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In Collaboration with Rodney Alford of Intense Band Fitness
With the creation of the Intense Band Grip and the Smart Bellz, it became apparent to Rodney that he needed a way to secure the bands to the bench base in order to provide a proper workout and function of the grips and Smart Bellz. Rodney of course had an idea . . . |
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Rodney’s Initial sketch of how the bench insert would work allowing one to slip a custom steel tube into the leg of a standard workout bench with a molded foot cap. |
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Right: one of the initial digital models of the insert concept. Finite Element Analysis (FEA)showing percent of allowable stress of each material. Nylon 12 for the insert and steel for the tube.
Below: Rodney’s first cast urethane prototype end cap. Worked well, but he of course was concerned about versatility ease of use, and cost on this so the development continued . . . |
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Image copyright Intense Band Fitness |
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Right: A section through the assembly showing the insert (like Version 12.04 or something)
Below: The first iteration of the digital model was a fluted version meant to facilitate insertion into the outer tube and, having a taper, the idea was that it fit snugly at the outer edge. The 3dPrint did not work out too well as it proved too difficult to insert plus there was a lot of material which would result in a costly part in the end. Further development needed . . . |
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Above: the second iteration of the insert which proved to be a bit overkill and would have been difficult to insert because of its length. Through frequent FEA to test the design, we were able to make it much smaller, compact, efficient, and very simple to insert while maintaining plenty of rigidity and strength in the nylon.
Right: FEA results of some version close to the final where we switched to ribs with spacing designed to distribute stresses evenly and transfer load to the outer tube . . . Still tweaking.
Below: an elevation view of the second iteration of the insert |
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Right: Now closer to that final version but stresses are still a little high for that nylon right on the outer edges of those ribs. We’ve added the longitudinal fins to give the ribs some added rigidity, and tweaked the spacing while flaring the end to allow the tube being inserted to be axially mis-aligned slightly and still go into the one on the opposite side. |
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Right: Here we are at pretty much the final version where we have gotten the nylon stress down to acceptable levels and the fit is working as well. Our 3dPrinted prototypes are working well. Stresses in the nylon are coming up at around 1300psi max with a 300# test load on the end of the steel tube. |
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Right: The prototype 3dPrint . . . Working great! |
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Right: The final digital model. |
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Products shown and described on these pages are covered by one or more design and/or function patents. |
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