Originally Posted by
Ellis
Gut feeling, mostly. I'd say, depending on the design, those numbers sound heavier duty than you could get away with but are otherwise right. Spinning weapon shafts are typically in the 40-60mm region (so for a lifter this would be nice, but perhaps overkill) and 25mm is a heavy duty drive shaft. If the latter is somewhat exposed, I'd say stick to that sort of size. I know that many machines use as small as 3/4" without issues but that feels a bit borderline to me!
For reference, Pulsar's weapon shaft is 45mm EN8 solid steel rod (cheap), and the wheel shafts are 30mm steel too. I know I just said 25mm is big - Pulsar's wheels are relatively exposed and I didn't want any issues stemming from the downwards shocks of a vertical spinner.
Pulsar's wheel shafts are live and supported by dual bearings:
I would do this again, but perhaps go with tube rather than solid to save weight and I'm sure 25mm would have worked fine.
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