How to Make Anything Spin Using a Thrust Bearing - Kevin Caron
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 ก.ค. 2017
- #KevinCaronArt #FabricationTips #ArtistKevinCaron
From www.kevincaron.com - Artist Kevin Caron shows how he made a 215-pound sculpture spin easily using a thrust bearing ....
Kevin Caron has been getting a lot of questions about how he got his new sculpture Roundabout to spin so easily. Well, he discovered a new type of bearing.
In the past, he used flange bearings to make his sculptures, like his sculpture Gyre, spin. He would just use two flange bearings, one on the top and the other on the bottom. He had to get the two bearings perfectly lined up, which has always been one of his problems with flange bearings.
The other issue he's had is illustrated by his sculpture Moonshine, in which the bearings are buried down inside the pedestal. But they had to be buried a couple of feet deep in that pedestal because they are so big and clunky.
Then Kevin Caron discovered thrust bearings. The cool thing about thrust bearings is that they
have their own inner and outer races built into them. It also traps the needle bearings inside it. So it can spin, but not on itself.
With flange bearings, you have to bolt the bearings to the pedestal. Then it has an outer race with ball bearings and an outer race. It then twists and turns by itself, but one half is held firm.
Kevin Caron shows a different thrust bearing, which has its own races, or washers, on it for the balls to run in. So it's like an outer race, an inner race, and then a cage for the balls to run in.
That allowed him to use just one bearing on the top of the pedestal. The bearing went down over a shaft that was welded to the upper part of the sculpture. On the bottom of the sculpture, he welded another big washer - something big, heavy and flat that he cut out of plate steel with a hole saw.
Now his upper race has something to butt up against. Then he did the same thing on the pedestal side: a nice big, flat washer welded to a pipe that went down inside the pedestal.
The pipe's inside diameter is the same as the outside diameter of the shaft that is welded to the upper part of the sculpture, giving it just a little clearance.
The thrust bearing sits on top of the washer on the pedestal, then the shaft fits down inside the pipe. You put a little grease on it, then fit the shaft down into the pipe, trapping the thrust bearing with the other washer, with everything held down with gravity.
The long shaft gives stability from side to side, and the thrust bearing, which is rated to about 3,000 pounds, handles the spinning part. "It spins so beautifully," says Kevin Caron. "It's just beautiful to see."
Then, to keep the dust, dirt and weather out, he put a collar between the upper part of the sculpture and the pedestal itself where the bearing is. To grease it, someone can lift up the upper part while someone else dabs some axel or other grease on the bearing. Then you're good for another year or two.
There are different sizes of thrust bearings as well as different diameters, different thicknesses and different uses. Kevin Caron says he imagines he'll find some uses for them other than what they were intended for!
He's ready to go back to work, so viewers have a chance to visit www.kevincaron.com to see more how-to videos and to subscribe to this channel to see more videos.
Well, you might want to stick around one more moment to see Kevin Caron flog a naughty metaphor ....
"Inspired sculpture for public & private places."
Artist Kevin Caron has been sculpting full time since 2006. See - and hear - his amazing metal and large format 3D-printed sculptures, which are found in public and private places coast-to-coast and online at www.kevincaron.com.
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Great tips Kevin. Those are some nice sculptures!
You're a gift to humanity Kevin!!! Thank you for the taking the time to share your knowledge with the rest of us.
Thanks for watching and posting!
@@KevincaronSculpture hhyyyuyyyyyyyyygyygyyugttyyygtyyytyytggggtttyy!yhggjjuiijhhh
Thanks for sharing the info on thrust bearings, that gives me some ideas for some spinning sculptures.
Have fun!
I just love listening to you explain things Kevin! There's just something about you and your cadence that relaxes me ! Great work keep it up buddy
Wow, thank you
Used to come to your channel for welding tips. Now I’m here for ME tips. Thank you.
Glad to help
Very good tutorial! I didn't know about thrust bearings till I watched this!
Thanks for watching!
Kevin: don't forget to show us some detail on how you use these on your future pieces. a zillion thanks as always!!!
Thanks for the request, will keep it in mind!
Very helpful Kevin - appreciate the tips as I am formulating a project to build my own kinetic wind sculpture for my back yard - so thanks again!
Thanks for watching and don't forget to send me a photo or two when you are done!
OK will do - thanks Kevin
Love your videos, thrust bearing. Didn't know the right word. TY!
Thanks for watching!
thank you!!! thank you for sharing your experience and knowledge. Very appreciated.
You are most welcome!
Thank You for the fast reply and information
Always welcome.
Thanks a million, Kevin. I should have remembered that it was a thrust bearing that sat at the opposite end of the propulsion shaft from the propeller on my minesweeper.
They are a great addition to my supply bin!
Excellent knowledge! Thanks so much.
Glad it was helpful!
I love this info thank you. I’ve been commissioned to create a spinning garden design piece. This will come in real handy
Glad it was helpful!
brill that was just the information I needed for my next project !!
Cool!
What are you making?
@@KevincaronSculpture can I drop you an email? Not really ready to go public yet but I would love to see what you think.
You can reach me at my first name @ my full name . com.
@@KevincaronSculpture brilliant. I will send something over
Those will be handy. I just made a kinetic sculpture, and used a technique you described way-back-when of inverting two flange bearings to counter each other. Same problem though, large and clunky and required an additional bracket to hold them...
Have to make a large spinner soon. multiple parts and 9 feet tall!
Should be fun.
Cannot wait to see this one!
Got a belly laugh out of me at the end. Well played sir.
Thanks, got to have some fun now and again.
useful info. and well presented.
Glad it was helpful!
You can add radial bearing to the shaft inside the base to keep it centered and thrust bearing, as you demonstrated, as the load bearing bearing.
EDIT: it is best to get washers with the bearing in an assembly, to make sure rollers and the surfaces they roll on are hardness matched, otherwise wear may occur.
Great point!
Nice tip, thanks.
Glad to help
thanks it helped me with my project!
Glad it helped!
Many thanks as always for EVERY one of these videos. Can you show us the detail of the inside and how it all strings together in a real piece in the future? at this point i'm the shaft....
Am working on a new piece now. Will shoot a video in September to show you guys the real deal.
Thanks for sharing..!! I was looking for such bearing but didn't know what it is called and how it gets mounted.
Hope this points you in the right direction!
cool video and sculpture
Thanks, it looks great installed and the patron is very happy..
Thrust bearings are great. Every car has them on the front wheel / hub assembly. Cheap way to get amazing bearing action in both axis. Cheers.
Cars have wheel bearings not thrust bearings. Thanks for watching and posting.
@@KevincaronSculpture You are not entirely correct. Most Car and trailer wheel bearings ARE Thrust bearings. At least a type of.
"4. Tapered roller bearings are designed to withstand a radial and thrust load, and can be found in car hubs due to the amount of radial and thrust loads they can carry."
www.machinedesign.com/learning-resources/whats-the-difference-between/article/21831901/whats-the-difference-between-bearings
4 words.....YOUR PRETTY CLEVER KEV!
Thank you. I try to have fun with my job.
Your stuff is totally cool
Thanks for watching!
Muchas gracias. Saludos
You are most welcome!
Very nice tip
Thanks a lot
Thank You for the great video and information. Will the thrust bearing make thingn spin easer or faser? Again Thank You.
Definitely will help it spin easier. Faster all depends on the wind and the area of the piece.
shaft collar's also make it easy. or you can notch the shaft and squeeze a split washer in the notch.
Wow, just wow! You just made a huge difference in my art work. Kevin, I went to MSC direct and found the bearings but not the grooved 'washer'. Do you by any chance have part number? Thanks. Oh, what is the finish on 'Moonshine"?
Look here for the grooved washers, they are part of the bearing set. www.mscdirect.com/product/details/03380672
Moonshine is polished copper with a clear coat over the top.. If I remember right it is "clear guard" from Sculpt Nouveau.
Again thanks a lot.
Hi Kevin great job could I use this to make a wood wind spinner twist if it was on a wooden stand
How to make something spin freely for a long time. Have it hanging from , talking about a 3-D print. I am fine with fastening it to something down below to keep it from swinging like from the CD holder, fishing lure weights….
You are awesome and groovy too!
Thank you kindly!
Can you make a tutorial on the hub Assembly for vertical shafts.... And how they're held in place. Especially for that gyre thing.
I will try to put on together.
For weight load I use 2 bearings. I would imagine the thrust bearings are expensive. Three things are the culprit building kinetic wind sculptures. Friction, balance and angles. Nice informative video.
Not that expensive John. Still learning how to set them up but having fun anyways. Thanks for posting.
Kevin Caron, Artist I know what you are saying about having fun. I’ve been doing kinetic sculptures for about 15 years and I love every minute of it. People ask me if I am a mechanical engineer and I always say yes but I don’t have a diploma that says so. My degree is that scrap pile under the welding table of things I tried that didn’t work. Then I follow up with a quote. Failure is the tuition one must pay to become a master.
Do you have any idea where to get these from that could support a centre pivot/bearing for a car turntable. DIY projects of course!
I would check with these guys,
www.messingerbearings.com/
I have been thinking about building a merry go round or round a bout like they used to have on many playgrounds, the big heavy metal ones that you and your buddies would get spinning by hand and then jump on and hang on!
I wonder what kind of bearings those used? I haven't found much info on it yet. I thought that they probably just retrofitted a big truck axle or spindle and bearings but I don't know. Those aren't really designed to spin with a thrust load like that I wouldn't think....
Sounds about right. Would have to do some research to get it right.
Kevin, I LOVE THIS. I was wondering if it was possible to make a 14mm sphere rotate with the moon phases. I'm trying to make a moon phase pendant for my mom so she can tell the phases of the moon, but I want it to rotate it to show the phases. Do you think it would be possible? also would you know where I could find a place that could manufacture that for me? thank you!
Anything is possible with enough time and money. But sorry, have no idea who would make one for you.
That’s in the realm of a watch-maker. Obviously, displaying correct moon-phase requires sync with a time piece.
Mechanical, moon-phase, watch movements are costly. A custom, miniature, automated, mechanical design with reasonable accuracy would cost many tens of thousands of dollars.
Your best bet is to find a moonphase watch and convert it to a pendant for your mother to wear on a necklace. Take a look at the Christopher Ward moonphase watch. It has a glow-in-the-dark presentation of the moonphase, which is quite dramatic.
The watch face is around 40mm in diameter - not tiny, but not crazy large either. It is a mechanical watch, so there has to be room to fit the movement. It’s going to cost you around $2,350 - which is inexpensive as far as mechanical, moon-phase watches go.
On accuracy, it will keep accurate moonphase for 128 years (without needing to re-set the moonphase) if you keep the watch operating that long.
Hi Kevin, It would be awesome to see some close up's so we can understand by seeing, I am a visual learner so I need that:)
Noted!
please:))))) me to, I can't grasp what you are saying with seeing it
Hi Kevin love the engineering I want to make wooden wind spinners would these work if I used a wooden pedestal I live in Trumbull CT did I see somewhere u are from strattford ct
These bearings will work with the right setup in wood as well. And yes, I was born and raised in and around the Stratford Ct area.
Thanks Kevin for the quick reply I wasn't expecting it so fast if u ever had ten minutes to spare could u Google Steve Ramsey wood spinner the video is about 6minutes I think I want to Kno if I could put a wood pedestal under it or u might b able to advise I'm a wood worker but can't weld or do much with metal I'm just off exit 48on Merritt parkway TKS
Should be easy to put a base under this design. Just have to figure out the design and fab it all.
I love this movie.
awesome video, super clear thanks! btw you sound like Bubbles from TPB if he got his life together
Thanks for watching and posting.
Hi Kevin i desperately need your help pls. i am trying to make a simple 12" long flower spinner BUT how do i get the flower to spin in the wind?? do i use a thrust bearing like you are demonstrating now? or is that for heavier structures?
You don't want a thrust bearing for this, check out these guys. www.vxb.com Don't forget to add a little twist to the pedals like a propeller on an airplane. Or just give me a call. The number is on my website. There are a lot of little details that will take too long to type. Look for a flange bearing to fit the shaft you are using and make the hole in the flower fit it.
Thank you so much Kevin! you have no idea how much your replying means to me. ok ill get a flange bearing and if i get lost i will definitely call you.
does the flat surface of the bearing wear? If so, how?
Thanks
Not supposed to. Long as it has some grease or oil it should last a long time.
What do you think the high end kinetic sculptors use?
Thanks,
Ted
Probable a combination of flange and thrust bearings.
Thanks Kevin.
Cool.
Thanks for watching!
You said it can be lifted out. Is there a way to secure the object (such as your sculpture)?
I have made some of the moving sculptures safe for being in public by adding a pin to the fixed shaft to hold the sculpture in place.
Kevin, Im trying to get a water feature to rotate. Do you know of bearings that are used in pressure washers? Im thinking the type in the Surface Cleaners. Would any bearing be ok? Just concerned water will get in and ruin the ball bearings.
Check with the folk at VXBearing.com. They have a bunch of plastic bearings of many sizes.
Got no problems with bearings Kev, but we need principles and measurements for these beautiful sculptures, Some of these Kinetics are amazing,but where to start? John from Oz
Sorry, these are my designs. Just let your imagination run wild and start welding!
Rad, thanks, was going down a rabbit hole of collars, flanges and way overbuilt ideas to solidify some "drawers" on a post idea for a piece of furniture!
Thanks for watching and posting!
Hi Kevin, just to be clear, this is a manual spinning sculpture, right, and on average, the spin lasts how long? I am thinking about applying these principles to a mechanical watch winder, so it would be on a much smaller scale.
You are correct in that it is manually spun. How long it spins depends on the weight of the piece. But for what you are doing it should work very well.
Are these only useful if you are mounting something vertically? Hard to see how they would work if the load was horizontal? Any experts around? Good to have the knowledge though. Thanks,.
They are made for horizontal to tell the truth. I use them vertical and have had good results with them. All depends on how you fab the spinning parts to get the best results.
@@KevincaronSculpture Thanks. I think I will have to buy some to have a look. I can see how the components hold together if the force is a vertical one, but it just looks like the parts of the bearing would separate in a horizontal position. I am obviously not understanding them properly.
Could a smaller one be used at the centre under a round house, while a larger one be used around the inside circumference?
So the house could have all year sun.
All it takes is money and a will to amaze.
Nice ending)
You know me, always trying to have fun! Thanks for watching and posting.
do you have a source you can share where you can be these thrust bearings from?
Thank you !
In the description, i use vxbearing.com
@@KevincaronSculpture Sorry-I must have missed that. Thanks for the direct response.
I keven how can I make Weathervane move more freely using a frost bearing can you please advise me Patrick from England United Kingdom
Without seeing what you are working on I really can't offer any advice.
Hey Kevin , how can one insert ball bearing in a still pipe 6m long in order to make it turn if someone tries to cut it through?
A couple of these might do the trick www.vxb.com/LM3UU-Linear-Motion-3mm-Ball-Bushing-p/lm3uu.htm Just have to get the correct size for what you are doing.
Thank you for recommendation and fast reply 🙏
This video didn't show up in my subscription list even though I am subscribed to this channel. The last video did and is still on the list but this doesn't show up. Anybody else have this problem?
Been having nothing but trouble with youtube as well as the internet lately..
Kevin Caron, Artist I also have not received notifications. Can you give a little help with how to use a thrust bearing in a weathervane where we have high winds and extreme hot and cold weather? Are there sealed thrust bearings that never need the lubrication you mentioned? I’m making a production line that will preclude my attention to that maintenance.
Is there a way of making something spin vertically without welding
Always a way to do something. You just have to find the way that works for you. If you have a solid rod stuck in the ground and a pipe that is a close fit to the od of the rod, you can sharpen a point on the rod and close the hole in the pipe so the point has a place to run. You could find a set of bearings that will fit your rod and just attach the bearings to the rod. I would really need more info to offer any type of "real" help here.
wow thanks :)@@KevincaronSculpture
Are these the same as Needle Bearings?
Nope, two different things. Ball bearings are shaped like balls. Needle bearings are shaped like little pipes or cylinders. They both have inner and outer races and cages to hold the balls or cylinders in place. Great question by the way!
Welcome to engineering world my friend .
Thank you, I don't think I am doing too bad for a high school dropout!
I think I need a picture.
I didn't even know that there is art in bearings. Now I do, and I discovered a new world. Edit: I don't know any engineering
Thanks for watching.
Can thrust bearing spin clockwise and counterclock?
Yes, but not at the same time!
Thanks for watching and posting.
Beautyfull sculptures/
I wish you could add an animation while you talk, cause I am Spanish speaker and it takes too much imagination &jumping on language to follow
Not sure what you mean but I get the idea.
Good joke in the beginning, made me laugh lol
Got to have fun with life!
Where are you located?
Phoenix Arizona
I need help designing a rotating piece of sports equipment. Can I send you a pdf? Thank you.
Yes, sure but I do charge for consultation work.
Can I use this to make a wagon wheel spin vertically on a tree?
Probably you can, you just have to get your mounting figured out.
How can I use a TB to rotate my DIY mobile??? Help!!!
You don't! Go to the fishing store and get a line swivel rated to the weight of your mobile. Use them all the time and they work perfect!
Where do you buy these Bearings?
Thank you for that Info. You make such Beautiful things and are one of the Best, my comments before is we do not want you staring at a screen all day making CNC stuff, when your hands are Gold!
Not a worry, the cnc table is just another tool for me to make my work. And it is not running full time.
Hard for me to visualize. Can you sketch this out?
----[-- ¤]~
Solid shaft with a washer on one piece. Hole tube with washer on otherside.
Yo Kevin! Thanks! I'm just trying to figure out how to get the chandelier I designed to rotate! Thanks, and... Nice Work!
Do you use stainless steel rods and bearings?
When I have to I will. All depends on where it will be installed.
Thanks! I imagine if a sculpture like Roundabout were outside, the washers, rod, and bearing would all be stainless steel?
@@benjaminpauly847 It is outside and yes, all marine grade stainless steel.
So how did you make it spin?...
The wind will take care of that part.
It's such amazing info Kevin, but we need close ups to see how to make it work, in other words, just explaining it doesn't help as much as "showing it" each and every step:)
Noted!
"What does that mean?"
Need a little more info here. What does what mean?
@@KevincaronSculpture Seven Design is quoting your female camera man as a joke. He's implying that you told her to ask you "What does that mean?" at a specific point in your video, but that she asked the question in a meme worthy tone of voice. He's repeating what she said but you can't hear his tone of voice which is imitating hers. It's a joke.
Confusing explanation, pretty simple solution.
Thanks for watching.
Grease? I had always understood that any fluid or grease would slow a bearing down, that the only reason to use those was to dissipate heat. In other words, things roll faster on clean surfaces. Which rolls faster? A bowling ball down a clean alley, or the same ball down an alley with an inch of standing oil?
Then why do you have to grease wheeling bearings? I think if you over do it and just pack it on the bearing for a short time it may turn slower. But done correctly it helps to protect the bearings and make them last longer.
@@KevincaronSculpture It's a cruel world, Master Jack. Electric Current goes from negative to positive, but Conventional Current goes from positive to negative (guess which one is the more popular in electronics). A node can be negative AND positive at the same time (relative to another node). Fuses don't protect appliances (that's a job for surge protectors), they keep the wiring from overheating and burning your home or car when an appliance has shorted out. Red enameled magnet wire is not enameled at all (the coating is a polymer). No one has ever seen the present (we trust that it won't change, not even in a femtosecond).
They don't seem to be weatherproof. The collar is a good idea.
They are not and that is why I put the collar on there. Thank you for watching and posting.
Sir, next time while trying to explain, please give a practical demo. I couldn't really understand this video.
Will try to keep that in mind. Thanks for watching and posting.
Nice title! Does any of this work in politics?
(Apologies for prodding a zombie thread.)
Not sure on that one!
THE best communicator shows in camera the matter is BEING talk about!
WHATS THE idea le NOT SHOWING THE BEARINGS IN CLOSE UP X LONG TIME,
TALKING , TALKING, & NOT SHOWING PROCESS
You get what you pay for sometimes.
Don't get it big Dan.
Sure, whatever you say.
does anyone else think that his voice sounds a tad bit like kermit the frog
You need to do some show, because your tell is confusing, as all get out.
TY for the brainstorming ideas, but don’t need the narcissism which distracts from the objects. I might have subscribed, then!
Sorry to read this but thank you for watching and posting.
@@KevincaronSculpture there’s no need to be sorry for allowing to accept “comments”, which aren’t in a malign manner.
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