Where to locate bearings

[Japhethwg]

Anyone have any ideas where I could locate bearing that would work with my genny. I'm looking at building a wind generator and am trying to keep it simple and cheap.

I'm following the plans for the generator made almost compleatly from Microwave parts and I'm not sure what kind of bearing is needed for the blades. I would like to keep it as cheap as possable and I was thinking of pulling one out of a car altinator but I'm not sure how I would attach it. Any ideas in this area would be great!

[zap]

Japhethwg if any of the microwaves you have are hood mounted, check the exhaust fan. These usually have good bearings. Inline skates, kick scooters, etc. also have nice bearings. Keep whatever mounting you find the bearings in to try and use that to mount your blades unless you have access to some type of machining equipment.

[picmacmillan]

why not an old car spindle? someone would give you one for sure off a junk car, or trailer...lots use those, unless of course you're project is redoing an electric motor, but if i recall from your posts you are making one similar to most of ours...good luck ..looks good so far..pickster

[Tom in NH]

I was at my lawn mower repair shop and saw a set of bearings and mounts taken off a riding mower deck. They were still good. The repair guy thought I was doing him a favor taking them off his hands. They went into the skeleton of my current VAWT project. --tom

[Norm]

  Even if the bearings in the blade spindles

have went bad in the most common 2 blade type

it's usually the bottom ones that go bad first

and even tho' they're sealed the seals go bad

in time and all that dust,chaff, moisture in

the lower part of the deck...really plays heck

with that lower bearing ! ...in the meantime

the top one can be good as new....so if you get

a 2 bladed deck you can make one good spindle

out of 2...probably. The whole spindle can be used,

the blades of your genny can be mounted

with very little modificaation. Where the pulley

is/was can be used to put your plate for the

magnets...if a home brew alternator. Or the

pulley can be used as part of a flexible

coupling.

    That spindle was probably designed for

handling some of the output of a 8 to 18 horse

engine at 2 to 4 thousand revs with the tips

traveling at near sonic speeds...so as part of

a HAWT it should be able to handle 5 or 800 revs.

    ....but if you run across an almost good

bearing ...in my experience, it's a waste of

time to try to salvage it, new bearings are

quiet because they are polished to a mirror

finish...once that surface has become damaged

by dirt or rust ...forget it ...unless you like

the neat sound of ( rrrrrr.rrrr) of a bad bearing

at 2 or 3 in the morning.

    There is also the headset of a bicycle

especially for a VAWT

....coming soon in my diary...

should be entertaining and useful for some..

Thanks for bringing

it up tom...

any pics of your

current project or

did I miss it?

                  ( :>) Norm.    

[hvirtane]

From a bicycle you can get

quite good bearings.

The one for pedals is often quite

strong. Also the one for steering.

You can make good bearings of wood.

You will put the wood piece inside

used engine oil. Heat the oil

so much that the water inside the

wood will start boiling

and bubbling out. Wait until

that bubbling stops. Let the

wood piece to stay inside

the oil overnight so that the

oil will go inside to replace

the water, which was there.

Drill the suitable hole

for your shaft. Wooden bearings

will have some friction, but

they are good and cheap.

- Hannu

[zap]

I agree on the bicycles Norm.

It still amazes me when you find a bike in the trash that was rode off and on for 5 years without any kind of maintenance then left outside for another 10 years before being tossed... a little oil here and there, some air in the tires, and the sucker can be rode home!

[Norm]

   Right Hannu...the 2foot diameter diameter

shaft bearings on one of the ships I was on

were made of wood.

               ( :>0 Norm.

[theTinker]

an excellent idea.

[Don Cackleberrycreations]

You can also pour bearings from leno lead

basicly take a candle and let the soot collect on the shaft then pour molten lead .

These were used in a lot of old farm equipemnt and sawmills.

I know a very old farmer who replaced the worn out bearings in his pre 1940s trackter with with an oil soaked leather belt its still chugging along