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Test stand for the Nerdiskerator

A project log for Nerdiskerator - A 3D printed disk generator

This is a mostly 3D printed disk generator build from 40 neodymium magnets and 12 self made coils

fabFab 07/02/2020 at 14:010 Comments

I think extensive testing is very important to develop a successful design. That is why I have been thinking the last few days about how I can reliably test the nerdiskerator.

For the first try, I simply installed the old main axle so that I could use (via a small adapter) a motor (of an old RC car) to drive the axle using a GT2 timing belt.
That worked very well when idling. But as soon as the axle was loaded, the timing belt started to slip. So, pretty useless for testing a disk generator with dfferent loads. Maybe it was also due to my construction and the lack of pressure on the timing belt. But for me, this design had already disqualified at this point.

You can see a short overview of the first test stand approach in the following video. :)

Ultimately, I then rejected this draft

Since I had to reprint the new version of the main axis anyway (and thus had one axis left), I switched to the new main axis for the new test stand design.
But I still hadn't solved the torque transmission problem.

To solve that problem I 3D printed two gears. I actually tried to avoid this because I had never printed any gears before and were afraid that it will be very difficutl. But here it was probably the only way to solve this problem. So I took another look at it and found two really practical tools that made the design easier for me. (More on that later).

So in the end I printed two gears. The gear on the motor is slightly smaller than the gear on the main axis. So the speed of the main axis is somewhat lower, but on the other side the torque increases. Unfortunately I have no data sheet for the dc motor. That's why I have to try whether the maximum speed fits or not. I am currently waiting for a PWM motor controller that matches the motor power. The last 50W PWM motor controller that I had here and could test has soldered itself off the board by itself. :)

Long story short. Here a little video of the actual test stand design:

BTW: The tools that helped me a lot at designing the gears are:

www.gearGenerator.com

and a tool from https://www.forestmoon.com/Software/GearDXF/

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