Low friction horizontal rotating platform

[SpaceThoughts]

TL;DR

Ideas for creating a low friction horizontal rotating platform for rotation experiments.

I am looking for a rotation devise like that one in this video below (from 00:40 seconds). Does anyone know where to get one, or have any idea about how to create a nice and stable rotation setup for experiments without too much hassle and DIY? A bike wheel won't do, a disk is better, because I need to know the moment of inertia from the shape of the freely rotating platform.

 

[anorlunda]

Turntable, lazy susan, potter's wheel, and record turntable are common names. Do you want a size and RPM similar to the video? There are many for sale on Ebay and Amazon.

Electric motor powered? If yes, then the moment of inertia of the disk is not useful unless you include the moment of inertia of the motor.

 

[berkeman]

Summary:: Ideas for creating a low friction horizontal rotating platform for rotation experiments.

have any idea about how to create a nice and stable rotation setup for experiments without too much hassle and DIY?

Turntable, lazy susan

You beat me to it!

I've built a few turntables for various things using the ball-bearing turntable bases you can get at large hardware stores. The picture below is a small 4" model, but I've used the `12" versions and they are pretty smooth and stable.

https://www.banggood.com/Full-Ball-...ntable-4-inch-p-1043770.html?cur_warehouse=CN

 

[jrmichler]

Get a small (1/4 hp or so) electric motor and mount a disk to the motor shaft. Make sure that the motor has ball bearings, many small motors have sleeve bearings. While these motors are normally mounted with the shaft horizontal, they work just as well with the shaft vertical because radial ball bearings do carry thrust loads.