Hello all,
Its been a couple of weeks now and I have been simply testing the ZB-1 for water tightness and so far I haven't had any leaks. This is really good as It has mainly helped me ascertain just how tight the seal of the U cup seal lip should be over the shaft. You want a good grip but not too much friction. I think that I may have the balance just right.
For a while I have been looking at the photos David has put up showing his twin shaft single motor end cap and this has made me want to produce one myself. Having a design like this has a couple of advantages. You only have one shaft to seal theoretically, but also won't have to worry about possible inconsistencies in speed between two motors. It also should be a little cheaper as there is only one motor.
So I started once again by taking a block of Renshape and making sure my lathe had its way with it. Tightening a bolt through the center of it I could then affix it to the lather and start bringing it down to round and slightly oversize. Once I did this I had to get some gears organised. I also had to work out what I was doing the drive from the motor. I have decided to run the motor from below and have it engage with the right side gear. The right gear then engages with the left at the center of the end cap.
These nylon gears are hard and will be ideal. They feature a thicker section on top of main gear. This will be useful for drilling and fitting a locking pin through the stainless steel shaft later on.
The next step was to locate the precise position of the rear of the shafts where they mount into the front surface of the end cap. They will sit in two flanges shallow 4mm Oil lite bushes. These supports hold the stainless shafts nicely.
You can see that the motor has also been fitted in the back and engages with the lower underside of the right hand gear. The motor in the back of the unit is in a tight position and placing it up to one side has been the only real and practical position to locate the motor that I have found.
The 4 mm flanged Oil lite bushes are clearly visible here. As with all my end caps the Renshape prototypes are oversize and will be then machined to reduce them to fit individual Polycarb tubes. The motor has a deep recess in the back. This is so that the small pinion gear that I use has enough distance to engage its teeth with the right gear that it sits right next to. Theis also allows a reasonably short 2.6mm hex bolt to screw the motor down inside the end cap and make it really secure.
David H
Its been a couple of weeks now and I have been simply testing the ZB-1 for water tightness and so far I haven't had any leaks. This is really good as It has mainly helped me ascertain just how tight the seal of the U cup seal lip should be over the shaft. You want a good grip but not too much friction. I think that I may have the balance just right.
For a while I have been looking at the photos David has put up showing his twin shaft single motor end cap and this has made me want to produce one myself. Having a design like this has a couple of advantages. You only have one shaft to seal theoretically, but also won't have to worry about possible inconsistencies in speed between two motors. It also should be a little cheaper as there is only one motor.
So I started once again by taking a block of Renshape and making sure my lathe had its way with it. Tightening a bolt through the center of it I could then affix it to the lather and start bringing it down to round and slightly oversize. Once I did this I had to get some gears organised. I also had to work out what I was doing the drive from the motor. I have decided to run the motor from below and have it engage with the right side gear. The right gear then engages with the left at the center of the end cap.
These nylon gears are hard and will be ideal. They feature a thicker section on top of main gear. This will be useful for drilling and fitting a locking pin through the stainless steel shaft later on.
The next step was to locate the precise position of the rear of the shafts where they mount into the front surface of the end cap. They will sit in two flanges shallow 4mm Oil lite bushes. These supports hold the stainless shafts nicely.
You can see that the motor has also been fitted in the back and engages with the lower underside of the right hand gear. The motor in the back of the unit is in a tight position and placing it up to one side has been the only real and practical position to locate the motor that I have found.
The 4 mm flanged Oil lite bushes are clearly visible here. As with all my end caps the Renshape prototypes are oversize and will be then machined to reduce them to fit individual Polycarb tubes. The motor has a deep recess in the back. This is so that the small pinion gear that I use has enough distance to engage its teeth with the right gear that it sits right next to. Theis also allows a reasonably short 2.6mm hex bolt to screw the motor down inside the end cap and make it really secure.
David H
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