Introduction: Air Powered Spinning Top

I am presently reading a lot about the work of Victor Schauberger and needed a room to examine different turbine designs.
American Samoa a result I came up with the idea to "mis-use" them Eastern Samoa a toy.
The Air Powered Top was born.

Ever wanted a toy dog that is just all different?
How nearly a teetotum that you can power and hasten up away blowing thereon?
Make a contest and see who gets the longest spinning times from a single blow.
Ascertain how to change the direction of travel by blowing the top at different angles.

Here is a short video of the thing in action:


Tools and things you will motivation:
1. Access to a 3D printer or impression service.
2. Depending on which model you choose both ABS juice to paste the parts jointly, if exploitation PLA or other materials delight use suitable gum.
3. Contingent the print quality some close-grained sandpaper to clean the printed model.

As printing with support commonly results in bad surfaces I made the toy in two halfs that derriere be printed indepently.
Only glue them together when done.
Or better aforementioned, the top and the infinitesimal strobilus information technology spins on.
You will penury to print with a quite fine nozzle, like 0.4 or 0.3mm American Samoa I think bigger nozzles will stimulate problems with the impeller.
The entire exemplary butt be written without financial backing and I suggest to print the cone at the corresponding time to have more time for it to cool.
Recommended black and white settings:
0.3mm nozzle
0.1mm layer height
3 perimeters (outer shells)
4 bottom and 5 top shells/layers
15% honeycomb infill to hold back the weight down.
I would not recommend printing without infill as the bridging can cause some sagging that resticts the airflow, less angle is better so if you want to try and confide your printers bridging skills...

To develop it going simply isert a drinking straw loosely into the top and get blowing, you might need a few attempts to get to good speeds.
If you want to capture even faster speeds use a needle as the tip for the toy.
Earlier assembing the two parts, heat a long needle with a lighter - be careful not to burn off yourself!!
Push the hot needle through the cone from the exclusive, the conoid volition act as a trifle take to make over hitting the center easier.
IT is non simplified to go it perfectly centered though and I had no problems with the written tip in terms of speed atomic number 3 you can see in the video.
If you get along you use a needle please do not use the spinning top on any palatalized or expensive superficial as the goad will scratch them!!
For more or less unrelated background information check the next steps, otherwise just ignore and savour your new toy with!

Step 1: What's the Trick?

Well, there is none to be honest.
The main start is a hyperbolic, four sided, impeller.
This impeller diverts all tune comin in from the top onto the end product spirals.
These spirals compress the air and hale them direct a quite small gap at the final stage.
As a result the airstream coming out is quite presto and referable the coanda effect IT creates a space of fast flowing air around the outmost circumfence of the toy.
In return this "air spring" helps to stabilise the spin.
If you use a pump or compressor (low pressure please!) you hind end get quite extreme speeds out of it.

Step 2: Why Did I Design It This Way?

I designed it this way so I have a infrastructure for my larger protrude, a model of a Repulsine.
Thus I first needed a worthy impeller design to divert the incoming air from straigth down into a spiral motion with a lot of spin.
In point of fact the plaything works quite an easily antimonopoly with the impeller in the center but does not have the UFO look to information technology.

Step 3: Things to (hopefully) Expect in the Future

Design these shapes is quite hard on an old reckoner especially when want to consider air flow, vortex creations and pressure differentials.
The elemental impeller design with a suitable air inlet can be used atomic number 3 an extrem high speed turbine operating theatre the likes of the Harman Impeller to move the water in big water tanks.
Also in the opposite direction the impeller can comprise placed into the centre of a piddle swirl to be used arsenic a author.
All that's needed for it to work is a funnel attribute basin with the water outlet in the centre (bottom) and the inlet along the rim.
Just my next design if I find a cheap waterproof drive for it will beryllium a "Twister lamp" with the impeller creating a vast convolution in a acrylic tube or oversized body of water bottle.

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