Flexures or compliant mechanisms is a flexible elements (or combination of elements) engineered to be compliant with a specific degree(s) of freedom (DOF) and relatively stiff in their degree(s) of constraint (DOC). Flexures are important for engineers because they allow stiction-less, controlled, limited-range motion. These well-designed, well-understood springs can then be implemented in precision machines to allow the development of medical devices and machines for electronic fabrication.(no backlash, no lubrication, high stiffness)(fatigue life, dimensional constraints, fabrication challenges)

Zach Fredin's how to make something that makes (almost) anything documentation

Zach Fredin's how to make something that makes (almost) anything documentation

References

  1. https://fab.cba.mit.edu/classes/865.21/people/zach/index.html
  2. https://web.mit.edu/mact/www/Blog/Flexures/FlexureIndex.html
  3. https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/2-72-elements-of-mechanical-design-spring-2009/1f5a093dbcb1a8189d6aca0b380b4925_MIT2_72s09_lec08.pdf
  4. http://academy.cba.mit.edu/classes/computer_cutting/56836505.pdf