A flexure hinge is an ideal construction element for making small angular rotations, without play and without friction. Material stress, angular rotation and force requirements are difficult to optimize without proper calculations. The free FlexHinge software application allows you to quickly calculate the stiffness and material stress of a flexure hinge. It carries out all calculations automatically. Simply enter the material data and dimensions in an easy to use window. The results will appear almost instantly in the same window.
Download FlexHinge here. FlexHinge is freeware.
Features of FlexHinge, the Free Flexure Hinge Calculator
- Calculation of translational and rotational stiffness.
- Calculation of material stress at any given deflection.
- Expandable list of material data.
- Extensive help file.
- Automatic and manual check for updates.
- Windows Clipboard copy function.
- Save a flexure hinge for later use or open a previously saved flexure hinge.
- Export flexure hinge as a .doc file.
- Five languages: Dutch, English, French, German and Spanish.
- Also runs on Linux.
The latest release of FlexHinge is 2.2.0. See the release notes. Download FlexHinge here. Note: if you run one of the toolkit programs on a high resolution display (High DPI) on Windows 10, the fonts can be blurry. See this article for an easy fix.
Check the system requirements here.
Useful Results for Designers
You can use the results from FlexHinge directly in your design decisions. The calculations of the stiffness and material stresses in FlexHinge are based on the empirical formulas as given in the lecture notes “Het voorspellen van dynamisch gedrag en positioneernauwkeurigheid van constructies en mechanismen, W. van der Hoek 1981”. These are based on accurate FE-analyses. Read more about about FlexHinge in the article Flexure hinges: theory and practice.
Download for Free
FlexHinge runs under Windows and under Linux. Choose the desired file here. Note: Because FlexHinge is not digitally signed, you may receive a warning from User Account Control (UAC) and/or Windows Smart Screen. In this case, select Yes/Continue.
Download FlexHinge 2.2.0 (Windows installation file)
Download FlexHinge 2.2.0 (Windows portable)
Download FlexHinge 2.2.0 (Linux)
Donation
Would you like to help with a small donation? I would really appreciate it! This will allow me to spend even more time developing the free software and providing support. Thank you in advance! You can donate via the form below (via Mollie).
Comments are appreciated
I am interested in hearing about your experience with FlexHinge. Leave a comment below or send us an email.
