Project Information
I have made over 20 wood hand-cranked models for kids to play with. Before the virus, I would take them to several different community events, set them up on a 4×8 piece of plywood on sawhorses, and the kids would have a ball playing with them [often the adults had as much fun as the kids!].
I have about run out of ideas for new models to build, but some of my old engineering friends are always on the look-out for new ideas to send me. One of my friends ran across a computer simulation on Youtube and sent that to me to convert into a wood model.
Someone patented the basic crankshaft in the 1800s, so several guys came up with alternative designs to convert the reciprocating motion of a piston into rotary motion…....versus paying royalties to the crankshaft patent holder. The compute simulation was for one of these alternative concepts.
Most of these alternative crankshaft designs relied on a huge amount of inertia on the driven rotary output. Therefore it is not possible to build a wood model where you hand crank the reciprocating piston. However, you can drive the mechanism backwards and it should work.
I also had to change the bearing design for the reciprocating motion, so it would package into a reasonable size for a wood model. It took some trial & error, but I got a design figured out that worked.
Most of the model is red oak, including all but one of the gears. The spur gear that mates with the rack gear is yellowheart. The rack gear is red padauk. The main horizontal slide is maple. I added some red padauk and light maple inlays for decoration.
I made a YouTube video of the model in action…....
You can read about my trials & tribulations of building this model, and there were many, on my woodworking web site.
Thanks!
I have about run out of ideas for new models to build, but some of my old engineering friends are always on the look-out for new ideas to send me. One of my friends ran across a computer simulation on Youtube and sent that to me to convert into a wood model.
Someone patented the basic crankshaft in the 1800s, so several guys came up with alternative designs to convert the reciprocating motion of a piston into rotary motion…....versus paying royalties to the crankshaft patent holder. The compute simulation was for one of these alternative concepts.
Most of these alternative crankshaft designs relied on a huge amount of inertia on the driven rotary output. Therefore it is not possible to build a wood model where you hand crank the reciprocating piston. However, you can drive the mechanism backwards and it should work.
I also had to change the bearing design for the reciprocating motion, so it would package into a reasonable size for a wood model. It took some trial & error, but I got a design figured out that worked.
Most of the model is red oak, including all but one of the gears. The spur gear that mates with the rack gear is yellowheart. The rack gear is red padauk. The main horizontal slide is maple. I added some red padauk and light maple inlays for decoration.
I made a YouTube video of the model in action…....
You can read about my trials & tribulations of building this model, and there were many, on my woodworking web site.
Thanks!
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