Removing load from pneumatic cylinder

[lewisconroy]

Hi all,

I want to actuate a hard stop betwen 2 positions horizontally.
there is a load applied in the direction of activation.
One position is fine as the stop can be against its own fixed stop taking the load

But in the other direction the pneumatic cylinder itself is taking the load.
I want to use a small pneumatic cylinder to actuate the stop with a mechanism to take the load

see crude drawing attached...

[joe_boggs]

What's your question?

For what it's worth, I never like to put a cylinder in the position of absorbing an impact load. Recipe for eventual failure. I prefer to let the cylinder actuate a mechanism that is designed to absorb the load. Design it so that the cylinder is not in the load path. It just positions the mechanism to do that.

But, again ... what's your question?

[lewisconroy]

Hi Joe,

Sorry if I was unclear,
I agree with you, and that was my question, what kind of mechanisms could I use to remove the load from the cylinder,
Like you say, I want to actuate with the cylinder without it seeing the load applied to the "stop" it is actuating.

Not only will this potentially lead to failure, but more impotantly the load is higher then the cylinder's output so I would need a very large cylinder which I want to avoid.

[joe_boggs]

You could mount each stop on a pivot in which the axle sees the impact load rather than the cylinder. Something like attached image.
stop actuator.png