BigBen Posted May 23, 2012 Report Share Posted May 23, 2012 I am planning on making Articulating Arm Hollowing System similar to Captains Eddies Snake Hollower or the Monster Hollowing System. I have most of it planned out but I need some assistance in figuring out what bearing I should use in the joints. I have come up with the three options below, please let me know what you think? http://www.amazon.com/1250-Retainer-Thrust-Bearings-Stainless/dp/B002IABFN6/ref=sr_1_4?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1337790130&sr=1-4 http://www.vxb.com/page/bearings/PROD/Kit8753 http://bearingsdirect.com/store/index.php?l=product_detail&p=787 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimV Posted May 23, 2012 Report Share Posted May 23, 2012 Ben, those are all thrust bearings. Those are used when you have a high axial force applied along a full rotating arm. Imagine a spinning fan blade in a huge container of peanut butter. The blade is trying to push the peanut butter and it will create a lot of force in the direction of the shaft as well as the shaft spinning to rotate the fan blade. For this application, you simply need a bronze bushing as a "bearing". You only need to provide pivoting motion while allowing full support along the joint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmac Posted May 23, 2012 Report Share Posted May 23, 2012 On their website, the guys who make the Monster system actually point out that their design uses a bunch of thrust bearings in the articulated arm. It looks to me like this lets them sort of clamp down axially on the joints to eliminate slop in the mechanism while at the same time allowing the joints to pivot freely. Can somebody post a link to a picture of Captain Eddie's design? All I found was a longish YouTube video that I don't have time to watch right now. -- Russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigBen Posted May 23, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 23, 2012 Here is Captain Eddie's plan. It uses nylon washers http://eddiecastelin.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/docs/steelsnake.54183757.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmac Posted May 24, 2012 Report Share Posted May 24, 2012 I think the third link in your first post points to a bearing that's too big for what you want. I'd say that either of the other two would work just fine. At first I was thinking that you only need one bearing per joint in the arm. But then I realized that you really probably want two bearings per joint. One would go between the two big 1" square pieces so they can rotate freely with respect to each other. The other one would go between one of the 1" square pieces and the bolt that connects them so that the square piece can rotate freely with respect to the bolt. I guess that matches up with Cap'n Eddie's plans, which call for six nylon washers. -- Russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigBen Posted September 7, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 7, 2012 I completed this a while ago but forgot to post pictures. See below, works great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rboettch Posted September 18, 2012 Report Share Posted September 18, 2012 Ben, I built one of Cap'n Eddies snakes, and would like to convert to bearings. Can you post more details as to how the bearing assembly fits the arms. I am having trouble visualizing the connection. Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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