THE STRAIGHT FORWARD SOLUTION TO THE DILEMMA OF SPRING PRELOADING KINEMATIC SYSTEMS IS TO USE A THREE DEGREES OF FREEDOM FLEXURAL SPRING. WE DEVELOPED THIS DEVICE FOR A NIST PROJECT. IT CONSISTS OF A SQUARE BLOCK OF SPRING METAL SLICED ALMOST THROUGH IN FOUR ORTHOGONAL PLANES. THIS LEAVES THE EQUIVALENT OF A DUAL COMPOUND FLEXURE. ANY OFF AXIS TENDENCIES THAT DEVELOP AS THE FLEXURE IS ACCORDIONED WILL BE EQUAL AND OPPOSITE IN DIRECTION WITH A RESULTING OFF AXIS FORCE THAT IS ZERO.

OUR STANDARD, OFF THE SHELF DEVICE, PART NUMBER SF-1 HAS A FIVE EIGHTS OF AN INCH DIAMETER THREADED BOSS ( 5/8", 0.625 INCH ) [15.875MM] WITH EIGHTEEN ( 18 ) THREADS PER INCH ON ONE END, AND A LONG ONE QUARTER INCH DIAMETER (0.250 INCH ) [6.35MM] WITH TWENTY ( 20 ) THREADS PER INCH ON THE OTHER.

THE SF-1 WAS DESIGNED AND DEVELOPED SPECIFICALLY FOR USE WITH OUR PREASSEMBLED KINEMATIC PLATFORMS 3-INCH BY 3-INCH AND 6-INCH BY 6-INCH. THE 5/8 X 18 THREADS WILL SCREW DIRECTLY INTO THE CENTER HOLE OF THE PLATFORM.

BY USING THE SPHERICAL TILT ( OUR PART NUMBER, 75-ST-270, THE THRUST BEARING AND THE CLOCKING NUT, OUR PART NUMBER, 250-20-CN ) A SPRING PRELOADED DEVICE THAT IS FREE OF ANY OFF AXIS STRESSES IS ACHIEVED.

THE SF-1 IS ACCESSORIZED WITH THE CLOCKING NUT, THE SPHERICAL TILT, AND THE THRUST BEARING.