2nd set of roller bearings FAILED! We install Lignum Vitae bearings on our water wheel as a replacement. Lignum Vitae is one of the world's densest woods, and its natural oils make it self lubricating.
For what it's worth, I don't believe there is a finish on lignum vitae. The wood is naturally filled with more a resin consistency than sap. What often looks like varnish, is just the natural unfinished wood!
Great hydro project!!! Pacific Bearing Company(PCB Linear) sells plain, self lubricating linear bearings that can be used in rotation applications too. They sell bearings mounted in aluminum pillow blocks or the bearing can be ordered by itself to mount in a custom bearing block. The largest shaft size they sell is 2", but that bearing can support an impressive 25,000 lbs. They are not roller bearing so they are nearly maintenance free. The PBC bearings have a better coefficient of friction than lignum vitae 0.125(PCB) vs 0.158(LV). They can run dry(self lubricated) or lubricated with water or grease(can be ordered with zerk fitting) without degradation. Available in inch size or metric. It looks like you would have to machine the shaft to 2" if you wanted to use these.
Awesome project! Really admire your engineering skill set. 1200 Watts output is very respectable. A pleasure to get to see your project on RU-vid. Thanks!
I am not sure why but I’ve always liked wooden bearings. They are reliable. Work well and last forever I’d made correctly. The ones in this video have beautiful grain
Those old wooden bearings are still hard to beat. We had them on a cooling unit at work and they were dead nuts reliable, especially considering they got neglected most of the time.
Tractor trailer axle split in two and you can use wheel hubs to bolt in mounting plate...there double cone barring nd can run light synthetic oil , no grease drag . common parts at any truck parts
That's actually a pretty good idea if I was to build another water wheel. I would use the entire axle to get the full width and use it as the axle of the water wheel. I just don't know how water proof it would be as water drips on the bearings/axle constantly. With the wood, water is never an issue, and acts as a lubricant.
Nering Industries depends on the wheel seal you use...there's quite a few . use marine grease and id say that would be.great. but honestly 50weight synthetic oil would be the best for as little drag.. big trucks drive in this crap all the time in cold or hot climates . I've been wanting to test it out my self. I have 4 used axles now. I'd even thought of a vertical wind turbine generator. Kinda like a carousel except very big.. Most trailer axles have a 1-1/4 hole through the spindle to the axle which is 5x5 box . I believe that would suit for a standard windmill with at least 15ft blades or more and the through axle design would be great for direct drive to the gen.
Love the paddle wheel generator. Great job. Have you investigated the use of pillar block bearings for Flocculators? In water treatment these bearings run under water. The bearing material that I know of is some type of harden plastic. They may be other types. If interested I'll give you the name of the company I use.
just as a quick note, all the Lignum Vitae bearings i have seen, are installed with the wood grain parallel to the shaft, not 90 degrees to the grain as you have installed, they have water grooves and are much as twice as long as the shaft diameter to take the weight
The centerpiece is the welded joint of several pieces. It is not a single piece made in turnery machine with low tolerance and greater precision. This can cause a phenomenon of cavitation as occurs with the propellers of ships and the bearings can vibrate too much until be damaged.
Going back to a timber bearing block and just grease is an interesting simple solution, but I would like to add that I would have encased the block in some stainless flat bar to make sure it doesn't split apart when it ages with the water and stress, I will be interested in how it goes, you should get a year at least out of that with a bit grease. well done ,nice bit of timber! Good luck
Great comment - I did worry about this and did wrap the bearing with a 1/16" stainless steel flat bar to hold it all together if the wood split. It's been a year now with some bearing wear but now water can get in and help lubricate the bearing.
@@NeringIndustries In other underwater applications, we used wooden slats (similar to those for barrels), ancapsulated in a steel frame, and they work great. With that system, the replacement of wornout slats is may be easier
@@NeringIndustries if you ever decide to try a heavy trailer axle hit your local tractor trailer shops most have a few laying around back. Most from conversian , spring ride to air ride. Id get a couple of rockwell style and some alluminum hubs . You can easily cut them up and make any type configurations...dont forget the hubs will have the studs tha in most cases can be driven out and drove backwards...possibilites are endless. Also the the tubes between the hubs are usually 1/2 thick or better which makes for ultra sturdy and easy welding if you need to shortin or separate each and make them independent. I wish I lived close I got 5 or 6 of them I've cut up for various exparaments and ideas.
Have you thought of a way to supply water to the bearings on a constant feed maybe a small pump or a ram style those are great bearings you have implemented into your design i have worked on turbines from late 1890’s with the original ones still in use just an adjustment every year or two depending on water quality
The wheel turns at 7-10 rpm depending on river speed. The belt drive is a 5:1 speed increaser. The generator maximum rpm is 50rpm, so everything is designed to work together.
Ceramic bearings or eyther zirconia or silicon nitride or graphite bronze plus stainless steel are better than lignum vitae.Teflon plus glass ( sleeves, water cooled )its what i would have used for a project like this .Lignum vitae comes from an endangered small shrub and i bet those bearings were more expensive than high tech zirconia sleeves and will last much less.
Mihai Ilie , They will far far outlast any man made bearing. He will never have to change the bearings again in his lifetime. The tree (Guaicum) is highly restricted and there is only one licensed dealer/ supplier in the world.
Like the design. But Most wood bearings I have seen are two parts being that it's stronger. Second thought why do you set the wheel so far in the water. The higher usually has less drag and more rpms.
The deeper in the water it is the more power it makes. It acts like a cross flow turbine to some extent. I'd go even deeper but the belts slip when they are submerged.
عمل ممتاز ولكن يا سيدى كلما رفعت المروحه لاعلى كلما زادت سرعة المروحة لكن هكذا عبئ ثقيل من الماء على المروحة مما يؤدى الى انهيارها بسرعه ولكن لابد من ملامسه سطح الماء بالكاد لانك فى النهاية تريد حركة إذن لماذا غمرها فى الماء اكثر؟!
I need to do a new video! Still running well although I have noticed some wear in the wood bearings. Should last another 10 years or so, maybe more as more water is getting into the bearings and lubricating them.
@@NeringIndustries do you think it is plausible that a system like this would work on a smaller scale? Say 50-100 watts to create 1.2-2.5KW/day to offset daily usage at average residential place like mine?
@@sportslinephotography8425 You could go smaller diameter, but I would go as wide as possible. I'm going to increase the width of mine by 1 foot in the near future. wider is better for efficiency and power production vs increasing diameter.!
It is pretty heavy, but it also functions as a flywheel to keep the speed consistent. Last time I looked the bearing wear was equal on both sides. I think the belt helps take some of the weight too.
It looks good, but looks to be still harvesting less energy than you'd hoped. Check out this axial flux alternator, sized up it would work as direct drive in a system like this. Good luck with the Lignum bearings, They are generally good as ship prop bearings, but here, I don't think they will do any better than your ball bearings, too much side load I think. Another solution is to slightly positive pressure the bearing, so it's always slightly leaking, and flushing water out of the seal. Use Canola oil, or ph neutral lard, so that there is no eco contamination. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-wdpLH2DBKLk.html
Yes, the taper lock is two opposing tapers that are drawn together with the bolts. As the bolts tighten, the taper lock expands in diameter and locks onto the shaft and the pulley. The lignum vitae has worn a bit and I can see a gap between the shaft and bearing. Hopefully the wear will stop at some point as more water is allowed in. I have drilled a hole in each bearing to allow dripping water into the bearing for more lubrication.
This is a prototype, so we are still experimenting. Rough costs so far are in the $20-25k USD range not including permitting costs or labor. Costs could be minimized by using different methods of construction (such as concrete for counterweights, etc.)
Nering Industries , that would only take me 50 years to pay off , my electric bill is under $500 per year , my electric bill runs around $35 each month , last month it was high at $37 dollars , I was pissed
