EH Taylor Extractor - Ball Bearing Size

[Mark Nolan]

Hi,

I have an old EH Taylor polythene extractor and it seems to be missing the ball bearing that sits at the base of extractor shaft. The flexible couplings has come apart a couple of times when extracting and this would explain why - the combined weight of cage/shaft/frames has literally been hanging from the coupling!

My question is, does anybody know the size of the bearing that I need? I see Thornes sell 8mm bearings for their extractors, which are descendants of the EH Taylor line. However, it looks like the gap between the end of the shaft and the bottom of the housing on the floor of the barrel is about 15mm, so maybe an 8mm bearing might not be enough. That being said, the housing on the floor of the barrel is only about 12mm wide, so there's a limit to the bearing size.

Does anyone have one these old EH Taylor machines and can offer advise? Thank you.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Try giving Thornes a call?

 

[Mark Nolan]

Try giving Thornes a call?

I should have mentioned that I left a message with Thornes earlier and will chase again tomorrow. However, with honey extracting season upon us, I'm seeing if I can get an answer from alternative channels - just in case!

 

[Erichalfbee]

I should have mentioned that I left a message with Thornes earlier and will chase again tomorrow. However, with honey extracting season upon us, I'm seeing if I can get an answer from alternative channels - just in case!

Try sending @gillsmith a PM here ?
She looks in most days

 

[Mark Nolan]

Try sending @gillsmith a PM here ?
She looks in most days

Thanks Dani.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Hi,

I have an old EH Taylor polythene extractor and it seems to be missing the ball bearing that sits at the base of extractor shaft. The flexible couplings has come apart a couple of times when extracting and this would explain why - the combined weight of cage/shaft/frames has literally been hanging from the coupling!

My question is, does anybody know the size of the bearing that I need? I see Thornes sell 8mm bearings for their extractors, which are descendants of the EH Taylor line. However, it looks like the gap between the end of the shaft and the bottom of the housing on the floor of the barrel is about 15mm, so maybe an 8mm bearing might not be enough. That being said, the housing on the floor of the barrel is only about 12mm wide, so there's a limit to the bearing size.

Does anyone have one these old EH Taylor machines and can offer advise? Thank you.

I'm probably thinking of a different style of extractor but my early model Thorne's 9 frame hand cranked machine with the white poly barrel doesn't have a supporting bottom bearing, just a nylon sleeve set in a crossbar which stops lateral wobble of the shaft when spinning. The shaft and cage are suspended from a pinned supporting washer running on a nylon bearing bush at the top of the shaft just below the driving gear. The crossbar and cage were originally mild steel with a plastic coating but this cracked and started to peel so I've replaced both with stainless steel.
If you do have a shaft which sits on single ball it would have to actually sit on it for support. Is there a filler block missing from the pocket in the bottom of the container? I'd expect a dished support to ensure the ball remained central under the shaft when in use. Alternatively should the couplings be pinned so the shaft is suspeñded from the top without risk of parting in use?

 

[Mark Nolan]

I'm probably thinking of a different style of extractor but my early model Thorne's 9 frame hand cranked machine with the white poly barrel doesn't have a supporting bottom bearing, just a nylon sleeve set in a crossbar which stops lateral wobble of the shaft when spinning. The shaft and cage are suspended from a pinned supporting washer running on a nylon bearing bush at the top of the shaft just below the driving gear. The crossbar and cage were originally mild steel with a plastic coating but this cracked and started to peel so I've replaced both with stainless steel.
If you do have a shaft which sits on single ball it would have to actually sit on it for support. Is there a filler block missing from the pocket in the bottom of the container? I'd expect a dished support to ensure the ball remained central under the shaft when in use. Alternatively should the couplings be pinned so the shaft is suspeñded from the top without risk of parting in use?

Thank you for your reply, it poses some interesting questions. As the gap between the extractor shaft and the base of the housing on the floor of the barrel is slightly cylindrical in nature, a single ball bearing probably wouldn’t support the shaft/cage without another type of spacer being placed beneath it. I can’t see anything at the top (under the motor/crossbar) that would suggest additional support (image attached - you’ll also see that the crossbar needs to be stripped back and resprayed). The flexible couple has a allen screw at the top and bottom. The top screw hits a flattened part of the shaft, while the bottom screw goes into a small groove lower down on the shaft. This does offer support (and has done for may years) but the combined weight of the shaft, cage and loaded honey frames make it susceptible to coming apart. When everything is connected up, it’s a very tight fit and if it comes apart during extraction it requires everything to be taken apart in order to be to line-up the screw and the groove again (once disconnected, the extractor shaft drops down, but not enough to expose the groove which remains hidden by the bottom section of the coupling).

Anyway, in the meantime I’ve had a reply from Gill at Thornes who is looking into it for me. She’s been fantastic with helping me out in the past, so I’ll post any information back here if we discover the answer!

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Thank you for your reply, it poses some interesting questions. As the gap between the extractor shaft and the base of the housing on the floor of the barrel is slightly cylindrical in nature, a single ball bearing probably wouldn’t support the shaft/cage without another type of spacer being placed beneath it. I can’t see anything at the top (under the motor/crossbar) that would suggest additional support (image attached - you’ll also see that the crossbar needs to be stripped back and resprayed). The flexible couple has a allen screw at the top and bottom. The top screw hits a flattened part of the shaft, while the bottom screw goes into a small groove lower down on the shaft. This does offer support (and has done for may years) but the combined weight of the shaft, cage and loaded honey frames make it susceptible to coming apart. When everything is connected up, it’s a very tight fit and if it comes apart during extraction it requires everything to be taken apart in order to be to line-up the screw and the groove again (once disconnected, the extractor shaft drops down, but not enough to expose the groove which remains hidden by the bottom section of the coupling).

Anyway, in the meantime I’ve had a reply from Gill at Thornes who is looking into it for me. She’s been fantastic with helping me out in the past, so I’ll post any information back here if we discover the answer!

I've just had a close look at mine to refresh my memory. As described the bottom nylon bush sits in the crossbar. It's top hat shaped so it doesn't fall through. I'd forgotten that I modified the arrangement by fitting a stainless steel collar on the shaft which has a pointed stainless grub screw to clamp it in place as a secondary support which sits on the nylon top hat. After first tightening which formed an indentation I bored a pocket in the shaft as a more positive locator.
The top of the shaft passes through the top support bar. There is a stainless washer above the bar and the top nylon gear sits on the washer. The gear is pinned onto the shaft so it definitely won't let go.
If Gill is sorting you something out that's great but I'd probably be thinking of something like a nylon supporting/bearing washer under the half coupling together with drilling through both coupling and shaft to fit a roll pin through both.
Using hdpe might be better than nylon as it's bearing (slip) properties are likely to be better.
There's always plenty of opportunity to improvise with older equipment.

 

[hemo]

My EH Taylor model is different and has a 9" nylon upstand to which the cage shaft sits in, at the base of the upstand is a small recess for a bearing or bearings. When I acquired mine some 15 years ago it had no bearing/s so I use 4 or 5 3/16th ones form my bicycle spares, they do the job nicely and it rotates very smoothly.