Low friction pulley for thrust stand

[plasmacurrent]

I am in need of a relatively small, very low friction pulley. It will be used to calibrate a thrust stand in real-time. I saw an old thread on here that was talking about the same thing but it was closed. thread406-60789 Any advice on what I could use and a site where I could get it would be helpful.

 

[btrueblood]

Think about setting up your thrust stand to have the thruster oriented vertically. Calibration then requires just placing/removing a mass (and knowledge of local "g").

But, you are probably working, as I once did, on an existing thrust stand.

http://www.wmberg.com

has small low-friction pulleys and ball bearings, you may also find some at

http://www.mcmaster.com

 

[marine59]

You have to determine whether this is a THRUST LOAD application or RADIAL LOAD before you buy any bearings....
You can get low-friction, radial capacity, or thrust capacity. NOT all 3 in same bearing unless load is VERY low compared to the bearing RATED load.

 

[sreid]

Air Bearings have zero friction for all practical purposes.

http://www.newwayairbearings.com/