3/8 shaft, is it strong enough.

[lemiant]

Originally Posted by squirrel

The bending load on the shaft is going to depend on how far apart the load is, from the support bearing. If the two are close together, then you don't need a very large shaft. But if they are far apart (because you're using thick arm materials such as wood, instead of steel, for example) then you might need a larger diameter shaft.

There are no dimensions or mention of the weight or anything, so it's pretty hard for us to be able to evaluate the design....

Sorry about the lack of details:
The load is cantilevered 5.5" from the last support bearing. We don't have any set weight (we can simply put counterweight in the design), I'm just wondering how much we can safely pull.

Solidworks thinks we can withstand 25lbs with a 2:1 safety margin, but that's hard to believe.