Teach me about flexible drive shafts please- bend radius- liners- material types ect.

[RAGGED]

I’m new to fast electrics and am currently starting a rather in depth project, I give it a 50/50 chance I’ll complete it but I’ll at least start it! : ) Safe to say I could use some knowledge. All the slow elec boats I’ve had in the past had solid shafts so I’m totally new to flex shafts. I am wondering if there is any info somewhere that shows acceptable bend radiuses for the different size shafts as well as materials. I’ve noticed some shafts are much like a coiled spring, similar to what you would find in a Dremel flex shaft, while others are more of a solid stranded wire cable. What are the differences in the two, can one bend more than the other? Can one style take more power? What kind of liners go over them and do with turn with the shaft or does the liner stay stationary? If money was no object would a series of bearings over the shaft be beneficial or not at all? I’m looking to build some modern scale outboard motors from scratch, need to hold up to brushless power, likely some Feigao 380xl’s . Kind of using this picture as a basis for the design but would like to move the prop in a bit to make it a bit more scale looking, just not sure how hard I can push the bend radius on the flex cables.



Thanks in advance for any help you can give me!

William

[m4a1usr]

Most if not all flex shaft stock (common commercial stuff) is pretty much bronze or brass flash coated steel weave. And depending on which distributor you buy yours from its going to be of a proven quality, operating well within our demands in FE. The absolute best flex stock is the German made Stainless Steel design. Its not cheap. It is far superior and stronger then the current material we are now using. But a flex shaft doesnt have to be perfect. Just operate within our needs. And the cheap steel stuff does. How much does it radius? I dont honestly know but do some online searching. Its not that hard to find a manufacturer who quotes such specifics.

John

[RAGGED]

How much does it radius? I dont honestly know but do some online searching. Its not that hard to find a manufacturer who quotes such specifics.

John

Thanks for the post, maybe I'm looking in all the wrong places, but I can't seem to find the specs. Do you have a link to some quality sites that sell these components? All I can find is a bunch of sites with replacement parts, no real info on the shafts themselves.


Thank You