Reply To: Self-made car jack – static structural analysis

[josh dudman]

 

I realised why the simulation is failing. The model is currently made up of two 4 link mechanisms on top of each other which both possess a degree of freedom. If you look at a scissor jack they actually have a cogged mechanism between the opposing arms at the base and top, see image below. When constrained in this way the arms resist a moment and the mechanism becomes fully constrained.

So in the simulation the joints between the arms and the base and top components can be fixed rather than revolute to represent this. See the updated FEA below.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1chuUW8vorhzuTkgOcNseRWOA3mqGCn_V/view?usp=drive_link

Regards, Josh