Suspending things from universal joints
Suspending things from universal joints
(OP)
I wish to suspend a perfectly cyclindrical 250kg glass ingot 1m below a crosshead mechanism that will itself travel down a pair of vertical linear guides. It is abolutely vital that the axis of the cylinder is on the centreline through a furnace below,as well as the centreline of the guide rail system, as it moves downwards. Can anyone advise me of a Universal Joint that is designed to carry axial load or preferably point me in the direction of "off-the-shelf" gimbals that I could use? The reason for the need to separate the cylinder from the cross-head is due to the necessity to place a long heat insulator between the glass cyclinder and the crosshead to stop the latter getting too hot as it approaches the furnace mouth.





RE: Suspending things from universal joints
RE: Suspending things from universal joints
You might find flange and tube yoke parts just what you need.
Look under drive shaft shops in the phone book.
RE: Suspending things from universal joints
http://www.geocities.com/bobluis/IRSdrw.gif
http://www.web-cars.com/e-type/irs.html
RE: Suspending things from universal joints
A suitably large size self aligning pillowblock bearing would support your 250 kg handily, since you are not compensating for any gross misalignment which would rotate the spherical segment "out of pocket".