Ball and Socket Fingers

Last crawled date: 2 years ago

25MAY: Updated images to show how different grips can be achieved by having finger joints that can rotate and/or lock by moving Pivot Pins and Locking Pins (RED).

My goal was to present a ball joint concept that could be incorporated into other designs (generically shown in GREY).

NOTE: As drawn, the pins are only 3mm in diamter, so 3D printed versions would not be very strong. If metal pins are not available, inexpensive versions could be made by using 3mm FDM filament and heat forming the ends.
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Concept where the fingers are connected to the hand with ball and socket joints.

There are many new and existing designs where the fingers are flexed using pull wires. This concept focuses on showing how a ball and socket joint could potentially increase the utility of some of these designs.

The images show how the finger joints can be locked into different positions in order to accommodate different tasks.