Picked up half a megawatt worth of Caterpillar power, think I'll make a PTO generator

[Sawyer Rob]

Maybe for the head itself. You羆*e taking a 2000 or more engine and gearing it down to 540 RPM and then putting it through another gear box to get it back to 1800 rpm plus any other loses that happens instead the tractor. Assuming the engine works at the same efficiency and the head works at the same efficiency a direct drive unit will be more efficient. Robs statement is blatantly wrong in an apple to apple comparison.

More lack of reading and comprehension going on here...

The OP SAID he wanted to take that mega head gen head and gear it to 540 to be run off his small Kubota... He said, he was going to use a car rear end to do it... Yes, that all was in his original posting.... and that is what "I" answered.

I also said it was going to be a big load for that small tractor and use more fuel than if he had a "properly sized" gen head...and it will... Now, that isn't blatantly wrong!

Now, have you considered a course in Hooked On Phonics?? lol

SR

 

[4570Man]

There was also mention of direct driving the head.

 

[strantor]

Well today was eventful. What should have taken until lunch took until dinner, and resulted in bloodshed and bruises. Machining that big chunk is more than my little lathe was built for. I had to cut the stub end off the rotor so the flange adapter I'm fabricating can mate up. It would have taken 5min if the bandsaw fit, but the space was too cramped. So I went after it with a cordless sawzall, which worked, but was taking forever. 4 batteries drained, 3 blades ruined, I gave up on the sawzall and put an old 14" chopsaw blade (worn to ~9") on the angle grinder and cut it off with that. At the end the blade pinched and pulled my hand up against something that took a big chunk out of my hand.

After a successful fit test I put the adapter back in the lathe the other way and tried to remove the old rusty tapped stub with the parting tool, which snagged and popped the whole 40+ lb adapter blank out of the chuck and slammed it down on the back of my other hand. I called it a day after that. Had a chili's burger for dinner, it was excellent.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Hope you budgeted for a pack of bandaids.

 

[texasranger556]

I've done some sketchy stuff, but I don't think I'd attempt that cut off wheel setup. Glad to hear you didn't fare worse!

 

[KWentling]

Just a clarification on the captured bearing. The bearing itself is just a common ball bearing, not a thrust bearing of any kind. If it's captured the housing the bearing fits in has only enough width for the bearing and is captured by the bearing cap allowing no axial movement. The end opposite the engine in the original use was likely a floating setup. It too is probably just a common ball bearing, but might also have been a straight roller bearing with a separate straight inner race. In the ball bearing case, the float would be in the housing being wider that the bearing and allowed to move axially as needed. That housing would not necessarily have a bearing cap.

I was going to go ahead and order a bearing for the end so that it's already here when I get ready to move on this project again, but then I remembered what you said about the captured bearing. I need to check out the existing bearing and see if it has any thrust support built in. If not then I might need to go with a pair of opposing tapered roller bearings on either side of a flange to keep the rotor from walking around in there.[/QUOTE]

 

[strantor]

Just a clarification on the captured bearing. The bearing itself is just a common ball bearing, not a thrust bearing of any kind. If it's captured the housing the bearing fits in has only enough width for the bearing and is captured by the bearing cap allowing no axial movement. The end opposite the engine in the original use was likely a floating setup. It too is probably just a common ball bearing, but might also have been a straight roller bearing with a separate straight inner race. In the ball bearing case, the float would be in the housing being wider that the bearing and allowed to move axially as needed. That housing would not necessarily have a bearing cap.

Does this look right? I spent most of the day planning it out and machining it. Cut two disks out of scrap 3/4" plate with an acetylene torch. The plate on the outside is machined with a outer recess to nest into the bellhousing opening, and an inner cutout to for the bearing to nest into it. The other plate goes inside the bellhousing and isn't machined (yet, might just leave it that way) except for having 4 tapped holes. It's only purpose is to give the bearing and outer flange something to bolt to. The fit is pretty good; not a press fit, but close. Maybe 2 or 3 thou of play total (before tightening the bolts)

 

[KWentling]

Does this look right? I spent most of the day planning it out and machining it. Cut two disks out of scrap 3/4" plate with an acetylene torch. The plate on the outside is machined with a outer recess to nest into the bellhousing opening, and an inner cutout to for the bearing to nest into it. The other plate goes inside the bellhousing and isn't machined (yet, might just leave it that way) except for having 4 tapped holes. It's only purpose is to give the bearing and outer flange something to bolt to. The fit is pretty good; not a press fit, but close. Maybe 2 or 3 thou of play total (before tightening the bolts)

Looks like that should work.

 

[strantor]

After a month of dormancy I decided to make some time to work on this. The shaft adapter that I made previously was a good fit for the shaft, I guess because things were hot from machining and now that they're cool, dimensions have changed. My shaft is now a sloppy fit for the hole. I don't have a way to precisely (down to thousands of an inch) hold two pieces of metal concentric for welding. So I opted to knurl the end of the shaft and then force it into the adapter with a hydraulic press. It worked, but not very well. There is about .003" of runout right where the bearing will ride, which is probably borderline OK, however out at the end of the shaft where I plan to put a coupler, there's about .015" of runout. I will need to be creative with my coupling solution or else it might rattle itself to death.

I went ahead and did a fit test after welding and it looks like I'm going to have to machine that haggard acetylene-cut plate inside the bellhousing because it collides with the shaft adapter right before the bellhousing gets snugged up.















P.S. The pictures show the shaft adapter held on with a janky bolt/washer setup. That's NOT how it's going to be. That was just a quick fix to make it stay put for the fit test.

 

[LouNY]

Have you considered chain couplers for a coupling, they will accept some runout.
Chain Couplers | Shaft Couplers | Power Transmission | www.surpluscenter.com