Gyroscope

Fabrickator

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I posted this on another forum so some of you may have already seen it.

Some years ago I needed a project and I’ve always had a fascination with the physics of gyros so I decided to make one. I searched hi and low for plans to no avail and so I gathered all of the pics I could find (vintage and modern) on the interweb and came up with my own design.

I started at my local scrap yard and found some pipe for the ring material. I’ll have to check, but I think that I used 3 ½” and 4”. I bought a billet of steel to make the flywheel and the finished product turned out to weigh almost 2 pounds. I bought some miniature ball bearings from VXB bearing supply for about $10 each. I made the base out of aluminum to save weight.

I started this project in 2009 on my first hobby lathe, a vintage Atlas 6”. The orbit rings were really pushing the “outer limits” of this little machine. So, I shelved the project until I purchased my G0602 a few years later and I recently found some time to get the monkey off my back and the parts off my bench.

The precision of this project is critical to the performance. It has to be perfectly balanced and friction- free to get the desired effects of a gyroscope. I’m not an engineer, but I recognized the physical forces involved so I chose to use high quality ball bearings for the flywheel and made axles out of hardened set screws, as opposed to “cone centers in brass bushings” used on some low-speed gyros.

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It’s fun to play with and demonstrate the physics involved with the controlled inertia of rotating mass. I won’t get into the details of the physics but there are a few good clips on You Tube that demonstrate the effects for those who wish to learn more about it. With a good pull of a string it will run strong for a minute or two. With a driving force like a die grinder w/ rubber wheel, you can reach RPM’s in the thousands for a much longer run time. I’ve read some claims in the 15-20 minute range.

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I need to stress the inherent dangers associated with running high mass and high inertia at high speeds if you plan on achieving these sorts of RPMs. If it came apart and you or something/someone you love were in the way, it could destroy or possibly kill because it would effectively turn into an un-guided cannon ball. When I planned on making this project it was more for an art object to display in my curio with my other artsy wood items. If it worked, and worked safely, that would be a bonus.

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Thats excellent.
Do you find it top heavy at all with all that steel up top and just the ally base?

Cheers Phil
 
Thanks. No, it's actualy perfectly balanced and so the stand size is appropriate for the gyro size and weight. When spinning, you couldn't knock it over if you tried. That's why they use them for Segways
 
Thanks. No, it's actualy perfectly balanced and so the stand size is appropriate for the gyro size and weight. When spinning, you couldn't knock it over if you tried. That's why they use them for Segways

Hi! I don't make a practice of hijacking threads, but this caught my eye. Segways do NOT use gyroscopes anywhere in their design. I know, I am a Segway owner. They're remarkable gizmos...but they gain their stability partly from the fact that platform that you stand on is actually below the centerline of the tires, and partly from the user's ability (or lack of same) to stand still. The forward propulsion comes from separate motors...one for each tire. The ingenious circuitry in the Segway's motherboard receives signals from vertical sensors, and those signals are received one hundred times each and every second (yep, second...not minute!). The way it works is that the Segway's tires remain motionless when the whole Segway is in its vertical position. When the user leans just the least bit forward, the Segway is suddenly leaning forward along with the user. The Segway's motherboard hears the news about being leaned forward nearly instantly, and responds by sending signals to the two motors (one for each tire, remember) and makes the tires turn in an effort to regain verticality. But since the user maintains his or her forward-leaning stance for a while, the tires keep turning until the user pulls back on the handlebars. Pulling back restores the Segway to its vertical state and hence, the tires quit turning. By the way, making a turn on a Segway is just an electrical command to slow down one of the tires with respect to the other one.

BUT...I have LONG been intrigued by gyroscopes and I really enjoy your thread! For several years I've had a bizarre fantasy of constructing a gyroscope consisting of a metal ring encased in a hollow ring. Rotation would be achieved by having dozens of small rare-earth magnets embedded into the inner ring, and wire coils around the outer ring with short DC bursts providing rotation. Of course, the outer ring would have to have similar magnets embedded into the inner walls, oriented to repel the inner ring's magnets, all to suspend the inner ring within the outer ring. It's one of those ideas I'll probably never get around to fiddling with...but it might be fun to try...I'm just THIS (picture thumb & forefinger lightly touching) ignorant of why it cannot be done to go ahead and become obsessed with trying to make it work.
 
Correction Segways do use gyroscopes there are five of them they are electronic not mechanical they are very similar to what is used on remote control model helicopters. Segways use a special solid-state angular rate sensor constructed using silicon. This sort of gyroscope determines an object's rotation using the Coriolis effect on a very small scale. They are very effective and are very fast to react.. Ray
 
Correction Segways do use gyroscopes there are five of them they are electronic not mechanical they are very similar to what is used on remote control model helicopters. Segways use a special solid-state angular rate sensor constructed using silicon. This sort of gyroscope determines an object's rotation using the Coriolis effect on a very small scale. They are very effective and are very fast to react.. Ray

Hi Ray,
Thanks! I stand corrected...you are absolutely right. I am sorry - sometimes I blabber when I need to keep my mouth shut...
...Doug
 
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