I am building a locomotive style drive arm, except that mine sends the power in the reverse direction. What I mean is the power comes from the wheel (rectified dc motor with wheel attached) and need to send a thrust down the linear drive arm.
I made the motor "flywheel" out of 1/4" thick hdpe that I mounted on the motor with a 5/8" shaft arbor adapter.
The first drive arm is going to be 3/8"-24 12" long threaded rod with a super duty ball joint linkage at the flywheel end.
I'm thinking a flexible coupler between the first drive arm and the second drive arm (3/8" to 1/2") since they're cheaper than a u-joint. and I only need bending back and forth one way. (does anyone know of a better coupler?)
then the second drive arm will be a 1/2" - 18" long precision shaft that will be guided through a Frelon lined pillow block instead of a linear ball bearing.
I pretty much know what I need to make this drive arm, but it's going to be expensive. I am wondering if anyone has any cheaper suggestions?
The motor is 1/4hp 500rpm 24ft-lb torque 130vdc gear motor. powered by a surplus treamill speed controller. (I think it might be PWM, but it could be SCR)
