Hi friends, I’d like to program a robot arm to develop photo film. It pours solutions in and out of a tank, and picks up the tank and agitates it. I can make a frame to hold all of the bottles and tanks so that it won’t be hard for the arm to locate them.
My question is this: what’s an inexpensive arm that can lift 1kg and open to about 6 inches? Any recommendations or ideas will be most welcome.
Hello @vdonovan2000 and welcome to the RobotShop community,
That sounds like a really interesting project!
My question is this: what’s an inexpensive arm that can lift 1kg and open to about 6 inches?
It depends on what you consider inexpensive. You can find many different options in the Robotic Arms & Grippers section, you simply have to check if the payload and working range meet your requirements.
However, you will most likely need an industrial grade arm to lift 1Kg, for example this one:
If the payload was lower you could consider other options such as:
So you might want to consider using the arm to move the objects and a separate system to shake the tank.
I hope this information can help you!
Hi Geraldine, many thanks for your response! Most developing tanks need 1 liter (or less) of solution, which is why I was thinking 1 kg.
Your response has made me want to figure out how to do this without a lot of lifting. I guess this is what mechanical engineers think about all day long. If I can design a framework for the tanks and bottles so that the arm is just tipping solutions in and out (rather than lifting), I would need much less payload.
If I can design a framework for the tanks and bottles so that the arm is just tipping solutions in and out (rather than lifting), I would need much less payload.
I think that would be the best approach. You could try creating something similar to this:
Or maybe use something like this:
Yes, you’ve got my mental wheels turning. One problem is that once you’ve poured the solution from a receptacle into the developing tank, it needs to be poured back into the receptacle after a few minutes. Also it’s nice to have all the solution tanks sitting in a temperature-controlled bath, which is why the idea of having an arm just picking up and pouring solutions is attractive.
Most film processing systems solve this with pumps and tubes of various sorts, which I’d like to avoid. Still thinking…
