I figured that not many people would want to go through the trouble downloading the file and looking at it so I am trying to post the contents here.
Mechanical Toy Car
How I got here…
In late 2010 I came across a beautiful object called the “Toy Car” by by Wouter Scheublin.
It is a spring powered toy car made of stainless steel and bronze.
Click Below for link to Wouter’s website
http://www.wouterscheublin.com/projects/toy-car/
The Toy Car is being made in a limited edition and due to the cost, I am uncertain if I will be able to obtain one before they are all sold.
Therefore, just in case I can not get one, I decided to make a version of my own.
The obvious question of how do I do that is what I have been trying to answer…
The purpose of this is to illustrate my progress so far and what design ideas have inspired me (or what I would like the final version to look like).
Questions:
◦ What materials should I use.
◦ What gear ratio should I use.
◦ Are their any programs that will allow me to illustrate simply.
My criteria:
◦ Same beautiful materials.
◦ Powered by heavy, beautiful flywheel.
◦ 4wd.
◦ An approximate size of 4x6.
I would like to make a friction/inertia version using metal as the material. I would like it to be about the same size, have the exposed gears, but have a different gear set up with a beautiful flywheel.
My search in making one continued by be doing some substantial research and purchasing various friction toy cars and other geared mechanical objects as well as gears from local hobby shops, taking them from broken laser printers, drills, etc... I also downloaded demos of AutoDesk Inventor and SolidWorks
Overall, it appears that the best friction cars that can be purchased have a somewhat standard gear set up for 2wd and 4wd.
I would like mine to be 4wd.
Zecar
2wd Example
A good example of a friction powered vehicle is the Zecar sold by Kikkerland and designed by Chico Bicalho and which can be found at
http://www.kikkerland.com/products/zecar-flywheel-car/
RevUps
4wd
The Hotwheels revups seem to have the best distance and after opening one up, I was able to tell that it uses a transmission to power the front axle from the back axle.
http://can.hotwheels.com/cool-stuff/rev ... evupsCars/
Most of the 4wd friction cars use the cluster of gears to transfer power. Only the RevUps use the rod with a bevel and crown gear to transfer the power to make 4wd. However, the RevUps are also the most efficient (longest distance v push)\
The middle gear is connected to the flywheel which turns the gears which reach to each of the axles.
Here is a high torque set up that is used in RC Tanks. This may actually be too much torque for what I am looking for, but is a great model to study.
Below is an example of a frame designed using solidworks. This was created by someone who actually knows how to use those programs… Not Me!!
A different version using an example of gears. Not sure if the ratios actually mean something in this model or not.
Overall, I think the best design I can think of would include:
◦ 4wd using the same method as the RevUps.
◦ 1-2 flywheels.
◦ Thinking of taking the Zecar gear set up and having two sets on one car. Left and Right.
Imagine a larger flywheel. This is 2wd so I would still need to determine how I want the 4wd. I think like RevUps would be best.
I would like this to be machined and any input or modifications would be welcome. I am willing to compensate a reasonable fee of course. If you are interested, please let me know.
Many thanks!