Re: Tempest spinners

On Mon, 09 Mar 1998 12:38:25 -0500, Joel Rosenzweig <joel-r@an.hp.com> wrote:

>Hi all,
>
>Just in case you are interested ...
>
>I am going to do an experiment with my second Tempest spinner to replace
>the two bushings with nice ball bearings for the ultimate in
>smoothness! No more "BRRRRrrrrrr!" sound that we all know and love.
>;-) I've been using the teflon grease for 2 years, and that works well,
>but I want a more permanent solution.
>
>Anyway, I measured the bushings and located ball bearings that are
>almost suitable. I found a bearing with the same ID (0.25in), same
>flange thickness (0.036in), but with a slightly larger OD (0.375 instead
>of 0.315in). They are $4.25 each. All I need to do is bore out the
>holes in the Tempest spinner, drop these in place, and I'll be in
>business.
>
>I ordered the bearings today, so I'll probably have them by Friday, and
>I'll install them this weekend. If you are interested in any more
>details because you want to do this for your own Tempest spinner, let me
>know.

Go to your local surplus store and look for some old stepper or servo motors
with a 1/4" *long* shaft that use ball bearings. I found a couple of them
locally for $5.00 a piece.

By removing all the guts from the motor and keeping the case I found it very
easy to mount the motor to the bottom of old spinner with the shaft sticking up
though the original holes. (hint: To remove coils that have been pressed fitted
into the motor's casing, you a heat gun on the casing, it expands and the coils
slip out pretty easily.) Then slip on the original spinner to the motor's shaft
and you have a real nice spinner.

The nice thing about this approach is already having the bearings nicely
mounted.

Either way good luck (and yes, I'd be interested in how you mount the bearings.)

-Zonn

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Received on Mon Mar 9 10:48:25 1998