Power Tool Accessory Locking Mechanism for Precise Quick Attachment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing rotary power tools lack a reliable and user-friendly mechanism for securely attaching and detaching accessories, which can lead to axial and rotational misalignment, affecting tool performance and user convenience.
Innovation Solution
An attachment mechanism featuring a spindle with an inner and outer sleeve, along with mating members, that axially and rotationally locks the accessory to the power tool using ball detents and springs, allowing for easy engagement and disengagement through directional sliding of the sleeves.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a simple attachment mechanism is used, then ease of operation is improved, but reliability deteriorates due to axial and rotational misalignment
Solution Approach 1:
The attachment mechanism is divided into separate functional components: an inner sleeve for axial locking and an outer sleeve for rotational locking. This segmentation allows each component to specialize in one locking function, improving reliability while keeping the overall mechanism simple and easy to operate.
Solution Approach 2:
Ball detents serve as intermediary elements that mediate between the sleeves and the accessory. The balls engage with recesses in the accessory to provide positive locking, ensuring reliable attachment without requiring complex threading or tightening mechanisms.
2Reliability
If a secure locking mechanism is implemented, then reliability is improved, but device complexity worsens
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple locking functions are merged into a single integrated attachment mechanism. The inner and outer sleeves work together with the ball detents to provide both axial and rotational locking in one unified structure, avoiding the need for separate locking devices and reducing overall complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The inner sleeve is nested within the outer sleeve, with the ball detents positioned between them. This nested arrangement allows compact packaging of multiple locking components without increasing the overall footprint or apparent complexity of the attachment mechanism.
3Manufacturing precision
If axial and rotational locking are both provided, then manufacturing precision is improved, but device complexity worsens
Solution Approach 1:
The alignment function is segmented into two independent locking actions: axial positioning through the inner sleeve and rotational positioning through the outer sleeve. This segmentation allows each locking action to focus on one degree of freedom, achieving precise alignment without requiring a single complex mechanism to control both simultaneously.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The mechanism provides secure axial and rotational locking of accessories, reducing slop and misalignment, enhancing tool performance and user convenience by allowing easy attachment and detachment with minimal force.
Implementation Method 1
an inner sleeve biased towards a first direction to axially lock the accessory to the power tool
Data Source
AI summary
An accessory for use with a rotary power tool having a rotatable spindle and a first mating member. The accessory includes a housing having a body and a plurality of arms extending therefrom, a ball detent selectively engagable with the spindle to lock the accessory to the power tool, a sleeve slidable along the arms between a first position in which the sleeve biases the ball detent into engagement with the spindle to axially secure the accessory to the tool, and a second position in which the ball detent is disengageable from the spindle to release the accessory from the tool, and a second mating member coupled to the arms of the housing.