This Tweet roll covers my August exploits machining and testing a Tesla Turbine. Good news is it did actually work eventually 🙂
8/5
There's one thing missing from every Jurassic Park movie……. pic.twitter.com/0kjTX2tt9g
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) August 5, 2020
All electronics run on magic blue smoke.
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) August 6, 2020
You can tell because whenever smoke comes out the thing stops working.
🧐😄 pic.twitter.com/Vbdq1qnoBk
Been busy with work so haven't had much time to work on the Tesla Turbine.
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) August 6, 2020
Finally figured out how to machine the air injection nozzle though, thanks to this build:https://t.co/TO6vNODQzJ
Tesla Turbine update:
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) August 8, 2020
Machined the outer housing, came out pretty good.
Hopefully the tolerances are good enough to hold at high speeds.
The rotor is balanced to ~10krpm for now, but still needs to be brought to size to fit inside the housing.#Engineering #Tesla pic.twitter.com/DLSezR7xGN
Tesla Turbine rotor balancing today. pic.twitter.com/LxzeeFAdqf
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) August 9, 2020
Testing a Tesla patent that talks about balancing high-speed turbines.
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) August 9, 2020
Basically you let the entire turbine wobble on a long shaft, and gradually shave down the high points until it runs exactly true at high-speed.https://t.co/id7bn67YSp pic.twitter.com/oEi3Yh5KvO
Oof
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) August 9, 2020
Was near the final stages of balancing and an endmill decided to bury itself into the turbine blades😕
Luckily I can still salvage most of the blades and washers,
but it does mean I'm gonna have to spend a week re-machining the rotor.😕🔧https://t.co/u0Z0ZZf5IE pic.twitter.com/VA3qCuRCXy
Tesla Turbine rotor redesign finished with some lessons-learned from V1.
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) August 10, 2020
I suspect the V1 rotor vent holes were too small so those were upped from 1/8" holes to 1/4",
and 3 tie-rod holes were added to keep the stack together and prevent any wobbling.https://t.co/SdqvMBYsf1 pic.twitter.com/7gzp3j9VkX
Tesla Turbine build update,
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) August 10, 2020
Looks like I only lost 5 turbine blades in the crash, the other 20 are still good.☺️
I could technically rebuild the stack using just these and be left with a reduced-performance turbine?https://t.co/SdqvMBYsf1 pic.twitter.com/yxbBPDHUse
Still working on Tesla Turbine assembly.
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) August 13, 2020
The first one's fine but it's a little too big for what I need it for.
Also cut a bunch of squares from some scrap aluminum sheet soon to be machined into the new rotor blades. pic.twitter.com/karLvHMBUx
Tesla Turbine CAD design.
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) August 13, 2020
Hopefully I'll have something finally up and running this weekend🤞https://t.co/qajCUkUvAH pic.twitter.com/z7G8E8Vxpg
Tesla Turbine update:
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) August 13, 2020
Working on the outer rotor housing and bearing seats today.
Getting set up to bore the center cavity to-size, then I can machine the inlet+outlet ports and re-assemble the rotor. pic.twitter.com/DLuohF7mnY
You know it's a good day in the shop when you're pulling aluminum chips out of your hair later that night.🤭https://t.co/7qjIAh7Wn9
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) August 14, 2020
Tesla Turbine project: machining the inner bore.
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) August 14, 2020
"engage safety squints"👓 pic.twitter.com/D9zcpgnHcW
Tesla Turbine project: also machining the inlet+exhaust ports today. pic.twitter.com/LfGHJalgUr
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) August 14, 2020
Still on track to finish the Tesla Turbine this weekend.🙂https://t.co/70wtjt3oCv pic.twitter.com/zQ6DFxPfAn
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) August 15, 2020
Last big part: working on the balancing rig so I can grind-in the tesla turbine rotor without risking the crash that happened last weekend. pic.twitter.com/INoj38RnRd
— Hakasays (@Hakasays) August 15, 2020