Making a Monowheel

by Make it Extreme

11K387

Intro: Making a Monowheel

The making of every handmade motorbike has been always an exciting project, imagine in this case referring to a monowheel. The monowheel is a machine that has only one wheel and the driver sits inside it. The wheel is leaded by other smaller wheels and it is moved by the machine through a rubber wheel, which is connected with the main wheel.

STEP 1: Metallic Wheel

Firstly, we started our structure by making a big, metallic wheel with 130cm diameter using a tube of 40mm diameter. Then, we lined the metallic wheel with a rubber in order to achieve having the benefits that all the tyres have on the street. Also, due to the fact that the wheel is big in size, we took 4 tyres from small motorbikes and we cut them as well as we glued the one with the other in order to form a tyre.

STEP 2: Teflon Wheels - Machine

Afterwards, we made 3 wheels with a bearing using Teflon PTFE and on which the big wheel rolls. These three wheels were attached with the inside part of the wheel on a framework. On this framework, another machine 110cc 4 stroke was placed. This machine using a chain, enables a rubber wheel to move so this wheel enables the big wheel to move as well. Therefore, the rider sits inside the wheel.

STEP 3: Finish

Despite all the difficulties and challenges that we faced making this structure, it was still an incredible and exciting project to complete. The monowheels are very unstable in low speed but very stable in speeds over 30km. Concluding, the feeling that the driver gets while driving it is very unusual as we have never driven such a vehicle in our lives before. We are unbelievably happy making and owning a functional monowheel from now on.

7 Comments

Knexified 2 years ago

Ok. WOW!! Unbelievable! Amazing! I love this idea! I wish I had one of these!

TBYNGMAN 3 years ago

Where did you find the teflon to make the wheels and if so could u give me the link to them

Thorondor95 5 years ago

Maybe you could build some kind of rollerskate-type brakes. It looks like you were having to use your feet a lot.

larry03052 5 years ago

Your monowheel IS a neat hack. But. the monowheel has never been successful as a real mode of transportation, it's too unstable, and more often than not, riders get hurt. While a few people HAVE managed to make use of them, they remain impractical.

BUT - there is a very similar idea that seems like it shouldn't work, but actually does, and quite well: the one-wheel motorcycle. I thought you might be interested in reading about it, at least. This uses the self-balancing technology from the Segway to maintain stability and, while I have no personal experience with the things, they do seem to have the potential to be a real alternative. You can read about an electric version:

https://www.coolthings.com/ryno-microcycle/

https://www.dogonews.com/2014/1/27/one-wheeled-ele...

This could be a fun project to try, and is about the most minimal way of getting around invented beside the skateboard. I know there are open-source versions of the Segway self-balancing system that can use an arduino, there is even a way to build it using Lego Technics - image.google.com: self balancing lego

NicolasK11 5 years ago

IT does look fascinating.

Genuine question: How do they solve the braking problem that this monowheel has too?