How To Make A Tesla Turbine (Greenest Turbine)

Step 9 Taking it Further

Now what you may want to do and you may have noticed in the previous steps that throughout the instructable my pvc pipe transitioned from plain white to blue. If you plan on painting your project do this before assembly. I used Krylon because it is in my opinion the best spray paint out there and it will bond to anything.

Another thing to help your project stay together but is not necessary is to use lock nuts instead of regular nuts. I did switch over and use these after I thought about it for a while and I believe it will help to keep your project together longer.

Also one thing that I did not do and I am now wishing I did is polish the ends of my plexi-glass. This is something that I do not know how to do but I imagine that you should be able to easily find it somewhere on the internet.

Something else you may consider is making a steam boiler. This is something that I know how to do but it will take another instructable so if I get enough responses for me to make this I will so if you would like to see one on Instructables please let me know.

You may also want to make a Tesla pump which is just about the exact same thing as this except the water or fluid will enter from the exhaust ports and will exit from where we are putting the air inlet which is where the plastic tube is. Once again I am sorry but I do not know how to make one of these but If you do let me know of the site and I will post a link on how to do this, same for polishing the ends of the plexi-glass. And your turbine could power this too.

These are just add-ons so do not feel that you have to do these things to make your turbine run because I have only painted mine and made a boiler for it which make this project very green. Speaking of that you could also add on a small D.C. generator of some sort and light some L.E.D.'s with it and having your project run something else always makes it look better, please if any of you make one of these send me a picture and I will dedicate a section to all of you that make one.

***Note: you may want to make a ball valve system so you can quickly shut it off if something were to go wrong and it makes it nice to be able to control the speed if you want to I have a picture of this if you want to see mine.

Comments

[lenny25]

If the turbine was geared up, do you think it might have enough torque to work as a motor for another machine like a lathe or a milling machine?

[_Scratch_]

It would be a waste of energy to run the compresser to run the turbine to run the lathe. you would go from electrical energy to kinetic (i think) energy. every time you change forms of energy it costs you some of that energy.

[lenny25]

The exercise is not really about saving electricity, it's about exploring new possibilities. If I can successfully run a lathe on a compressor, the next question is, What is the minimum pressure needed to run the lathe? And then I want to ask: Can I find a source of air or steam pressure that equals that, yet is more cost effective or energy efficient than electricity. So it may not be a very green venture to begin with, but my goal is innovation and invention, which if successful will result in greener machines for the future.

[darkevilapie]

what about geisers (steamvulkanos ) in iceland. put one on top of these and it wil be green energy yay ^^

[_Scratch_]

Ahhhhh........... ok, maybe a steam engine-lathe? =P

[lenny25]

Yeah imagine the cool factor on that! The Steampunk Lathe!

[_Scratch_]

steam is cool stuff, I'm really into steam engines and such right now, it has a ton of torque and there are so many designs for the engines. I'm thinking of a nuclear powered one that puts the excess steam in a condenser and recycles it, AKA UNLIMITED FUEL!!! =P

[lenny25]

Hmmm, Uranium...maybe a little out of reach for the average DIY backyard engineering enthusiast. :P

[masterochicken]

I beg your pardon?
unitednuclear.com/index.php

[cuchulain92]

The fact that you're posting publicly proves you haven't the capability to reduce that ore to metal and then enrich the isotope, I'm sorry to say. It takes equipment that's out of the reach of some national economies- and if a private citizen were so able, they'd remain a private citizen for perhaps a day.

[lperkins]

There was one sixteen year old who managed to build a small nuclear reactor in his backyard woodshed...

Of course, he was rather an idiot about his containment procedures and so irradiated his entire block...

http://www.dangerouslaboratories.org/radscout.html

[CrazyMachinist94]

Yes, but it would have to be geared down not up but that would use a lot of air for a lathe or milling machine but it is possible

[lenny25]

Maybe a compressor? I want to build a lathe, but struggling to find a motor that has enough torque. So I would keep the turbine the same size, but just increase the air pressure and add a couple of pulleys. Maybe I should try a simpler machine first, like making a safer version of that instructable on the pumkin cutter skill saw.

[CrazyMachinist94]

it would work but you would just need to gear it down alot... also almost any compressor would have to be running constantly to keep the turbine going especially if you increased the air pressure, my compressor will be fine for about 2 minutes and then it will kick on and just run constantly until i stop the turbine. But whatever you do let me know and if I can help.

[seabee890]

I love the entousiasm that you all are showing for doing something a different way. I do the same thing sometimes, but this is what we in the navy call "nuking it."  you would probably get a better return on your energy expenditure (though not as cool sounding) if you design a lathe  that is powered by the electric motor on your compressor. they did this in the old days when people coud not afford many motors, they would use one motor that had different pullies and ratios to power multiple things. figure out the energy usage of the compressor motor and thn deside what it would do.  I think somebody created a way to make bearings out of plywood or wood also if you can't work acrylic.

[jummel]

We polished the edges of plexi glass (or acrylic, not sure difference) at school. It was pretty simple. Just use finer and finer grades of sandpaper then finish it off with brasso and elbow grease. Brings it up very nicely.

[qwertyboy]

the way i do it is to use a propane torch set on low and quickly, but not to quickly move it across the edge. if done properly, you'll only mely the acrylic and not burn it.

[ramblinduck]

I have to say that I am very impressed with both your initiative and the fact that you took the time to post an extremely well thought out and informative instructable. Good work and keep it up.

[leadman]

Nice job on your project. I have seen several of these turbines, but nobody ever bothers to measure the efficiency of them. It would be great to compare the output of a small generator to the input power of the air and calculate an efficiency ratio. Tesla himself predicted very high values, but I have yet to see anyone demonstrate it. If anyone has done this please post a comment regarding your results.

[CrazyMachinist94]

I am working with my physics teacher now to find this out.

[Zaragrunudgeyon]

This is a nice project and its good to see a young guy buying and using a lathe. A few comments I would make however. 1) If you have a lathe why bother salvaging hard disk drives and then using a PVC pipe? I am building my own Tesla turbine at present and have machined all the parts out of aluminium. this way I can keep the tolerances to what I want between the turbine blade and the casing. 2) Drilling holes that need to be evenly spaced can be done with accurate marking out but consider buying an inexpensive dividing head and using it on any drill press. I bought mine for about $300 and then machined a carrier for a small 3 jaw chuck. This has been a great investment for giving accurate drilling and I will be able to use it on my milling machine when I get one. 3) Lock nut and Nyloc nuts are great but not perfect. Try using Loctite and you will get a much better holding power. Also if you are wanting high tensile or brass nuts these are impossible to find in a Nyloc style ...... so Loctite makes good sense. Once I have finished my motor I will post it to share my ideas on the subject.

[CrazyMachinist94]

I could do this and I will be when making a smaller scale version, so it can withstand much higher speeds but with one this big it is just not worth wasting a block of aluminum about 5.5x5.5" and then taking out a 4" in diameter circle from the center of it and I was trying to make one that most people could make for a cheaper price I am also working on a few steam engines that are entirely aluminum and brass which I will post of the site in about a month or two when finished, I do not have much time to work on these kinds of things because of homework and school but once finishe they will be haere and I would enjoy seeing pictures of your too and thanks for the advice on the nuts.

[Zaragrunudgeyon]

Ok heres a trick in getting the best out of a block of materials. If you are taking about 4" out of a 5.5" piece rather than turning it all to chips try what is called trepanning.
This involves having a parting style tool that is shaped more like a boring tool and using it longitudinally rather than in a cross slide direction. This way you can cut most of the inside waste section as a slug of material to use later. You end up with the ring of material you want to use for your motor casing.

Think carefully about your tool angle clearances so that it is right for both the inner part and outer part of you job. If you can picture it let me know and I will send you a drawing of what I mean. Any good book on turning will show you this technique.

If you think about how a hole saw works and then translate that to a single point tool you will be on the right path. You need to get the absolute best out of all of your materials. I keep buckets of offcut for making other things and it has meant at times I can put off buying new materials. My son and I even used some aluminium scrap when we needed to cast a part for a project. We used a Mapp Gas torch that quickly melted all the materials see http://www.justtools.com.au/prod1874.htm. These torches are cheap and you can do almost everything with them. Let me know if I can help with any machining advice ............... ive only been doing it for 36 years :-)

I will be really interested in seeing your steam projects too...... send me a message when they are up...... Thanks Mal

[CrazyMachinist94]

Thanks for the advice I can use that for building my smaller scale version and have even less scrap then what I planned and I will let you know when the steam engines are done.

[Zaragrunudgeyon]

thats ok .............. if you need a tool design let me know and I will draw it up for you ..... we must keep the fitter knowledge alive

[CrazyMachinist94]

Is there any way that I could see the design of this because my boss has a milling machine be will let me use so if it needs that it's ok but I just don't want to do it wrong because I have my lathe in my garage about ten feet from my dads hotrod and if something happens to them I am in trouble so that would be great if you would be willing to let me see plans for that. Thanks.

[Zaragrunudgeyon]

Ok let me put pen to paper later on and draw you something up. You will need a piece of high speed steel that is long enough to clamp in your tool post and provide enough length for however deep you are cutting.

[CrazyMachinist94]

Ok that will work I have some and thank you.

[Zaragrunudgeyon]

another way around this is to use a good quality hole saw in the tailstock. Obviously you will grip it in the drill chuck. Use something that is used for metal cutting ie has high speed steel teeth.. not the crappy ones you can get that only cut wood. starret makes a good range of these but of course when you get to large sizes they cost heaps for somethin you will use for one job only. The trick here is to take the 1/4" pilot drill out of it as both the job and the holesaw are held tightly at each end of the lathe so you dont need a drill in the centre. Use plenty of cutting fluind .. kerosene is the one of choice for aluminium and I use either an oil can for squirting it or a small paint brush. I will send the tool diagram soon - Mal

[CrazyMachinist94]

Thanks

[rogueleadr]

You can use it as a pump if you just apply a motor to the shaft and it will put water out the inlet.

[lemonie]

Do you have any precedent for that or are you guessing? L

[frollard]

No, really, if you spin that thing, the turbines will work sorta like an impeller, pushing the contents to the outside, where the 'inlet' (now outlet) is. Someone asked what you could do with it - buddy made one into a blender, hybrid water/compressed air design. :D

[Pkranger88]

Otherwise known as a "centrifugal pump." These are well known for pumping fluids of various consistencies due to the lack of complex moving parts.

[frollard]

Yeah, not a lot of chopping action - you can use it to pump strawberries.

[ReCreate]

yeah but you'll end up with strawberries slices

[LoTriMouS]

Tesla used this type of turbine to pump mercury. That was his proof of concept.