Flexible small drive shaft?

An appropriate size steel rope inside a guide tube should work. The more strands the more flexible it would be. You just need to fashion attachment fittings welded, clamped, swaged or bolted at each end.

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-- Boris

According to John Doe :

The core of a flexible shaft is alternating layers of clockwise and counter clockwise windings, so a simple spring would either expand in one direction (and bind) or contract in the other direction, and rattle around inside the buide.

If you want flexible shafts to build from, try picking up a speedometer cable -- unless you need more torque than that can carry.

That's a pretty sharp bend for a flex shaft to handle the likely torque from that motor. Are you sure that you won't do better with a set of bevel gears?

Enjoy, DoN.

"Boris Mohar" wrote: 700 Watts is almost one horsepower ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Correct. If you are trying to transmit that much power at low RPM. the torque will be way too high for a speed cable. If you're trying to run it really fast, then the torque won't be the problem, but turning 90 degrees in

Look at a Weed Whacker type thing to get an idea what you need. Or a Dremel flex shaft drive.

Speedometer cable if it's not too small ............. ?

Steve

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"Boris Mohar" wrote

Conclusion: that would be too small.

Steve

--For that kind of power maybe what you need is a miniature one of these:

Good pics.

If I can't get what I want, it's just as good to know what I'm up against.

Thanks.

Try doing a search on model power boats. Some of them use flex shafts, and the larger ones might be usable.

You could also search on flexible shafts. There is at least one US company that makes them (S.S. White???), and their website will help you select what you need.

Howsomeever, it sounds like you want to transmit a LOT of torque over a tight radius. Consider bevel gears insteads.

If you want 90 deg. use a bevel gear assembly. Boston Gear has this sort of thing and you can sometimes luck in on ebay.

For somewhat less bend, universal joints work nicely. They make them for ratchet drivers and you can often get them at the discount tool stores.

These places also have the kind of flex shafts that you originally asked about. Same original application as the universal joints.

DOC

Buy my junk!

John Doe wrote in news:Z63Ai.13272$4w7.12330 @newssvr22.news.prodigy.net:

How LONG will the shaft need to be?

If ~6" would work, how about using one of the flex-drive extensions for a power screwdriver?

Dave