Flexible Shaft Set With Friction Bearings

Ready flex shaft set for your plumbing business

Flexible Shaft Set with Friction Bearings from Pipemade.com is a bundle of pre-cut flex shaft and a matching length of shaft cover. Both ends of the shaft cover are equipped with brass Friction Bearings to shield your shaft cover from over heating when spinnin' those chains, and effectively protecting the casing from dirt entering the shaft.

The friction bearings in the flexible shaft sets have carved letters in both ends. "D" stands for "Drill" and that end of the flex shaft should be in the drill end and the "T" stands for "Tool" so this end should be in the other end, where the chain knocker, brush, mole or any other tool is located.

Flexible shafts are the lifeblood of the modern drain cleaning industry. They are used in Miller cleaning machines and various other tools. Using it as a standalone tool is gaining huge popularity in plumbing community: Attach a Drill-to-Shaft Connector to connect your cordless drill with the flex shaft and finish the setup with some tools to the other end of the flexible shaft. Many of our customers carry flexible shafts as part of their daily arsenal, often encased in a Shaft Carrier for easy transport, storage, and use.

Manufactured through cross-layering hardened spring steel cables in multiple layers over a single core. The end result of this magnificent manufacturing process is a solid, torque-wielding shaft that provides spinning power to your cleaning brushes, chain knockers, twisters, bores and more.

Just remember to clean & oil this baby up every now and then, and you have a mate if not for life, for a looong time anyway! More about the lubrication further in this description.

• Available flex shaft diameters: 6mm (¼″), 8mm (⁵⁄₁₆″), 10mm (⅜″) and 12mm (½″)
• Available flex shaft lengths: 5m (16.4ft), 10m (32.8ft), 15m (49.21ft), 20m (65.6ft) and 30m (100ft)

Lubrication of the flexible shaft

Please ensure that you lubricate your flexible shaft before using it. The aviation law prohibits us from delivering products that may be considered flammable, and because of this, our flexible shaft sets are delivered dry (without flex shaft lubrication).

It is important that you lubricate the shaft completely with common machine oil or a PTFE lubricant before your first use. The initial and repeat shaft lubrication promotes product longevity and prevents friction induced problems in your flexible shaft.

Choosing the correct flex shaft thickness

Consider the amount of bends the shaft should be able to pass through. The more bends you have to navigate, the thinner the shaft should ideally be. With that said, The thicker the flex shaft is, the more torque it will deliver but it comes with a cost of flexibility. The thinner the shaft is, the more flexibility it will have but it comes with a cost of torque delivered.

Also, if you use small diameter shafts in bigger pipes, you’ll eventually risk getting the shaft wound up inside the pipe if your tool gets stuck, for example. The thicker the shaft, the less bend radius it has.

DN50 (2″) pipes:

We recommend going with a 6mm (¼″) shaft thickness if you want to be able to navigate through 90° bends in this diameter. Any thicker flex shaft might be having issues navigating through 90° bends in DN50 (2″) sized pipes.

DN75 (3″) and DN100 (4″) pipes:

In this size range we recommend choosing the thickness of 8mm (⁵⁄₁₆″) to the flex shaft when there are tight bends to navigate through. Aggressive descaling is slightly less effective than it would be with a thicker shaft, but it is doable.

DN100 (4″) and DN150 (6″) pipes:

We recommend choosing the 10mm (⅜″) flexible shaft thickness. It is great for descaling and blockage removal in these sized pipes. If in the DN100 (4") pipe there are tight bends, consider having the 8mm (⁵⁄₁₆″) shaft thickness.

(Conditionally) DN100 (4″) to DN200 (8″) pipes:

When the line is straight without bends and you need the maximum unclogging or descaling power, the thickest flexible shaft option of 12mm (½″) is the one we recommend choosing. The thickest flex shaft might go one or even two bends, but this might affect the torque delivered to the chain knocker or any other tool in the end of the shaft. If you're facing a lot of bends in this size range, you should also consider picking the 10mm (⅜″) as the thickness.

Choosing the correct flex shaft length

When planning for your equipment lineup, it’s often easy to slip away to think that maxing out all capabilities is the best way to go, just in case. As with most things, this isn’t true with flex shafts either.

First of all, flexible shafts carry substantial amount of weight per meter. You don’t want to carry the weight of a 30-meter (~100ft) shaft to a jobsite needing a 5-meter (~16ft) cleanup, right?

Secondly, the longer your shaft is, the more power you need to deliver necessary torque to the other end; there is a slight energy loss passed through the flexible shaft. This is especially true in situations where you’re running, let’s say, a 30-meter (~100ft) shaft, but you only wind open 5 meters from it. This means that you have a good 25 meters (~80ft) of shaft wound up, and as you try to run that wound pile, it will need so much power to even get the end moving that you’ll probably burn your cordless drill before you get it rotating.

Thirdly, it’s good to realize that most of the blockages never occur further than 20 meters (~65ft) away from your point of entry, and in most cases, cleanouts are located around 25 meters (~80ft) apart. Make no mistake, we know you’re the professional and know your market and job specific needs best, so we just hope to widen perspectives on making the right choice here.

So, taking these 3 things into consideration, instead of just rushing in and getting the longest shaft your money can buy, you should consider your needs. What pipe lengths are about 80% of your jobs? What are the 20%? Our suggestion would be to get the correct length for those 80% and get additional flex shaft that has combined length with the first one to cover those last 20%. With a Shaft-to-Shaft Connector you can even attach two different diameter shafts together if need be. This way you have the ultimate setup for maximum mobility, lightweight, control in bend navigation & torque ratios.

Bonus tip: When choosing the length and diameter of the flex shaft, you might want to check if it can fit to the flex shaft carrier if you're planning to get one.

Flex Shaft Quality

Pipemade’s flexible shafts are manufactured by cross-winding 4 + 3 layers of high chromium spring steel cables around a central mandrel. Each layer is wound on to the shaft through opposing pitch angle, giving the shaft excellent torque control capabilities, and yet keeping it as flexible as possible.

The raw facts by numbers state that the quality of your flexible shaft is determined by the quality of the wires used, their total number and layering methods, the diameter of the shaft and the annealing temperature.

The technical properties of your flexible shaft such as flexibility, power transmission, torsional stiffness and performance under variable speeds are influenced by the selection of these core components.

To reach the maximum life expectancy of a flexible shaft, it’s imperative to understand the loads it becomes under when in use. If you run your flexible shaft straight, having it lying flat on a floor, there’s minimal restrain present. Once you run it through one or several bends, the strain levels rise. Depending on the number of bends and the angle they force the shaft into, is of high importance. Each flexible shaft has an engineered bend radius, and the further it stays from the maximum limits, the less friction it produces within itself as it’s rotated, and the longer it stays operational.

It's very important to keep your flexible shaft in a pristine condition to maximize its life expectancy: clean the flex shaft every two weeks to a month and re-lubricate it with common machine oil or a PTFE lubricant to minimize the effects of friction on the shaft.

Our flexible shaft sets are always delivered set inside the shaft casing and with friction bearings included. The friction bearings are installed at both ends of the shaft casing to reduce friction induced heat load put on the casing, effectively making sure that your shaft casing doesn’t melt when you’re running long cleaning sessions with high speeds.

The shaft casing and the friction bearings protect both the user of the shaft and the flexible shaft itself; the casing and the friction bearings prevent dirt from getting into the shaft, ultimately interfering with the performance of the shaft.

Good to know

The informed length of the shaft is measured at its shortest intersection point with the shaft casing, and our shafts are delivered a bit longer to accommodate various tools sizes on your shaft. The down side to the excess length is that if you use short tools (small pipe dia), it might be worthwhile to shorten the shaft from the end for a bit just to make sure you don’t have too much of excess shaft running outside of the shaft casing – this might cause the shaft getting twisted from parts where it’s not covered by the shaft casing.

Disclaimer

These products are strictly intended for trained professionals in the drain cleaning & sewer rehabilitation trade. Some of our products come with instructions, but not all. If you feel like you need instructions, please let us know.

Product pictures may vary in both colour and design, depending on the size and diameter you choose to order.

Thickness of shaft casings

6mm (1/4″)
Inner diameter of casing 8mm
Outer diameter of casing 10mm

8mm (5/16″)
Inner diameter of casing 10mm
Outer diameter of casing 12mm

10mm (3/8″)
Inner diameter of casing 12mm
Outer diameter of casing 15mm

12mm (1/2″)
Inner diameter of casing 15mm
Outer diameter of casing 18mm