How to Build a Swivel Joint Assembly

Hi, I'm Kristin Vogt, Product Marketing Manager at Edmund Optics. One of the key features of the TECHSPEC cage system is angular flexibility. A swivel joint assembly can be used to add 180° of continuous angular rotation to your system. Today I am going to show you how to build this assembly. First, here's all the parts that you'll need for the swivel joint assembly. You'll have two standard cage plates, four swivel adapters, two angle brackets, and two of the 25mm long post adaptors. You will also need twelve M3 socket head cap screws and Allen keys for the socket head cap screws, as well as the socket head set screws for the swivel adaptors. So, we'll build this assembly in two parts: First we'll take one of the standard cages plates and two of the swivel adapters and connect them together. We'll put everything else aside for now. So first I'll attach one of the standard cage plates to two of the swivel adapters using the M3 tapped holes in the back of the swivel adapter. Notice that the edge of the swivel adapter hangs over the edge of the plate here, this is the orientation that we need to make sure that it is mounted in. Now I can attach the second swivel adapter to the opposite side of the plate. Now I can add the 25mm long post adapters to the swivel adaptor assembly. Slide the post adapter into the swivel adapter so that the base of this post adapter is flush with the inside of the swivel adapter. We can lock it in place using the M3 set screw in the swivel adapter. Now I can add the second post adapter to the opposite side. Now we can set this assembly aside for a moment. Next, we'll add the second standard cage plate to the swivel adapters. This time we'll use the angle brackets. First attach the angle bracket to the cage plate. Now we can add the second angle bracket to the opposite side of the cage plate. Now we can attach the first swivel adapter to the angle bracket. This time I'm using the M3 counterbore holes on top of the swivel adapter. Before attaching the last swivel adapter I will now connect my two assemblies. Slide one of the post adapters from the first assembly into the swivel adapter on the second plate. Now we can attach the last swivel adapter to the angle bracket connected to our second plate. Using the M3 set screws on the top and the bottom swivel adapters I can lock the angular position of my joint assembly. Now I can add 180° of continuous angular rotation to my TECHSPEC cage system.