Making a multi-bladed hub from bike wheel

[Norm]

   I like bike wheel for hubs....the bearings are

ideal...but if you want to tap the power from it

its rather difficult as the shaft is stationary.

   So here's my answer......



   I unspoked a front wheel, took a large washer

copied the spoke hole pattern center punched and

drilled the holes used the exact pattern as

original when installing the spokes....except now

the hub only has one flange ! If the rim was

faily straight to begin with ...the wheel can even

be adjusted as well as when it had two flanges on

the hub.

    Then I made the little blade holders from 1/2

inch dowel rod...they're just the right size to

wedge into the rim when the screw is tightened and

they remain at the angle you put them.

  I screwed them into the unused spoke holes,

adjust the angle of the slots ...insert the ...

blades/disks and .....

   end up with this

.

   of course you could use different shaped blades

but these are handy...easy to replace....and ..yes

they will have have small pins...shiskabob sticks

to keep em from flying out of the slots....

last time I thought they were so firmly wedged in place that at these low operating speeds ...they

would never come out....couple of hours..they did

.....of course....LOL.

Flying saucers

                 ( :>) Norm

[snuffy]

A really good use for AOL disks.  I have a number of bike hubs and have tried to figure out a way to use them as well.  I think your on to something here.  Metal blade holders and larger blades??  How much lateral stress do you think it will take?

(spokes probably being the weak point)

Snuffy

[Norm]

   Stress ? Well I imagine if you jacked up one

wheel of a car...put the hub underneath and the

rim was supported evenly all around...you could

let the wheel back down on the center....without

any damage....I don't know how much that torque

that 5/16 axle could handle but probably 300 or

400 watts.

    But I imagine metal blades 3 times the size

and small u-bolts to hold the blades to the rim

will work.

    Lot of people underestimate the strength of

spokes...might be interesting to see how much

tensile strength one spoke has....

    Maybe Google around or someone on the board

knows ...??

              ( ;>) Norm.

[Norm]

  http://www.bikexprt.com/bicycle/pitcheqn.htm

       ( :>)Norm

[ghurd]

Hey Norm,

How fast do you expect it turn?

Faster than the other one?

G-

[dinges]

Well, at least it sends a strong signal on what CDs & software you don't intend to use. AOL, Microsoft, etc. Hmmm, maybe this software will even do WORK. At least more than it ever did on a computer.

Looks a bit like a contraption that one might find at an art convention. Except this one could actually be useful. Hmmm, if the neighbours start complaining about your lawn 'ornament', say that's it made by some hot-shot, hip modern arts type and that it cost you many 1000s of $$. That might make it more acceptable (to them, of course; everyone on this board agrees it's absolutely beautiful  )

Is it just my imagination, or could this be used both as a VAWT and a HAWT?

Do you plan on adding a genny? If so, what type, power, etc.etc?

Peter.

[snuffy]

My question about stress relates to the fact that you no longer have both sides of the spokes attached.  It looks like the spokes on one side of the original bike axle have been removed.  All remaining spokes are attached on the same plane. No more triangulation for support.

[Norm]

  Oh yes...I see what you mean...Yes that occured

to me also but once I made it and tried it ...

didn't seem to be a problem...I suppose scaling

up too much might cause a problem...but in my

case the neighbors would be complaining long

before I got that large...

  You are somewhat limited to a certain thickness

but I can make the original hub that holds the

bearings by cutting a section from the middle

which would give me an axle sticking out farther

on one end and then use two washers .....

   I don't/can't use that much power...we only

rarely get over 8-9 mile winds in our locality

....we had a real gale come thru here about a

month ago ...gusts as high as 14-15 mph.

                  ( :>) Norm.

[ghurd]

I think it would be the same.

Left / right, instead of up / down.

A decent mountain bike can take unbelievable (like seen on TV) abuse and still run true.

Not that I intend to repeat it, but I have experienced it a couple times in a single day.  Like a 8x8x16" concrete block at 25mph with no damage to the spokes or centering.

G-

[jimjjnn]

Ed has a minigen on his post today that woud be perfect for your bike wheel turbine he has a kit in limited supplys so hurry and order one.

[Norm]

  I plan on using it to direct drive one of those

neat cogging little stepper motors that Ghurd

gave me this thing certainly has enough torque

in a 4mph wind to crank that little cogger over!

   Anxious to get it up and spinning actually be

able to hook up a prony brake and see how much

ft. oz of torque it has.

   It's a HAWT right now unless it falls over  

                 ( :>)Norm

I am going to also make a VAWT with 2 bike wheels

[CG]

Norm,

The only thing of use is the axle and bearings. So take the spokes and wheel rim off and bolt a plate on one of the flanges through the spoke holes. This is what I have done on my gutter blade posting. But if you have a hub with threaded holes for a disc brake it will be even easier. I have such a wheel, but it is a quick release, so I do not have enough thread to attach the axle to anything.

I used a hub like the one in your photo and I had weights on a plate attached to the other end to show the blades were doing some work. What I discovered was that the bearing housings are not attached to each other (the two bearing housings and shaft are not cast as one piece), after a while the blades started to spin faster than the weights. I have rectified that by bolting the two flanges together.

[Norm]

  Gotta get the power from the windmill using the

easiest way possible...the one flange idea

isn't working as well as I thought...gets  out of

alignment very easily....well back to the drawing

board perhaps just a swash plate bolted to a regular bicycle whee..that would give

a reciprocating motion...I'm mainly interested in

making an ornamental..but functional windmill that works in 4-6mph winds....  

      Yeah I discovered the part about the hub

of a front wheel not being one piece....so long

ago that I had forgotten it....thanks for

reminding me....

      My next attempt will be bigger with bucket

blades......stay tuned maybe by next week

      ( :>) Norm.