Bicycle windmill

[willib]

i just had to share this idea i had last night

looks like it will work well with very little modification.

here i've used 5/8-11 threaded rod for the windmill shaft

the hub is a bicycle pedal bearing

rotor and prop are for demo purposes only . lol

[gotwind2]

Great - 'out of the frying pan and into the....well bike' willib?

I recently posted an idea of using the bicycle hubs as a small scale axial flux alternator bearings.

http://www.fieldlines.com/story/2006/10/19/161053/10

I envisaged a single rotor, mounting the stator onto part of the bike frame with studding (allstud).

Maybe you could get up to 100w with the correct configuration of neo mags and coil selection.

It looks like about a 4 or 5" steel disc you have there. Zubbly would know the best configuration for 12v, but the coil windings might be fiddly at such a small diameter.

I will follow your progress with great interest - maybe record it as a diary.

Keep up the good work.

Ben

[Stonebrain]

Looks good,much better than a wheel bearing.

Don't know if a threaded rod is any good for

tight fitting in the bearings.Can't you do anything

with the original shaft?

cheers,

stonebrain

[tecker]

I scrounged some kids bikes .Here's Lionking's upgrade to his power position he's going down by the creek .

http://www.otherpower.com/images/scimages/1431/bike_mount.jpg

http://www.otherpower.com/images/scimages/1431/treadmill_out_500.jpg

http://www.otherpower.com/images/scimages/1431/bike_mount1.jpg

[Ungrounded Lightning Rod]

Then you could use:

 - the steering bearing for a yaw bearing,

 - a wheel bearing for the furling tail bearing,

 - the front fork arms for (at least part of) a furling tail boom,

 - brake pads for the yaw arm limit bumpers, ...

If you want to gear it up for a conversion genny or alternator

there's that chain and all those gears to get the ratio where

you want it - and to make a spare chain or two for when the

first one wears out.

Get out the welder.

[gotwind2]

I love the concept, everyones got old bikes hanging around, and studding (allstud) is cheap. Magnets, maybe 8 Neo's on rotor and 6 stator coils.

Although I have never come across a bicycle bottom bracket that has a 'through hole' as in Wilib's photo? looks like an exercise bike to me. Most standard bottom bracket's normally have a hardened round 'cotter pin' style axle or square section on later bikes.

I could be wrong, I was once

Keep it going - this could be great.

Ben.

[willib]

everything is origional , except the one foot threaded rod and the 5/8- 11 nuts  

the only small problem is the nuts need to have a taper on them to center the whole shabang

then of course another nut on each side to lock everything in place , i also bought two nylon lockwashers all for a whooping ~$2.00 at lowes

[willib]

i ment to say locknuts sorry

[The Professor]

  Front fork for yaw and furl



  close up





 16' with bicycle chain and sprocket speed up 13:1  close up

   again





  another view





  The crank arms are sawn off of a one piece style crank. The center section is chucked in a lathe and the sprocket end is faced off and then drilled and tapped for a 1/2-13 threaded rod.the prop is slid on the threaded rod, sandwiched between two 4" dia. disks, and fastened with a 1/2"nut. Of course the prop must spin in the direction to tighten the nut.

  Nearly all bike parts and tubing from free discarded bikes.

[coldspot]

Willib-

Great stuff!

From all posts

I've been packrat-ng

some for a while now, just see so many in garbage cans.

Was trying to build a battery cart from front wheels

off little kids ones. Needed a tube and tire for

one that got used more than most. They actually do make more than one size little kids bike, about 3 or so, try to find 4 same sized ones!

 Was standing there looking at prices of parts when I turned around and

saw the price of a little kids bike! Wow, about 25-30 could get a whole bike! Desided to find another junked one, season turned, plans charged, ect, ect.....

 now trying to use some kids bike parts, some kids kick scooters for parts, some excersize bike parts together to make a scratch built EV scooter, a electric motor power add-on for mountian bike and a

chopped front end for solar scooter.

Dam EV stuff uses smaller chain size than bikes.

Still looking at crank bearing from ex/bike as great

bed for smaller mill......

Now you all tell me how to use it for one and like I needed another project to work on then around!!!!!

LOL

Thanks

This site is the place!

Some people can't belive I've never been to or have

a "myspace" what ever! LOL

Why??

[badmoonryzn]

has anyone tried to use one of the EV scooters 325,350 or 425 eletric motors for a genny? I have a few of them and was wondering. I have wondered about using one of the Tekin or Novac regenerating speed controls to control the gennys one mode for generating and one to control the braking. just a thought!

Badmoon

[willib]

lol i have a hard time finding three bolts of the same size

[willib]

very nice work

a lot of us dont have access to a lathe though , and that was sort of the point of this , to find a way to get a windmill running for those of us who do not have access to one

[willib]

last night i cleaned the bearings and the races and got it to spin very true by using the nylon locknuts as tapered nuts ( because they are sort of tapered )

i'm not sure the  5/8-11 threaded rod is strong enough though (might try 3/4" )

For a small windmill i think the 5/8-11 rod will work fine , but i would not want put a large(heavy) set of blades on just a 5/8"dia  threaded rod

the bicycle hub is indeed a excercise bike and it has/had a single rod (bent S shaped pedel shaft)

i agree the origional shaft ( with the origional threads )would be ideal ( if it was not bent into an S ) but it is .. so ...and any other bike shaft will not be long enough to hold two rotors and a set of blades ?

[zap]

"the bicycle hub is indeed a excercise bike and it has/had a single rod (bent S shaped pedel shaft)

i agree the origional shaft ( with the origional threads )would be ideal ( if it was not bent into an S ) but it is .. so ...and any other bike shaft will not be long enough to hold two rotors and a set of blades ?"

Leave the original shaft but cut it off right before the bend.  This should leave all the threads intact so you can still use the original bolts and then use the sprocket to build out?

[willib]

thats a really good idea , the rotors could be bolted to the sprocket , and the blades can be bolted to the rotors