Flip Stop Tapered Abutting Portion Line Contact
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional flip stops used in woodworking experience inaccuracies and errors due to relative movement between the body and T-track caused by manufacturing tolerance gaps, leading to unstable positioning of wood pieces.
Innovation Solution
The flip stop design features a body with an abutting portion that tapers toward the T-track, allowing for line contact with the track's edges, enhancing stability and accuracy by eliminating gaps and ensuring secure positioning.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If the body has a fixing protrusion with width equal to the T-track opening width, then the body and T-track are fixed more stably, but gaps still exist due to manufacturing tolerance causing relative movement
Solution Approach 1:
The abutting portion is designed with a tapered shape that creates line contact at specific locations (edges of the T-track opening) rather than surface contact across the entire interface. This localized contact geometry eliminates gaps caused by manufacturing tolerances while maintaining overall connection stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The contact interface is transformed from a two-dimensional surface contact (fixing protrusion against T-track opening) to a one-dimensional line contact (abutting portion edges against T-track opening edges). This dimensional reduction eliminates gap formation while preserving mechanical stability.
2Device complexity
If the body is in surface contact with the T-track, then the structure is simple, but relative movement occurs leading to positioning errors
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of uniform surface contact across the entire abutting portion, the tapered geometry concentrates contact at the edges, creating line contact. This maintains structural simplicity while eliminating the relative movement that causes positioning errors.
3Manufacturing precision
If the fixing component is tightened to eliminate gaps, then positioning accuracy improves, but the body and T-track may still have relative movement
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of trying to eliminate gaps through tightening forces, the design inverts the approach by using a tapered abutting portion that prevents gap formation geometrically. The line contact configuration inherently eliminates relative movement without relying on compression from tightened fasteners.
Data Source
AI summary
The flip stop has a body, a fixing component, and a flip arm. The body has a nut side, a track side opposite to the nut side, and an abutting portion disposed near the track side and tapering toward the track side. The fixing component has a bolt and a nut. The bolt is located through the body and has a bolt head located near the track side and allowing the flip stop to move along a T-track. The nut is threaded with the bolt to locate the body between the nut and the bolt head and is located near the nut side of the body. The flip arm is pivotally connected to the body. When the body and a T-track are fixed with respect to each other, the body is in line contact with the T-track, which leads to more stable and accurate positioning.