I'm building a horizontal windmill, just a fun project to try out some different ideas I have, and need some suggestions on bearings. There will be two major parts to the windmill, the base and the blade assembly. The base will be a small platform with a hole in the middle, supported by long legs. The blade assembly will sit on top of that with the drive shaft sticking down through the hole to power a pump or water wheel or something like that.

There should be some sort of bearing mounted on the base platform for the blade assembly to rest on to reduce friction. I was thinking of something like the unit pictured on this web page:

http://www.usabearingsandbelts.com/m...-ucf201-8.html

Bolt the flange to the base platform and have the blade assembly rest on the neck sticking up from it, with the drive shaft sticking down through the neck. The blade assembly won't weigh that much, maybe 15# or 20#, but is this sort of bearing assembly designed to support weight or just rotate a shaft sticking through it?

Any links to appropriate bearings will be appreciated.

Paul

On Thursday, June 6, 2013 12:21:48 PM UTC-7, Pavel314 wrote:
I'm building a horizontal windmill, just a fun project to try out some different ideas I have, and need some suggestions on bearings. There will be two major parts to the windmill, the base and the blade assembly. The base will be a small platform with a hole in the middle, supported by long legs. The blade assembly will sit on top of that with the drive shaft sticking down through the hole to power a pump or water wheel or something like that.



There should be some sort of bearing mounted on the base platform for the blade assembly to rest on to reduce friction. I was thinking of something like the unit pictured on this web page:



http://www.usabearingsandbelts.com/m...-ucf201-8.html



Bolt the flange to the base platform and have the blade assembly rest on the neck sticking up from it, with the drive shaft sticking down through the neck. The blade assembly won't weigh that much, maybe 15# or 20#, but is this sort of bearing assembly designed to support weight or just rotate a shaft sticking through it?



Any links to appropriate bearings will be appreciated.



Paul

How about a thrust ball bearing?

Pavel,

That's the wrong bearing, I think. You need a thrust bearing, since the
bearing is supporting the blade assembly.
http://www.vxb.com/page/bearings/PRO...FeU-MgodCgcAFw

Dave M.

Pavel:

From your post, I gather the windmill you're building will have a vertical axis like this one:



because you didn't say anything about the blade section rotating to face the wind.

However, if I was building a windmill, I wouldn't use plywood. I'd use the lightest materials I could because the inertia of plywood blades is going to prevent the blades from turning in anything short of hurricane force winds.

If you're into building machinery of any kind, then you'd do well to order a Reid Supply Catalogue.

Reid Supply is a major supplier of machine parts located in Muskegon, Michegan, and they ship internationally. I've ordered from them when I was unable to buy parts for my vinyl composition tile cutter. They have almost every kind of machine part you can imagine:

Industrial Supplies from Reid Supply

On Jun 6, 2:21*pm, Pavel314 wrote:
I'm building a horizontal windmill, just a fun project to try out some different ideas I have, and need some suggestions on bearings. There will be two major parts to the windmill, the base and the blade assembly. The base will be a small platform with a hole in the middle, supported by long legs. The blade assembly will sit on top of that with the drive shaft sticking down through the hole to power a pump or water wheel or something like that.

There should be some sort of bearing mounted on the base platform for the blade assembly to rest on to reduce friction. I was thinking of something like the unit pictured on this web page:

http://www.usabearingsandbelts.com/m...olt-flange-bea...

Bolt the flange to the base platform and have the blade assembly rest on the neck sticking up from it, with the drive shaft sticking down through the neck. The blade assembly won't weigh that much, maybe 15# or 20#, but is this sort of bearing assembly designed to support weight or just rotate a shaft sticking through it?

Any links to appropriate bearings will be appreciated.

Paul

I think you mean a vertical axis windmill.

On 6/6/2013 2:21 PM, Pavel314 wrote:
I'm building a horizontal windmill, just a fun project to try out some different ideas I have, and need some suggestions on bearings. There will be two major parts to the windmill, the base and the blade assembly. The base will be a small platform with a hole in the middle, supported by long legs. The blade assembly will sit on top of that with the drive shaft sticking down through the hole to power a pump or water wheel or something like that.

There should be some sort of bearing mounted on the base platform for the blade assembly to rest on to reduce friction. I was thinking of something like the unit pictured on this web page:

http://www.usabearingsandbelts.com/m...-ucf201-8.html

Bolt the flange to the base platform and have the blade assembly rest on the neck sticking up from it, with the drive shaft sticking down through the neck. The blade assembly won't weigh that much, maybe 15# or 20#, but is this sort of bearing assembly designed to support weight or just rotate a shaft sticking through it?

Any links to appropriate bearings will be appreciated.

Paul


Hey Paul, have you ever wondered what the inside of one of those really
big wind Turbine machine heads looks like, take a look at one that was
damaged on its way to a job and is now up for a salvage auction. ^_^

http://www.salvex.com/listings/listi...ucID=182951870

http://tinyurl.com/mb2u46l

TDD

On Jun 6, 12:21*pm, Pavel314 wrote:
I'm building a horizontal windmill, just a fun project to try out some different ideas I have, and need some suggestions on bearings. There will be two major parts to the windmill, the base and the blade assembly. The base will be a small platform with a hole in the middle, supported by long legs. The blade assembly will sit on top of that with the drive shaft sticking down through the hole to power a pump or water wheel or something like that.

There should be some sort of bearing mounted on the base platform for the blade assembly to rest on to reduce friction. I was thinking of something like the unit pictured on this web page:

http://www.usabearingsandbelts.com/m...olt-flange-bea...

Bolt the flange to the base platform and have the blade assembly rest on the neck sticking up from it, with the drive shaft sticking down through the neck. The blade assembly won't weigh that much, maybe 15# or 20#, but is this sort of bearing assembly designed to support weight or just rotate a shaft sticking through it?

Any links to appropriate bearings will be appreciated.

Paul

Your description seems to be that of a "vertical axis" windmill?

Perhaps the orientation of the windmill axis needs to be described via
a graphic of some sort

btw the bearing you show appears to be a "radial loads only" type.

SWG here....For your windmills you'll at least two bearing.... one
that takes thrust & radial, one the takes radial only.
Note: Your bearing arrangement needs to support component weight AND
wind loading.

On Jun 6, 12:21*pm, Pavel314 wrote:
I'm building a horizontal windmill, just a fun project to try out some different ideas I have, and need some suggestions on bearings. There will be two major parts to the windmill, the base and the blade assembly. The base will be a small platform with a hole in the middle, supported by long legs. The blade assembly will sit on top of that with the drive shaft sticking down through the hole to power a pump or water wheel or something like that.

There should be some sort of bearing mounted on the base platform for the blade assembly to rest on to reduce friction. I was thinking of something like the unit pictured on this web page:

http://www.usabearingsandbelts.com/m...olt-flange-bea...

Bolt the flange to the base platform and have the blade assembly rest on the neck sticking up from it, with the drive shaft sticking down through the neck. The blade assembly won't weigh that much, maybe 15# or 20#, but is this sort of bearing assembly designed to support weight or just rotate a shaft sticking through it?

Any links to appropriate bearings will be appreciated.

Paul

check this out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jLA2u_G4Dg

you might consider

http://windgenkits.com/vcom/index.php


the rotor assy shown in video

http://www.windgenkits.com/vcom/prod...products_id=84

On Jun 6, 8:21*pm, Pavel314 wrote:
I'm building a horizontal windmill, just a fun project to try out some different ideas I have, and need some suggestions on bearings. There will be two major parts to the windmill, the base and the blade assembly. The base will be a small platform with a hole in the middle, supported by long legs. The blade assembly will sit on top of that with the drive shaft sticking down through the hole to power a pump or water wheel or something like that.

There should be some sort of bearing mounted on the base platform for the blade assembly to rest on to reduce friction. I was thinking of something like the unit pictured on this web page:

http://www.usabearingsandbelts.com/m...olt-flange-bea...

Bolt the flange to the base platform and have the blade assembly rest on the neck sticking up from it, with the drive shaft sticking down through the neck. The blade assembly won't weigh that much, maybe 15# or 20#, but is this sort of bearing assembly designed to support weight or just rotate a shaft sticking through it?

Any links to appropriate bearings will be appreciated.

PaulAds not by this site

I have seen the axle from a rear drive car used in projects like this.
Sometimes the gearbox as well.
Saves a lot of work.
Differential unit needs modification to lock it up.

On Thursday, June 6, 2013 7:00:28 PM UTC-4, David L. Martel wrote:
Pavel,



That's the wrong bearing, I think. You need a thrust bearing, since the

bearing is supporting the blade assembly.

http://www.vxb.com/page/bearings/PRO...FeU-MgodCgcAFw



Dave M.

Thanks, that looks like what I need. I searched around and can't find a thrust bearing with a flange for bolting to the base or a thrust bearing holder. I suppose I can bore a depression in the base to fit the bearing into so that it's somewhat stable.

Paul

On Thursday, June 6, 2013 10:22:33 PM UTC-4, wrote:
On Jun 6, 2:21*pm, Pavel314 wrote:

I'm building a horizontal windmill, just a fun project to try out some different ideas I have, and need some suggestions on bearings. There will be two major parts to the windmill, the base and the blade assembly. The base will be a small platform with a hole in the middle, supported by long legs. The blade assembly will sit on top of that with the drive shaft sticking down through the hole to power a pump or water wheel or something like that.

On Friday, June 7, 2013 1:52:14 AM UTC-4, DD_BobK wrote:
On Jun 6, 12:21*pm, Pavel314 wrote:

I'm building a horizontal windmill, just a fun project to try out some different ideas I have, and need some suggestions on bearings. There will be two major parts to the windmill, the base and the blade assembly. The base will be a small platform with a hole in the middle, supported by long legs. The blade assembly will sit on top of that with the drive shaft sticking down through the hole to power a pump or water wheel or something like that.