherwise it might get chilly. And when I blow the fuse again, the melty gooseneck is stuck in position. Bah. |
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I think a tube full of faceted ball bearings might do the job as well. On loosening the screw plug at the bottom of the tube, the pressure comes off these bearings, allowing them to move relative to one another. Tightening it back up presses them against one another, fixing the gooseneck in position. |
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Ah, I see. This improvement, involving nothing melting, curries no particular favor with the aforementioned Melty. |
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I've needed something like this idea many times. (+)
You might want to think about liquid cooling the neck so solidification wait times are reduced. |
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// a tube full of faceted ball bearings// That might
just work... |
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Also, regarding your sauna problems, MaxCo. is happy
to exchange your Melty Gooseneck for an Inverse
Melty Gooseneck. This device is filled with a liquid
which, when heated, solidifies. When cooled, it
returns to its normal liquid state <link>. |
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What the lava lamp wanted to be! Bun |
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My one concern is that it will take a while to solidify since
you have to get rid of a lot of heat to change phases. |
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If you make out of a series of metal ball-and-socket joints
it (like the legs of a Gorilla Pod), but have the joints
"lubricated" with your melting point metal, assuming the
metals are compatible, the ball joints would be locked up
very tightly when not melted. Since most of the mass
would not be changing phases, less heat transfer would
be required. If you could arrange for the ball joints to be
plated with a metal that both solders well and has a
fairly high resistance and have a low resistance metal for
the bulk or the material, you could apply heating exactly
where needed by running high current low voltage along
the length of the structure. That could result in very
quick actuation since most of the metal wouldn't heat to
40°C, and would quickly sink the heat when the current
was stopped. I guess you'd need some way to ensure you
didn't overheat the thing. |
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// melts at about 40°C // |
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Or as we call it, "midday". |
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Can't half tell you live in Scotland, Maxwell. You'd want to increase that melting point a tad for the international market, methinks. |
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Er, get a trained goose, they come with a gooseneck attached. |
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Unfortunately, they come with a goose head, and - significantly - a goose beak, which is one the less appealing features of the creature. |
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//make out of a series of metal ball-and-socket
joints it (like the legs of a Gorilla Pod), but have the
joints "lubricated" with your melting point metal// |
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Now that, [scad], is a brilliant idea! Welcome to the
Scientific Inadvisory Board of MaxCo. |
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I agree with Scad mientist. |
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The melting material only needs to be the size needed to support the force wanted. The smaller the amount of material the faster the response times. |
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I was thinking a series of pins at the the joints. This allows for seperate areas to be moved. |
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Hmmm. if we could think of anything new that was _speedy_ then it could benefit robotics. 3d adjustable positioning with temperature adjustable polymers to maintain precise arbitraty positioning. Perhaps just 1/10 of the gooseneck could be warmth adjustable to provide the higher locational resolution |
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If your lubricant were a thixotropic substance then vibrations would turn it liquid and solidify instantly as soon as the vibrations ceased. |
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But anyway, I'm guessing that someone in ancient China worked out how to do this, so maybe look in the old books? |
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Great title. Good idea. All around, a nice little +, |
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It seems like instead of this "melty gooseneck" you
could just use trained geese. |
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The phrase "trained geese" is a bit like "small elephants" or "tepid lava". There is only one effective way to train a goose, and it requires the use of specialist equipment (viz, an oven). |
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[+] for the idea [-] for a missed custard opportunity. |
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I think a mechanical version of this could also work:
Imagine a tube with many wires running through it.
Bend this and the outer cables need to go further, so
the inner ones would stick out the end a touch or
something. If you could clamp all the wires relative to
one another it would hold the shape. If you had a
multi-wire clamp every inch or so you could describe
some complex shapes. |
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Thinking even further, a significant non-compressible
core wire/cable would be better, then you'd only have
to worry about shortening the inside of each bend. You
could use electrical signals to contract any section along
the length on any side.... Oh, I've invented the snake. I
think they exist. |
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//If you could clamp all the wires relative to one another it would hold the shape.// |
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Not a bad idea, but I don't think it would work. For one thing, if the curvature is gentle then the wires would have to be extremely stiff to not allow a little flexion of the gooseneck (equating to stretching/compression of the individual wires). For another thing, the wires would need to travel in extremely close-fitting sheaths, giving them no room for play. For a third thing, Sturton tells me he doesn't know anyone called "Clamped Wire-stayed Gooseneck". |
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Sturton needs to get out more. |
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There are a great many people who would say the exact opposite. |
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Like us. He definitely does NOT need to get out more. He doesn't need to get out at all. His ... antics ... around the Samhain bonfire were, well, disturbing. And it wasn't fair on the echidna, we are sure it couldn't possibly have given "informed consent" - the melted lard went EVERYWHERE. |
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It's not big, and it's not clever. |
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Thanks for the loan, by the way. We have cleaned and refilled it - how did all that grit and mayonnaise get in it ? The nozzle's a bit worn, it will need replacing soon, as will the sounding-board. There's definitely a crack in it, you can hear it when it's played in the third octave. We have some firebricks that will fit, if you want them. |
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//It's not big, and it's not clever.// The echidna says you're only half right. |
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