Fusion File: https://a360.co/2JbERBS
Cover Cut Out: https://a360.co/2JuazKe
I have always wanted to make a Tesla Turbine but I never had
the appropriate tools or brain capability…so I started designing in Fusion what
Tesla’s patent looked like but with my own changes of course. Initially I looked
at other people’s attempt at the turbine and realized that no has made a big
one. So I had to do that. I went ahead and talked to Ryan about it and he said
that we could order the shaft and the aluminum that I need for the disks.
With
that all set, I could finally design the turbine around the shaft size and ball
bearings. Since I wanted to press-fit the ball bearings, I made some test cut
samples to see what diameter hole is needed to create a solid press-fit. I
tested that as seen to the right.
The next step was to 3D print the casing that
would house all of the disks and spacers. I went ahead and got Leifer to print
it for me on the big 3D printer as seen in the image below. The print took
over 20 hours, but it was a gigantic help for speeding things along. At that
point I wanted to make the acrylic face cover so we can all see the spinning
disks in action. I made some test cuts from cardboard to see if everything
actually lined up, which it did based on the other image below.
So I moved forward and made the real cover from acrylic
which then had to be cemented together, as seen to the left. Whilst that was drying, I wanted to use the
Wazer to cut the disks I needed for the turbine. Since it had never been used
yet, there were some hardships getting it started…but, 5 hours later, it still didn’t
work…
I gave up on my hopes and dreams and used the boring old Shop Bot
to cut the disks as shown in the picture to the right. But even that created some problems.
In my design, I wanted to implement some of the concepts from my machine design
class. So I had a keyway shaft to hold the disks and later implemented a set
screw. The keyway is a really cool idea, and no has done it for a Tesla Turbine
(I think... I’m pretty sure). But the problem is that the CNC leaves a radius
when cutting really small stuff, like a keyway. So I had to bust out the file
and finish the disks by hand. A very tedious process, it had to be done 6
times, as seen in the photo below. 
But after that, the assembly was complete as seen later on in the blog. Now it was time to get some RPMs from this thing and try to generate electricity.
Now I had to use the lathe to create a coupling from the
shafts diameter to that of the generator. After the lathe, I tapped the hole to
install the set screw so the coupling wouldn’t move as seen in the picture to the right. I used a connecting fit to
attach the generator to the shaft and gave it a run for its money. In its early
stages it was outputting around 700-RPM, but recently it’s getting around 1,500-RPM
and about half a volt generated. I would change some things second time around. I
would change the inlet ports to be more filleted so the air can catch the walls
better. Maybe try roughening the disks, make them have more drag. I would like
to try and change the number of disks and their placements. There are many things that can be
experimented with. Here are some pictures of a pretty much finished thing!
-Bryan
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