Flywheel with integrated fan

[Brian Rupnow]

I wish I could build a flywheel like this. The flywheel would revolve clockwise. Air on the far side of the flywheel would be pulled thru the angled holes and blow onto the air cooled cylinder on the near side of the flywheel---I think. Looks like it would be a job for cnc. Might be kind of a pig to build with manual machines. The flywheel shown is 6" diameter made of steel or brass.
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[crueby]

Sort of like race car rims that pull are over the brakes.


If you had the rotary table on a tilted base, you could just bore each hole in turn at an angle.

[Brian Rupnow]

I suppose you could build a center hub, then set it up and gash it 8 places at 45 degrees, then solder in the blades, then trim the end of the blades and solder on the outer rim. Be a lot of work, but gives a pretty end result. If you google "Dale Dietrich engine youtube" you can see where he has made a four cylinder engine with that style of flywheel. The mass of the hub and outer rim would suck up an awful lot of heat before the solder would flow. Maybe Dale made his from steel and then tig welded it together. tig is very easy to control.  My A.C. welder and mig welder would get it done but would leave some big ugly welds.

[Jasonb]

As Chris says just mount your rotary table at and angle and then plunge in with a ctr cutting milling cutter and open up with a boring bar if needed then your wish will come true.

Failing that silver solder the second one for a neat job that will not flow until the engine melts.

[Brian Rupnow]

I do keep thinking about buying a TIG welder set-up. I went to my local welding gas supply company, and they will sell me a tig for about $1500 plus tax. I do love this hobby, and there is a lot of really neat stuff I could do with a tig. Other side of that coin is that I'm 73 years old. I already have AC stick welder and mig welder and oxy acetylene.

[propforward]

Too many tools is just enough.

[Jasonb]

Not going to be easy to get the end of a TIG welder in between those blades and the rim

[propforward]

I would think machining the angled holes in the first design would be easier than making the composite wheel. Both look very fancy for sure. Trimming the blades to length on the composite would be difficult to do without bending them, if you were to turn them to size for example.

[bent]

The one reason to get a 3D printer, in my mind, would be to make a solid wax pattern of your #2 idea and then investment cast it.

[Brian Rupnow]

Today I bought  a TIG welder. I looked at Lincoln--best price with taxes was $3000. Looked at Miller---same thing. Drove up the road 25 miles to Orillia and bought a TIG with all the bells and whistles for $1412.00 including taxes--And it comes with a free helmet with adjustable darkening lens. Made and sold under the Solidweld brand. It has AC output, High frequency start, 35% duty cycle, foot pedal, and all the hook-ups for a gas bottle. 220Volt. It will weld steel or aluminum. I'm going to make a few of these fabricated fan/flywheels and perhaps sell some.

[crueby]

New tool! 

[rklopp]

How about carved from solid? I did these flywheels for my Upshur Twin riffs using 3-axis CNC. The material was Durabar gray iron.

[Jasonb]

Funny enough I just sketched one out and ran the CAM, looks like it should come out quite nicely in the simulation below. Has the bonus of the pitch of the blades getting less as the diameter increases just like a propellor and width gets wider.

[Brian Rupnow]

That looks good Jason. I've thought about this type of flywheel before, but never made one because I only have manual machines and it would be a ton of milling and set-ups. I'm quite excited about my new tig welder.    I haven't got it yet, they say it will be in later this week.

[Craig DeShong]

Too many tools is just enough.

 

Hard to think of ways to”play”with them all 

Another fun project Brian.  I’ll be following along.

[MMan]

Hi Brian,

I do not know if you have TIGed much before but I bit the bullet on a TIG welder about 2 years ago. Very satisfying and loads more control than MIG. There is a learning curve though and keeping the tunsgsten close but not too close takes some getting used to - mostly solved with fixturing for your hand to run along.

Oh,  and I now have to weld with my reading glasses on.

Enjoy

All the best,

Martin.

[awake]

I have found that I do better welding with my glasses off - they are progressive lenses, and rarely can I get them in the right position. I've tried putting a magnifying glass in the helmet, but that didn't really work. So, glasses off, and I get my head close to the action, and I can see what's going on. FWIW, in addition to presbyopia (sp?), I've been near-sighted all my life, so that may be part of why this works for me.