I love biking. I also love smoothies. That's why I was really excited when I read about the B3 mini from rock the bike in Make 11. However, upon visiting their site I was dismayed at the cost of the blender, about $250. Thus, not knowing if it would work, or if it was even legal (patent infringement and such) I set of to create my own bike blender.
This instructable documents how to create your own inexpensive, energy conserving, bike powered blender. Since appliances account for over 20% of your electric bill, this is one less energy consuming machine in your house. And making a fruit smoothie is twice as good for you as before; both in nutritional value, and also in the exercise you get. It isn't an incredibly difficult build, and even the most inexperienced Maker should be able to complete it in less than 3 hours (not counting glue drying time).
This instructable documents how to create your own inexpensive, energy conserving, bike powered blender. Since appliances account for over 20% of your electric bill, this is one less energy consuming machine in your house. And making a fruit smoothie is twice as good for you as before; both in nutritional value, and also in the exercise you get. It isn't an incredibly difficult build, and even the most inexperienced Maker should be able to complete it in less than 3 hours (not counting glue drying time).
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Signing UpStep 1: Necessary Materials
Materials needed:
Blender: Theoretically, any blender would do. I'm using a Hamilton Beach personal blender that was practically made for this project. The two key things needed are that:
1) The blender jar locks in place
2) There is a transmission disk, instead of the motor connecting directly to the blades
A M4-.70, 19cm long bolt: In a perfect world, a bolt of this size would exist, but the longest I could find was a 7 cm. If you can find one, great, otherwise you need: 3- 7 cm, M4-.70 bolts and 2 coupling nuts of the same size.
Old bicycle inner tube
1x8 board
3x4 metal plate
2- 1.5 in. diameter wooden wheels
4- 2 inch bolts of any size, and 4 matching nuts
2- 1 inch wood screws
2- M4-.70 Tee nuts
Bicycle rear rack: any rack should do.
Blender: Theoretically, any blender would do. I'm using a Hamilton Beach personal blender that was practically made for this project. The two key things needed are that:
1) The blender jar locks in place
2) There is a transmission disk, instead of the motor connecting directly to the blades
A M4-.70, 19cm long bolt: In a perfect world, a bolt of this size would exist, but the longest I could find was a 7 cm. If you can find one, great, otherwise you need: 3- 7 cm, M4-.70 bolts and 2 coupling nuts of the same size.
Old bicycle inner tube
1x8 board
3x4 metal plate
2- 1.5 in. diameter wooden wheels
4- 2 inch bolts of any size, and 4 matching nuts
2- 1 inch wood screws
2- M4-.70 Tee nuts
Bicycle rear rack: any rack should do.
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This tutorial has been really really helpful in my bicycle-blending attempts. I'm using a stationary bike, and constructed a simple base stand from PVC pipes for about $15. I'm having troubles both getting the wheels to move the shaft, and, if they are moving, to not move up the shaft, away from the moving wheel on the bike.
Thanks!
1) We used tee nuts on the wooden wheels as you suggested, and a single long threaded rod, but how did you keep the wheel assembly from 'climbing' up the threaded rod (which is bad) rather than turning the rod (which is what is desired). Our solution was to place a lock nut on the threaded rod above wheel assembly and that worked well.
2) What is the purpose of the metal plate? We skipped it without any obvious problems.
3) our long threaded rod tended to 'climb' upward as it rotated (the hole we drilled thru the wood was just a bit larger than the threaded rod, so it would naturally climb as the threads rotated) and this tended to push the blender jar out of its cradle as we pedaled. (I guess your assembly didn't have this problem?) Our solution was to have somebody physically push down on the blender jar at all times, but eventually the jar was ejected from the blender and broke :( any ideas for us?
2.) I used the metal plate to attach the blender to the bike. It wasn't the best method, but it's all I had on hand at the time.
3.) It's been a long time since I made this/used it, but I don't think I had this problem. I'd suggest counter turning two nuts below the board, and placing a washer above them. This should keep the rod from climbing up.
Good Luck! Let me know if you have any more questions:)
Is there any chance I could get the main/top image of this page a little larger for print? Or find another similar simple but colourful one at a high resolution and creative commons copyright or other?
Thanks alot --
On the first blender I took apart (Oster brand), The rod has some odd tread pattern that's neither metric nor standard. I went to 3 different hardware stores and asked for help, but no coupler nut or any other nut screws onto the rod right. I was able to partially screww one coupler nut on but since the threads don't match, it doesn't go on straight, so the wheel I attached spins obliquely.
The second blender, an older Hamilton Beach, has a rod that is smooth, not threaded, so I don't know how to extend it.
I got both of these blenders for free, so no big loss. I'm using a skateboard wheel instead of wooden wheels.
One thing you could try that i have seen work at a festival cafe is making a box out of kingspan-this is an insulator for walls and has foam on one side and a reflective surface on the other. it is expensive but can bbe found in skips from building sites.
Make this into a box silver side out and it will keep your cool things cool
peace
The skateboard wheel mod someone mentioned is excellent in terms of protecting the tire sidewall. Modularity to enable riding & rack use without blending would be ideal. For stationary operation, installation of a large, *stable*, bracket-style (fold-down "C" shape) kickstand which raises the rear wheel off the ground but still allows pedaling should work.
Altogether a very cool instructable!
There are a few decent videos of bike blending action on YouTube (although none of them are mine). Also, there are some videos of the B3 (my inspiration) on the rock the bike website. I'll post some footage as soon as the snow thaws.
I have two suggestions:
1: The most recent blender bike I made uses a food processor. I chose this because it is less likely to jam thanks to it's smooth, round cylindrical interior surface. Also the blades are longer so they chop faster at the same RPM. These two factors make a big difference in effectiveness. Plus food processors lock down to their base. And some food processors end up in the garbage due to a broken/slippy drive belt despite being in otherwise good shape. On a bike you run the blades directly with no belt so anything with a broken belt or motor will work.
2: Try dry ice for your cooler. It should stay cool all day, maybe all week! Howstuffworks tells me dry ice sublimates directly into gas so your cooler will stay dry except for condensation. Dry ice is readily available so you might be able to get it for free if you ask the right person the right way (think ice cream vendors). You might want to wrap it in a towel or something; at -78C (-109.3F) it could freezeburn your bananas yo.
Here is some food for thought. Police: Ice cream vendor used dry ice to burn kids http://www.canofun.com/cof/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=12325&mid=76745 I bet that guy would be a good source of dry ice.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lv4Q9ShAlFE
For now, a few comments for anyone attempting the project soon:
--make sure you check out where the rod will need to be placed in relation to the bike rack your blender's mounted on. We had to drill a hole straight through the rack and it made a horrible screaming sound when riding, so we made the notch a lot bigger which fixed the problem. However, the size of the discs covered in inner tube and the placement within the rack means that in order to remove the blender, you need to dismantle the whole rod mechanism connecting to the inside of the blender to remove the dang thing. Our solution to this was to cut a gap in the outer bar of our bike rack. All good, just be mindful of how the rack you've chosen works with the placement of blender & vertical rod.
--We used an inner tube to cover the wooden discs that was from a road bike. WAY TOO SMALL - a pain in the butt to get on the discs, and it ripped after about 5 uses of the bike. We're now looking for a mountain bike size inner tube and hopefully that will fix the problem.
--One thing about the design you have is that the bike can't be ridden without blending. Does anyone have any brilliant ideas on mechanisms that would allow the blending rod to swing away from the wheel to deactivate the blender rotation caused by the wheel turning?
--Also would love to hear some brilliant ideas on how to make the bike stationary. While its hilarious to watch your roommate embark off on to the street to make the morning smoothie, it'd also be great to be able to ride up to say a farmer's market or festival and make smoothies on the spot.
Happy blending, folks!
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