An idea I wanted to get some feedback on

[erickdt]

Hello all,

I've been a long time observer of this site and I figured it was about time to contribute:

Here's one of a few ideas that I've had over the years. The basic idea is as the "wheel" (which is made up of four armitures oriented at 45% angles) turns clockwise it meets with a 1/4 round "ramp" at the bottom of the cycle. When an armiture comes to this ramp the wheels on its end are turned counterclockwise, that movement is transferred to a gear which is in turn transferred to a smaller gear which turns clockwise, which is attached to a pulley which is attached to a cable. As the wheels and attached gears turn the pulley pulls a cable which goes to the other side of the armiture which pulls on the wieght and moves the weight from the side that is in contact with the ramp to the opposite side (past the center point) creating a constant imbalance. Thoughts?

[erickdt]

Hmm, no feedback?

[whatever]

I can hear people rushing to the machine shop....
Looks good to me, but what do I know
Good luck!

[Humbugger]

Okay...well...I don't think it will work.  But I couldn't prove it.  Of course, I'm the kind of old codger that thinks nothing proposed here will work most of the time, so don't let my opinion slow you down.

How does it get started would be my first question,  then what stops it from accellerating once it goes?  It seems pretty complicated with potentially a lot of friction.  It must have been a lot of fun to design and draw.  Looks expensive to try to build one.

You misspell "armature", that's another comment.  Your drawings are very nicely done and neatly arranged.  Is that SolidWorks? 

I didn't want your first post to go without some kind of answer!  Welcome to OU.com!



Humbugger

[wile_coyote7]

Well, the design looks sound enough, but it kinda strikes me as something that would probably start off running ok with a little push but eventually "equalize" itself. Half the weights would be working to keep the motor going while the other half would be working to stop it. I think that's what all the belts and pullies are for; to try to minimize the equalization that will undoubtedly occur. Even with the belts and such, it looks like it would just be adding more drag into the system and eventually grind to a halt.

Anyway....I'm not an engineer or anything, so take my observations VERY lightly.