Joining two long poles. Help!

Martin_T_3

I have two large wooden (oak) poles. One of them is around 4 metres in length. The other is slightly shorter (3.7m). They are both tapered so that at the narrow end the diameter is 10cm and at the thicker end the diameter is around 25cm. Ideally I would like to join them narrow end to narrow end with a bearing sandwiched between. I already have the bearing which I salvaged; the bearing is a 5cm diameter roller bearing encased within a 10cmx10cmx10cm steel block.

My intention is to construct a motorized roundabout for my daughters. The lengthened pole will be mounted horizontally on a spindle through the bearing. The roundabout will be belt driven by an electric motor taken from a mobility scooter via pulleys. I have built and tested the drive mechanism and it seems to work well.

I have not worked out how to join the two poles and bearing rigidly together. Any help would be gratefully received.

Thanks

ormus

can u make a sketch and show it here?
itll be so much easier to see what you actually mean.

27col

Nope!. Too hard to visualise without a picture. There will be a simple solution, but we need some help here.

ormus

a very quick sketch idea.

the yellow bits are welding points.
the black shaft maybe a scaffold type pole?

plates need to be a bit thick for strength.
plates & logs are through bolted. match drill the holes.
(a 4 inch sq box section would be even better than the two plates).

ive omitted any chassis frame and bearing/s for clarity.

Martin_T_3

Thanks for the sketch; yes that is what I had in mind. I did a sketch but I was not able to attach it. Presumably I need a few more posts (excuse the pun) before I can use attachments.

The only problem with your suggestion is the posts I have are cylindrical in section rather than square. I suppose I could plane flats onto them but that would reduce their diameter and I am not sure they would be strong enough.