As part of a larger project of growing homemade YBCO superconducting tape, this project aimed to address the struggle with reeling tape inside of a vacuum. Realizing expense in commercial rotary feedthroughs, I designed and manufactured a cheap vacuum sealed shaft. As one drawback of HTS wire is retaining consistency in thin layer characteristics, precision in machining and design was key.

 

This design uses offset bearings and a flexible bellow to translate "wiggle" in the atmospheric region to rotation inside the vacuum. This way the need for a shaft going through the chamber is eliminated, and the vacuum is contained inside the bellow.