MEMSyard Wars - Blast Finger Engine Competition

[Kactiguy]

Thanks for the comments guys.

Bog- I had loads of fun doing it. I avoided 45 minutes of work. It's always fun to do that. I already have an idea for another one (if I can find the time).

Tim- great minds thinks alike . Mine actually had a flywheel on both sides but one of them snapped off. I think it would have run better with the extra weight.

 

[CrewCab]

This is just brilliant guys ;D ............ I'd take 45 minutes to think about where to start looking for materials : .................. but I'll learn .........

I'm going to go back to sleep in a few minutes to finish up the design...LOL.

Steve, good to know I'm not the only one that "works" in his sleep

I look forward to joining in similar challenges in a few months time when I eventually manage to get my worksop back together ............. etc, etc .....

anyway, I'm away for a few days in about 4 hours time ??? ....... why do I do these things, 4 days mud plugging with mi' Land Rover in the depths of Wales ............ so I look forward to seeing the progress once I get back ....... Good Luck all, looks like the gauntlet is well and truly slapped down :big:

atb

Dave

 

[shred]

Here's mine. The design came to me as I was thinking up sneaky ways to reduce the tricky-parts count of a finger engine. It's a vertical finger engine.

Unfortunately my bandsaw is seemingly incapable of cutting flat disks, so I had to make 4 flywheels to get two decent ones that would function, and an un-timed dinner break came in as well, so I can only guess I have an hour or so in this one. I'm thinking if I did another one just like it, it would be ~30 minutes after tuning up the bandsaw. The uneven flywheels did allow me to skip the lightening-to-avoid-BDC step.

Besides.. what could be more British than using a bit of string in honor of the originator of this topic?

Not a great runner this one, but it does work.

- Roy

[youtube=425,350]zDTz0szFFH4[/youtube]

 

[CallMeAL]

Man I barely have my materials collected and some of you are done already? It's going to take a specail effort to get ahead of what has been submitted so far! Some imaginative ideas already - Kactiguy's wire engine is great, sparse but effective and shred's engine is massive and a true finger engine, great ideas.

Below is my starting pile. I don't have sketch, so I'm just wing it. I don't know if I can work the brick in , but I'm sure the duct tape will come in handy!

 

[Bogstandard]

Shred,

Now who said all finger engines need to look the same.

Again, everything well within the rules.

Another great design. I love the string. A bit more flywheel weight and I think it would have performed perfectly.

Very well executed.

Al,

Looks like you are into the Fred Flintstone School of Design with that lot. Good luck trying to figure out if you can use the brick or not.


You have heard me going on and on about lateral thinking. These engines are showing perfect examples of thinking away from the accepted normal. It does show that people can come up with new ideas at almost a moments notice.

John

 

[Cedge]

With the grandson' kindergarten graduation "do" tonight and a scheduled visit to see Tim's lathe tomorrow, it's looking like Sunday before I can even get to the project. I did tune up the bandsaw to make straight cuts and the grinder table checked in square, so I think I can live within the rules.

I see a lot of very lateral thinking going on here. It would seem we have a few noteworthy cat skinners on the board.

Steve

 

[mike4517]

Painted
Mike

 

[Bogstandard]

It must go a lot faster now with the paint on Mike, friction reduction and all that.

John

 

[mike4517]

John

A lot faster but have to keep speed down don't want the flywheel to explode safety first.
Mike

 

[b.lindsey]

Nice work guys, its nice to see all the creativity. Just a question though for Mike...doesn't the con rod (wire) hit the crankshaft being attached from the inner side. Maybe I am missing something, but i would think it would hook through from the outer side of the crankdisk so as to be free to rotate 360 degrees. Keep up the great work, this is an enjoyable thread to watch.

Bill

 

[mike4517]

Bill
It does not move through 360 deg.
Mike

 

[shred]

I submit that 'engines' ought to have at least a linkage or crank (so far they all do) to avoid some wag bolting a flywheel to a board and calling it a finger engine

Al, the hole-saw is your friend working in wood-- a wheel with a concentric center bore thrown in free!

 

[Kactiguy]

I must have these finger engines on the brain. Everything I look at becomes a engine in my head. I was looking for something, saw this old hard drive and thought..."hmmmm". I drilled one hole and bent a wire. Total time-- about 3 minutes. I don't think this one counts, but I thought I'd show it anyway. Runs really great too.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfR6p-3dHng[/ame]

 

[dave e]

Here's mine. Total time about 17 minutes. In case it doesn't come through well on the pictures, the flywheel is a round bar of soap with some of the coathanger wrapped around it.

Raw Materials

Under Construction

Completed Engine - A View from the Cockpit

Completed Engine - The Mechanicals

I hope the video comes through


All in all, this was great fun. But now back to metal (where I'm a LOT slower.)

 

[Cedge]

Hmmmm.... 17 minutes? I'm throwing up the white flag of surrender and building this puppy my way...LOL. I'll live under the tool and cad restrictions, but the clock isn't going to be a huge factor with my own effort. I'm seeing at least an hour if I go with my idea, using metal.

Steve

 

[Bogstandard]

Dave,

That is really a cheapskate engine and a half, it even has self cleaning properties.

I great idea of crank and flywheel all in one, keeps the component count to a real minimum.

Very well done.

If this competition goes on as it is, I will never be asked about how to make a finger engine, all the designs and how to make will all be in this one post.

Steve,
Looks like the time thing has really reared its ugly head, the time on this one is unbelievable, but don't let it put you off. The members on here are showing the way to some great designs.

Everyone else, lets see more of your ingenuity.

We haven't had this much excitement since everyone tried to make elbow engines, and judging by the number of reads, a popular one as well.


John

 

[Cedge]

John... I'm not complaining...LOL. I'm simply stunned at what he achieved. He managed to comply rather cleanly ...um... while recycling his sketch at the same time. I think we can safely rank this entry as "Green"...(grin). I'm confused... is it still considered thinking outside of the box if one actually uses the darned box?

Steve

 

[Kactiguy]

Dave-e, nice clean soap engine. Definitely thinking out of the box.

Okay, this is my last one. Anyone like some Spaghetti-O's? It went together pretty quick, about 45 min. The parts include the can, hanger, a scrap piece of channel material pulled from an old printer and a penny (all that I had in the budget). I added a couple big washers (not shown in the photo) to the flywheels for weight. Runs amazingly well. My 5 year old had no problem making it go.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3l1bt-Kh5Jg[/ame]

 

[dave e]

Kactiguy, now THAT is a great design. It's got me hungry ... err ... to make one like it.

 

[Bogstandard]

I CAN't get over how frugal some of these designs are getting, I CAN see the government paying out on some of these designs to reduce the waste recycling charges.

Wonderful design and acTIoN

John