The physical build
Time to wrap up this project. If you missed it, you can check out the previous posts for this project, which were for concept design and music. Finally, it was time to build the physical grinder stand.
To my surprise, I discovered that I don't have many pictures of this, even after it was completed! Full disclosure though, I think that's because it didn't actually work...at least not very well.
Why Didn't it Work?
During the design stages, I discovered that a large and heavy pulley would be really expensive, so I opted for a smaller one instead. I failed to compensate for that loss in weight though. The weight is needed to carry the centrifugal force through the pedaling motion, so without it, I couldn't keep the wheel going while grinding. I also realized I needed to be able to not only push the pedal with my foot, but also pull it up as well (I thought this could compensate for not having the heavy pulley).
It still needed more mass. Instead of changing the pulley, which wasn't really an option, I opted to add a flywheel on the side of the frame. Again, flywheels are surprisingly expensive, so I thought I would try to make one with wood. After getting the wooden flywheel on the axel, it definitely helped. At this point, I could effectively sharpen tools on it, but it was pretty awkward. You can see the flywheel and modified pedal here.
How Did it End?
I ended up converting the stand to hold my bench grinder, which I use to sharpen my tools. So, it's still serving the same purpose as intended, it's just not foot-powered. I made a couple small modifications to hold pieces for my sharpening jig. It works fantastically-well.
It's always hard when a project doesn't quite succeed. This project was supposed to be a foot-powered grinder, and that ended up failing. In this case, I was able to salvage the project, which was great. But more importantly, I think it's better to try and fail than to stay within our comfort zones.
Comments