Introduction: Homemade Generator

Hey! My name is Colby and I am a student at the Orange Ulster BOCES Career and Technical School's Telecommunications and Wireless Specialist Class located in Goshen, New York .Here we build a lot of crazy things but in this Instructable we will be focused on a homemade treadmill we made in class. This thing can generate a whole bunch of power but it is man powered so its only as good as the person peddling. You can even toast bread with this or power small lights and its not hard to sustain a good amount of power and its a good work out!

Step 1: Tools and Equipment

There are a few things that you need before you try making your very own treadmill:

*If you can find a treadmill. We found one on the side of the road and it works fine.

*Handsaw

*Drill

*Screws/Nails

*Serpentine belt with 4 ribs which make it so it holds better.

*A motor that generates the power.

*L-bar

*A rough estimate of 5'68.4 feet of wood for one length (side) and together 10'.136 feet. For the width 1'21 for one side and together around 2 feet. For the full area of the bike it would be roughly 12 feet of wood

*A mulitmeter to watch how much energy you make as you peddle!

Step 2: Base

To start off you have to make a base so the bike is changeable and you can add things easy. This is important so you can add the parts such as the motor. This is where all the measurements come in since its important you have the right amount wood to complete the base. I would start with the width since its smaller and requires less wood.

Step 3: Bike

After you get your base of wood set up you can place your bike preferably a type of excise bike up top. This is a little tricky since you have to make sure its set up so it's stable. You may have to add a few supports to the side so its stable when you peddle. This is because the faster you peddle the more energy you will produce with you attach the motor so you would want it to be stable so you don't hurt yourself.

Step 4: Meter and Motor

when you have the base and the bike attached to it up next is a multi-meter. With the meter try to get a little motor as well so energy is generated. With the meter you would attach clips onto wires from the motor so you can see how much energy you are making. Also make sure there is something protruding out so the treds in the next step can wrap around it.

With the motor it would be best to add another support with wood so it can hold the weight. The motor is one of the essential parts to building the bike.

Step 5: Treds

The last part that needs to be done is add treds to the tire. You do this by getting some that fit on the wheel itself and make sure its big enough the reach the motor and the object your using that is protruding from the motor.

With the treds you need to make it fit on the tires like how the rubber on a tire is around the rims. When you get it to fit then test how well it stay by peddling slowly then go faster and faster.

Step 6: End

If it all goes well then you have yourself a little generator. If you go fast enough and everything works you can toast some bread or charge your phone. Thanks for reading this instructable and I hope this helped!

Step 7: Videos!

Some videos for your viewing pleasure! We had some test subjects ti test how much energy they can produce on the bike. I didn't do so well there but ohhh well! A fellow classmate Russell filmed the videos you see here.