Lever arm design

[James83]

Hi all,

I am an engineering student working on a project to design a trash compactor, I have decided to use a lever arm. The compactor will be operated by a person pushing down the lever arm at position C in diagram below, this will push a plunger attached at point B, I need to get 1200kg/m3 in the bale, so with the area of the compression plate I have calculated that the force required will be 171N. I need to design the length of the lever arm and then the minimum size for a timber lever arm and a steel box section for an alternative. I have looked through a number of online calculators but none match my setup. I would really appreciate it if someone could help me with how to go about designing this or what book or web resource would help me.

Thanks in Advance,

James,

[RWOLFEJR]

Hi James and welcome to the forum,
Take a quick look at the forum rules on helping with schoolwork.

If you're an engineering student... And gonna stick it out. Then go buy yourself a copy of Machinery's Handbook. You can buy a used book and save a couple bucks as not much has changed in the last ???? years in the world of physics.

Far as the world wide web goes... Do a search... "simple levers." Or look around on this site as I'm about certain what you need to find is probably on here.

Good Luck and have a great weekend...
Bob

[Kelly_Bramble]

Look at the followinh beam deflection calculators..

https://www.engineersedge.com/beam_b...m_bending9.htm

https://www.engineersedge.com/beam_b..._bending10.htm

And the beam stress and deflection menu..

https://www.engineersedge.com/beam_calc_menu.shtml

Find the applied stress - compare to beam properties....

[James83]

Hi all,

Thanks very much for all your help, I'm progressing nicely now.

James