Constructing a Bushcraft Waterwheel / Harnessing Hydropower Energy for My Log Cabin Camp

Hello friends, I'm Max and this video is about building my

waterwheel

. The running of a small stream near my log

cabin

deep in the woods for the past two years. Harnessing the power of my water wheels has helped me with a handful of everyday tasks. As you can see for yourself, I used this wheel as a motor for my wooden washing machine which currently only has one wash cycle, but I plan to add spin cycles and eco cycles to it and of course I used the water wheel as a motor for my mini power plant made from a conventional electric screwdriver mainly to charge the batteries of my phone, video equipment, drone cell signal booster, two batteries and to a lesser extent for my log

cabin

slides at night, When solar panels are of little use, I quite often use the

waterwheel

as a motor for my mini cast iron cooker in which I milk beans to make homemade bread and cakes, as well as coffee beans to make freshly ground coffee which, a Once tried, it is so difficult to reject.

From time to time I use the water wheel as a motor for my drum type grinding wheel with interchangeable abrasive belts or as an inertia drive for a wood lathe, as well as a drive for my other

bushcraft

mechanisms, designed to free up time comfortably and simply for dissipate the background after all the use of a water wheel on a daily basis. The road scene certainly adds variety to life, pleases the eye and to some extent even acts as an attraction. Frankly, the very process of making the water wheels gave me a lot of pleasure without having any prior experience in building water wheels, other than having to work on a boat.

Setting this task is not trivial and now I invite you to join this adventure friends. I'm sorry to see an original, but the implementation of this project began with preparations in advance. In fact, my previous videos on organizing an outdoor workshop described the preliminary stage for During the construction of the waterwheel there were other essential steps that contributed to this project, such as the construction of an upside-down workbench, a primitive tool rack, a shaving and saw horse, as well as milling logs into boards, forging a two-handed chisel and a clog knife. other DIY projects, including building a log cabin, it turns out that even building a dam and swimming pond on this stream in 2014 was a necessary stage for the current waterwheel project.

I think the regulars of this channel noticed that all my videos are story related and just like in Chekhov's concept of weapons, if in a video I hang a shotgun on the cabin wall, there will definitely be a video where I do a water pipe for a distillation cube or a coil for a distillery lashing your barrel. I made a couple of sketches of the waterwheel and thought about the materials available at the

camp

. I also found out what tools I would need in the forest, what tools and materials I already have in my local cabin, as well as what critical parts can only be crafted in After arriving at the cabin and delivering the main tools and perishable supplies, my workshop At home the first thing I did was prepare the lambo materials for the wheel boards, milled from fallen trees, which are especially wet and will warp as they dry, so it is best to start harvesting the wood in advance.

I initially decided that the waterwheel assembly parts would be as simple to manufacture as possible, this means they should be short rectangular boards, not much longer than the guide bar on my chainsaw. I've already used all the good wood around. However, at

camp

I managed to quickly fill the cabin with short pieces of wood transported on my homemade cargo frame. A heavy load can be easily transported across difficult terrain using a load-bearing frame while the wood dried and warped inside the log cabin. I prepared two workbenches, one made from a fallen pine was warped last year and had to be leveled this season and the new workbench made from a log which I called the upside down workbench the flat workbench countertop with Bench dogs allowed not only to secure the workpiece but also quickly evaluate the geometry of the workpieces.

Now I am flattening the workpieces the second time, since when I finished joining the last piece, the first ones dried out and warped a little thicker, they could be restrained by simply wetting them, after all, the wheel will be partially submerged in water. but I was afraid that wet workpieces wouldn't take well to an oily, moldy finish, so I flattened the entire set of workpieces. I did not hone the surfaces of the boards with a smoother plane, but only roughly shaped them to the size needed with a scrap plane. The scrap plane blade has a semi-circular edge for more aggressive material removal.

That's why a scrap plane leaves a smooth but wavy surface that can be easily smoothed with a regular brush. I thought that the water wheel is not fine wood work, but there was a carpenter's project so that the wavy and wet surfaces would shine pleasantly in the sunlight and also give the water wheel the charm of a handmade product. In this video, you are looking at the pre-drilled and countersunk workpieces already laid out, which means I am planing them for the third time, however, this fine-tuning procedure is not about correcting a cupped or warped board. These particular workpieces turned out to be a little thicker than the others and would create a noticeable discontinuity in the final assembly, so I planned for them. workpieces are faced with a scrap plane securing them on a workbench;

However, attaching the side and end grain surfaces of the workpiece would require a pull board jig which I don't have, so I decided to use my reverse workbench which allows a board to be secured vertically using DIY bench dogs and holding clamps this time I used a plane and a softer plane along with a triple square to properly join the edges of the board. I like to work with wood using sharp tools. I like everything about it. of wood chips the smell of wood the tactile sensations of touching a smooth, smooth surface in this project I planed wood to my liking I could barely follow the process of burning the chips in the campfire at home I made a trapezoidal mdf template using I designed the contours of the side pieces that form the rim of the wheel, as well as the locations of the bolt mounting holes.

Please note that I am trying to use straight grain hardwood and discard sapwood nuts and other defects over the years I started. Consider sapwood as a defect in pine wood using a maximum, as expected, you can split a heart with a custom board with a small margin without risk of ruining it. The edge of a messy board after being split with an ax can be smoothed out with a scrap plane in Within a few seconds, I had already satisfied my hunger for manual wood planing and decided to switch to ground work. There is a stream with a waterfall and a dam, but there is no room for a water wheel in the stream.

The situation should be addressed in the previous section. years, I removed the debris from the wet side instead of just sawing and moving dry branches up and down the stream now is a good time to complete the job, but first I need to scythe the meadow, there are ticks and hooks hiding in the tall grass , so it is important to dress appropriately for work. As an added benefit, if you mow the grass in the area, you can noticeably reduce the number of mosquitoes and other insects that are hungry for your blood and flesh. A little further down, there is a 10 foot, 3 meter high waterfall where a large water wheel can fit well.

It could be up to 26 feet 8 meters in diameter if a forward rotation design is used or even close to 40 feet 12 meters with a more popular reverse rotation design. You are thinking? What I'm thinking is that my waterwheel under construction is 10 times smaller, but the height difference immediately behind the dam is still not enough. I don't want to build an aqueduct more than 10 feet 3 meters long, so I need to build it. build a dam or deepen the bottom of the stream, it is more rational to move large rocks downstream, while small stones can be thrown in any direction, but it is wiser to throw them closer to them, as they will serve as a good material for strengthening and build.

After all, the dam, if you look closer, you will notice that it was quickly built as a temporary structure eight years ago. I simply moved some branches and stones downstream to create a small pond for swimming. In the following years, I added more material. the dam and now it would be nice to rebuild it completely, but I was too lazy and decided to just strengthen it once again. I was glad I brought the digging tools to camp. digging gravel with a shovel is not effective, but if you first remove large rocks with your hands it works fine, so I understand that without a sealant, the stones I put at the base of the dam will not add airtightness to it, but I didn't have the intending to do this in the first place with this excavation, I solved two problems, firstly, I removed the earth from the bed of the stream, thus freeing space for the waterwheel and, secondly, I reinforced the dam that protects it from the destructive effects of spring floods.

Being barefoot in cold running water is nice for toning, but it's time. To take a break from earthworks and get back to woodworking, I intend to make two products at once from this rotting falling pine log, the first will be the wooden channel to carry the water from the pond. to the water wheel blades and the second product will be the octagonal axle water wheels, so after hanging the lock on brackets and securing it with the lock dog, I roughly cut off his hands while assessing which side of the log rotted more and then cut away the rotted exterior wood, leaving me without as much wood on the second and The last exterior slabs were laid and cut with much more care than the others.

These cuts will affect the geometry of both the tagon axis and the integrity of the wood channel. However, the next cut is even more crucial because it is a partial cut if not done correctly, the gutter will leak and some water will bypass the water wheel, since my jet power is not that big, I have to maximize the flow of water passing through the water wheel, so I carefully control the depth of the cut with the tri-square. The last fourth cut is the most difficult because you have to cut a log in an unstable position, so I added two Additional stops to the support pads.

This is also a partial cut and by my calculations it should connect to the third. cut the inside creating a wooden corner and a square beam. If you'd like to learn more about my freehand milling technique with a low-powered chainsaw equipped with a stock guide bar, I'll refer you to my video. Two saw secrets to turn a tree into the perfect boards. Being a link under the chainsaw is not a precision tool and upon hearing how to make a cut I decided to complete the task with my two handed chisel. By the way, these are the same shims that were used to raise the cabin door sill. along with the entire roof, having inserted wedges into the cuts at both ends, I managed to achieve the necessary internal tension in the workpiece and then, carefully lowering the chisel into the cut, I cut off the residual wood fibers that connected the rectangular beam with the rest of the trunk. and they safely separated the beam that was cut entirely from the heart of the trunk.

The wood turned out to be nice and straight, but I set it aside for the moment and started working on the wood channel. I housed the workpiece on the workbench made of a falling stone. I pino and secured it. The cylindrical outer surface of the gutter makes it difficult to secure. I didn't like the surface the chainsaw left and decided to finish it with a scrap brush. This vintage cleaning brush is a gift from a friend Alex, thanks again. It is the best German quality, I understand that it is not necessary to brush the gutters on the surface, but forgive me for my weakness for smooth and smooth surfaces, a smooth wooden surface is safer, less absorbent and more resistant to rods, which What remains is to refine the contact surfaces. of both workpieces and then connect them in a reliable but simple way.

I decided to use screws knowing that 99% of the water entering this channel will flow from the dam to the waterwheel, which is good enough for me, however, the reliability and durability of such a console mount is questionable, soI reinforced the structure with two wooden blocks that acted as spacers when I had not yet built a bowl lathe, as you may have seen in the previous video, so I had to size the blocks to the right. diameter using a brush and caliper, if you look closely you will notice an extra pair of holes in the gutter. I missed the mark a bit and the counter holes were not coaxial, as a result I couldn't get the pin in, I had to plug the unusable holes and drilled new ones, even when the holes were drilled correctly it wasn't possible to match the end of the pin. peg with the second mating hole with my bare hands, so I use the lever to help.

Well, the spacers were installed as a result of the cantilever structure. was transformed into a closed one and gained rigidity, maybe it would be faster to cut three boards from this log and assemble a simple rectangular cutter from them, but then more time would have to be spent on sealing the joints and there would be no additional heartwood beam. The most important thing is that the cutter would not have the same aesthetic appearance as an untreated log and would fit less well into the landscape of the dam. At the dam I decided to take a break from wood working and do more earthworks.

Fortunately, you can relax with that change because completely different muscle groups participate in this activity. All the sand I poured on top of the dam last year was washed downstream by the spring flood, but the large stones and the dam itself remained in place. The washed sand is clearly visible against the background of blackened stones on the stream bed. Traditionally, a roughly assembled lock frame filled with rocks becomes a reliable channel support that will not be washed away by a flood, but for the scale of my project I could use two short logs that I shaped to fit the bottom of the rocket.

Additional stability These logs are so long because they will support both the wood channel and the waterwheel itself and for added stability it would be good to reinforce these two logs with a perpendicular member using a tenon cutting attachment. I nailed the round tenons and then drilled the mortises with a Forstner bit, the joints ended up having an extra tight fit and it took me a little conservation of my mallet to fully assemble the H-shaped frame. It turned out to be very strong. I am quite satisfied now we can install the wooden channel by resting it with one end on the dam and with the other on it.

H-shaped support, this fitting task proved that it was time to eat and contemplate how to perfectly join the dam and the gutter. After lunch, I went for a little swim, which cheered me up, then I changed my clothes and decided to warm up with With the brush in my hands I couldn't wait to start assembling the wheel and to do so I had to prepare a complete set of parts of work. It would seem like a simple task to make a set of identical short boards, as it would be if you had a long jointed board of uniform thickness, but when you have a bunch of short pieces of different dimensions it takes time, it is also less convenient to immobilize and manipulate short boards than a long one. .

I planed the short pieces secured on my table upside down. workbench, which I was happy about, I took the time to do it at the end of the day, I placed the mounting holes by drilling the holes, a countersink with a stop ring helped me now I have all the holes countersunk to prevent the caps of the screws protruding beyond the dimensions of the waterwheel, the next day it cleared up again and I happily returned to carpentry work. Fortunately, the workplace was prepared yesterday and there is no need to distract myself with its organization. I had to reject and replace a couple of short ones from yesterday. work pieces then I finished the long work pieces I also made four wooden wheel spokes.

This is a board with two rectangular cutouts on the screen. Lastly, I marked the parts before applying and finishing them Now that the full set of parts for the waterwheel ring assembly is ready and drying in the shade I needed to prepare a large, flat assembly table since my benches tight work did not work the final assembly is not as trivial as it might seem it may not be possible to assemble a waterwheel of my design Unless the work surface is fairly flat, I assembled a temporary structure from two huge trestles and three slabs older black ones that I milled last year.

Looking back, I know it would be better to flatten the slabs, but I was trying to save time by at least lining up the work surfaces of the sawhorses on a plane. I didn't want to flatten the slabs now because I have big plans for them. I'm going to use them to make a bed for the cabin. Older black slabs two inches thick need to finish drying. The process will take about another year while I decide on the final design of the bed. Among other things, the sun is out, which means it's time to apply a protective finish to the water wheel parts.

First I applied a coat of oil-based antiseptic and waited. Until the antiseptic was absorbed into the wood, it was hot outside and the weighing took no more than an hour and then I applied an oil wax mixture which dried itself the next day. The wax is almost colorless and did not noticeably change the color of the wood. pine wood that turned light yellow now the wood will be protected from fungus and rot in winter the wheel will be stored indoors but in summer it will be open to all winds and rain after two summers of use the water wheel has not dried out and it still looks almost new.

I am happy with the finish. The most anticipated moment of this adventure has arrived. The moment of assembly. You are excited? I know. As you know, proof of concept is the realization of an idea to demonstrate its visibility. I haven't seen such a water well design anywhere and I'm not entirely sure it will work as expected. The conceptual design and the actual assembly that comes to life are two different worlds. It may happen that the designed parts are not even assembled. In any complex structure assembly, some mistakes are almost inevitable, especially when you are manually assembling a structure in the forest while being distracted by mosquitoes.

When assembling several handmade parts into a single closed symmetrical structure, errors will inevitably accumulate and I used the life-size drawing in To verify the product, this way I could detect the accumulated error in time, make an adjustment and have the opportunity To solve the problem, for example, by assembling only six pieces, it is easy to see that the accumulated error exceeds seven millimeters, which means that the complete sidewall with a total arrow of 14 millimeters does not fit in the already assembled closed ring. This is unacceptable, so I had to disassemble it, correct the design and reassemble it using the new design.

This procedure had to be performed several times a night. I understood this and assembled a six-segment half ring in just five minutes, as practice has shown, it is not advisable to sequentially assemble more than six segments at a time, since it is much more convenient to close the ring structure by connecting two halves. which were adjusted to size the design solution when the blades of each water wheel are connected to two adjacent ones forming an almost cylindrical closed surface is both functional and elegant, the disadvantage is that it requires precision in execution when the 12 segments assembled in a single structure matched the drawing I gained confidence that everything will work so far.

The structure is not rigid. However, adding more workpieces will dramatically increase its strength. Please note that each piece is connected to three adjacent pieces at two joint points, ensuring the rigidity of the joint. Saves materials and minimizes installation operations each blade is connected to six trapezoidal segments with 14 screws two screws per segment there is not a single loose hinge in the design at this time each blade is connected to the adjacent one by a single screw, which allows one more final adjustment, but once one side made of trapezoidal segments is completely assembled, it is time to secure and align the sheets in a plane by installing the remaining screws in the sheets, as you may have guessed, using these nails, I properly oriented the sheets more stubborn and forced them to take a symmetrical position along the outside radius of the wheel before installing the remaining bolts.

It is gratifying to see that the most important part of this project was a success. It will be much easier to assemble the second tire. I can finally breathe a sigh of relief and take a break from screwing by switching to another task, but for now it will be better to protect the border wheel from the rain inside my low cab, so I equipped myself with a chainsaw for my new task. I need an octagonal shaft and just yesterday when I built one out of wood. gutter, we mill the blank for it, this is a four-sided heart with a core from a log.

I already trimmed it in such a way that the beam had a square cross section, that is, I tried to make all four sides equal. and all four angles must be correct so I placed the beam now the number of edges of the beams must be doubled, which means they only need to be sewn together to make the job easier, the beam must be secured horizontally at its edge to do that. I turned my workbench upside down, after all it was called an attached workbench, and then secured the workpiece in such a way that the cutting plane was oriented vertically.

A year later, I made an extra long guide bar for a chainsaw, using it makes it easy to make long, straight cuts, but I didn't have this bar at the time, so I used the same freehand milling technique to produce a straight edge. which I already mentioned before. When the two side edges are removed, it is necessary to rotate the log 90 degrees to secure it. Again and sew another once done I proceeded to do my favorite thing which is plating the top edge while it is conveniently facing up and then I sewed the last edge turned the lock with the unplaned edge facing up and planed it to size This procedure needs to be repeated twice more, as you can see, the matter is not complicated, but I did not have the opportunity to use this axle for my waterwheel.

I messed up the dimensions of the shaft and it will not fit the pulley without installing it and bushing. so I had to put this shaft aside for my water mill gearbox project. The next day I had to walk a decent distance to another windblown log and mill a larger shaft to facilitate the job right in the spot I decided to do it. Primitive Saw Horses To do this, I drove six spur stakes into a tree lying on the ground, of course I pre-drilled two inch 52 millimeter holes for them. Dry spruce stakes hammered into such holes hold firmly much more reliably than if you simply hammered them. these stakes directly into the ground perhaps you will say that such sawhorses are too low and it is not convenient to brush while kneeling and I partially agree with you, however, the same activity of brushing in the new position brings variety, observe how easily and quickly I can change the edge of the octagonal workpiece on these sawhorses.

I must say that it was very convenient for me to plan the shaft resting on my knee. Japanese carpenters, for example, use their hand planes while sitting, plus their planes don't even have handles and they plan by pulling the tool toward themselves instead of pushing it out. Some people say that this way you get better control of the tool. Actually, the choice of the height of the sawhorses was motivated by the fact that I planned to work the shaft with the chisel, securing it with my weight. I used the chisel of the same width as the wooden spoke.

I need to make four long notches for four wooden spokes. As you will understand, this task will take a long time. Fortunately, this work is not exhausting but rather pleasant and even meditative. When you do such primitive mechanical work, you can meditate on anything. I was thinking about the question of how to organize the wooden channel. Damn union. An experienced woodworker must have noticed that I am not an expert in using a chisel, so I won't comment. In the meantime, my actions take a moment to rest from my voice. I'm sure I've already tired you out.

Well, I hope you had enough time to take a break from my comment. Working with pre-punched rhythms is faster, but the work loses its meditative character. Between the third and fourth mortise I walked up to the dam and measured the exact distance from center to center of the axle supports. It turned out that this octagonal workpiece has a good amount of extra length and there's no reason to drag it to camp, so I set it up. Up to the proper size, the axle should be protected with the same oil wax mixture as it should also be left out under the elements, as long as the weather is nice the wheel assembly can continue outside.

I will say a couple of general words about the design of water wheels. It is easy to see that thewheel is assembled from only two types of workpieces connected with overlapping joints. A total of 12 rectangular and 24 trapezoidal workpieces form the wheel which is connected to the octagonal axle by four rectangular wooden spokes down to the water. Wheel Size I wanted to build the most efficient water wheel that could lift and move at least 60 feet 20 meters, which is the distance from the dam to my low-lying cabin. I forgot to mention that I pre-drilled all the holes to prevent them from splitting.

As a result, after two seasons of use, not a single part of the water wheels cracked. I think this is a testament to the viability of the design. I did not additionally seal the cone-shaped water intakes even though water will inevitably seep through the gaps, however this will have no effect. effect on the productivity of the wheel well the hottest part of the project the wooden wheel is finished now it is necessary to ensure that the wheel can rotate correctly around its axis and transfer this rotation to the axle for which it is necessary to connect the axle to the wheel with wooden spokes, luckily all the parts were in stock so I fitted and cut the spoke mortises on both the axle and the inner surface of the wheel.

There is a Russian proverb that originally refers to carpentry, it was measured seven times and cut once, so I assembled the pieces. Many times before assembly, the first assembly showed that the spokes had to be attached to the axle first. The second feed of the axle with the spokes secured allowed for precise design and fine tuning. This is an important step since the number of wheels. Radial runout depends on it, the axle and wheel are not perfectly concentric, so to compensate for this manufacturing error there will be four custom made spokes of slightly different length. Now the wooden spokes are each shortened to their own size to fit their own mortise in other words they are not interchangeable.

Note that there are boards to the left of the wheel next to the deck. I plan to use them as fasteners to screw the spokes to the inner surface of the wheel. Oddly enough, all four spokes were not used. The axle installed so firmly inside the wheel that I decided not to add additional fasteners now, but rather install them later when the wheel is dry or comes loose. The wheel ran for two seasons and neither dried out nor loosened, so the fasteners never ended up coming loose. installed a year later during the modernization of the wheel on the flywheel of an inertial lathe and then on a sharpening wheel, I dismantled and reassembled this axle spoke joint and was quite surprised by the absence of loose joints, there should have been some play here since the whole set dried completely, but there isn't any.

I don't know the reasons for this phenomenon, even assembled with the huge axle, the wheel can be lifted and carried by a single person, this works well for one of the main purposes after testing it. the wheel in place I was finally able to decide on the design of its supports, as well as on how to organize the intersection of the wheel with the canal and the canal with the dam, this requires wooden blocks, but this time I used all my pine high quality that was blown by the wind near the camp, so I used all the materials that were left around this log.

The sapwood is rotted, but its oily hardwood is still intact and suitable for use directly from this block. I need to mill three thick slabs of beams, as you can see I did not use any preliminary layout as the dimensions are not that important as long as there are two faces parallel to each other and perpendicular. to the third, the fourth face can remain as it is. Having casually planed this half-beam, I set it aside and made another one. The size and shape of the workpieces are even less important, therefore I used a piece of aspen that just needed to be added.

This piece of wood from the dam, the material of the product can be neglected, so I cut three outer slabs from the trunk section and placed this half beam on the dam. There are three perpendicular trunks that reinforce the top of the dam. I used one of To fix a cantilever structure and create an airtight seal to ensure waterproofing of the channel joint. I used three rolling dowels to secure the structure. To do this I drilled three diagonal holes in the trunk of the dam through the poplar beam and then simply hammered in the extra large dowels to reinforce the structure.

Now it is necessary to create a secure and airtight fixation of the gutter to the supporting structure on the outer surface. The rounded gutter does not make the task any easier. I made a concave groove in the poplar block so that the gutter bottom is flush with the bottom of the water channel, so there is no water flow under the channel. To do it, I make full use of a chainsaw, a two-handed chisel, a mallet, and some ingenuity. Well, both objectives are achieved. Now it is necessary to make the For the side walls of the water channel, the easiest way would be to make them with dirt and grass, but I often use the dam as a bridge and those dirt walls would not hold for long.

That's why I used wooden blocks that I could fit together safely, you may remember how. Many years ago I made a wooden ladder to the dam pond. I found the rest of that aspen tree blown by the wind. I sewed a segment of wood a little longer than the width of the dam. I milled a beam from the block and sewed it into two pieces. which will become the side walls must now be fixed in such a way that they form an airtight channel along the walls of the dam goddess to do this it was necessary to cut the hands of the beam at the same angle at which the goddess ends In addition, it was necessary to trim the saw and align the upper edges of the dam trunks.

At this stage, everything became clear with the installation of the gutter. It remained to secure the sleeve blocks with dowels and build the dam to control the flow of water, which which means I can shift gears for now and go back to the water wheel assembly. Now I can test the wheel on its mounts and decide how to mount it to the axle. Wait a minute. There is no pivot yet, so the wheel should spin again. In the workshop disassembling the water wheel by separating the octagonal axle from the wheel turned out to be more difficult than assembling it I had to lift the wheel onto the makeshift support crotches as I simply could not remove the axle while the wheel was resting on the ground The axle had to be taken to my larger workbench which will need to function as a lathe.

The fact is that I need to install pivot pins at the end of each axle and these metal pins must be coaxial so that they have no axial or radial. They also run out because the wheel assembly will rotate on them, they must be located strictly in the center of the water wheel. I don't know how to achieve all these engineering goals in the bush without using a lathe, so it is necessary to build a simple lathe or at least its substitute, a workbench made from a fallen pine will serve as a base for the lathe, so that the base is already there and now the first step is to make a header.

This year there will be no spindle in the headstock, but only primitive. wooden chuck to hold a twist drill bit and then a pivot pin. The center of the chuck must be located above the base so that the octagonal shaft held between the head and the tailstock cannot rotate freely, as you can see, my wooden chuck consists of three holes in the trunk one is for a drill bit and the other two They are for adjusting the wedges by choosing the side where to bend the wedge you can adjust the location of the drill in the horizontal plane if necessary you can also make a horizontal hole and then it will be possible to adjust the position of the bead in the vertical plane, however, not I found a mistake in the vertical position of the bits and will skip that step.

I understand that this wooden chalk is extremely primitive, I did not make a more advanced one. sort out the chuck due to lack of time, I really wanted to start grinding flour and baking bread before the holidays ended, so the head is stuck with the chuck, now we need the tail directly behind me, there is a log dragged by the wind and I can mill two blocks of wood, one of which will be the tailstock for the convenience of attaching the tailstock to the lathe bed and the rear axle to the tailstock. It would be nice to mill a slot in this block using a chainsaw.

It can be done quickly and the fact that the result is messy is not important because it is a single use part and will do its job well just like in the tailstock I need to organize a seat for the axis of rotation of the octagonal axis despite Since the shaft is heavy, it does not experience lateral loads during rotation, so I did not drill a hole but made a V-shaped cut for this shaft. I decided to use a large Forstner bit to rotate the shaft with a drill to do so. Hammered the drill bit into the center of the spindle and unable to hold the workpiece between the headstock and tailstock, secured the spindle in the drill bit using tape and added screws beforehand so that the force drill bit becomes a makeshift living center of the tailstock after having guided the spindle with one hand on the twist drill and holding the shank of the sturdy bits in the screwdriver chuck I started drilling maybe someone will ask why all these complexities, the fact is that when the spindle rotates around its axis and drill the workpiece with the stationary drill bit.

The hole will be drilled strictly along the axis of rotation if the axis of rotation of the spindle is located strictly in the center of the spindle both pivot pins inserted from the ends of the axle will be centered and concentric preventing the radial and axial wheels. It's over, if you know another simpler or more reliable way, share it with me below. I would appreciate. I drilled the second hole using only muscle power to do so. I installed the pulley on the shaft I brought from home and completed the drilling. Rotating the shaft directly with my hands either way works, but the first one is more fun at first glance.

The result is not bad, but now we have to check everything first. I drive the pivot pins into the ends of the shaft using a homemade aluminum mallet without fear of leaving a nick or damaging the workpiece, then press the spoke shaft back into the water wheel. It was much easier to do this the second time and I finally verified the axial and radial displacements of the entire assembly, the results of the tests carried out. I am happy that the axial and radial eccentricity measurements are within the desired tolerances. This is my first water wheel. I'll improve next time.

The only thing I improved was drilling the axle holes deeper and reinstalling the pivot pins to reduce the axle overhang during. these days the wheel must have dried and it is becoming easier to take it from the dam to the workshop and back or maybe I'm just imagining it maybe I just got used to this activity well, the wheel is back This is the usual place and it's time to reorganize the water flow. Wooden side walls must be secured. I drilled two holes in each wooden wall. I drilled two counterholes in the dam and joined the pieces with Roman dials.

Note. I made two vertical slots on the inside. the side walls to accept a wooden door that will regulate the flow of water by turning the waterwheel on and off, it will probably be awkward for you to follow the plot where you don't complete one task, move on to another, and then, without completing the second, return to the first but this is a true story and the only way to partially reveal my planning method. I believe that work should not be exhausting and the best rest is a change of activity, so when I feel that I am tired I simply change to another. work or go swimming fishing cooking or washing dishes work should be harmless and pleasant and often hard work will do more harm than good, although occasionally, in a fit of enthusiasm, labor feats are permissible, but only with moderation at this point, I publish the Damn job and let's return to the installation of the gutter the lower end of the gutter must be secured in some way it would be desirable to be able to adjust the angle of inclination of the water flow the inclination of the water flow determines the speed of wheel rotation already I have a cross member connecting the two log supports that can be used for the task, so I can drill a blind hole to accept the support without weakening the structure much.

I made three pieces of different lengths that will allow you to adjust the rotation of the wheels. without changing the intensity of the water flow, the structure is stronger than it looks, it has been outdoors for three winters and shows no signs of decreasing its resistance, as you may remember, I prepared these two blocks of quality wood in advance , will act as support. Housings, so I will call them that, have to be fixed on the log supports, for that I made two large niches with vertical and horizontal surfaces to safely install the bearing housings there once they were milled and planed.

I installed the wooden casings inside the niche using large dowels to secure them forDon't get hurt in the bush. I brushed the outside surface of the brackets with the scrap brush. I can now drill a hole for the pivot pins before the first assembly of the entire mechanism. I lubricated the holes. Using chainsaw bar oil after preliminary shaft installation, I will add PTFE plates that act as lightweight bearings to minimize friction and improve reliability. The assembled structure has a perfectly horizontal axis and the channel's waterwheel space is minimal. It took a dozen preliminary props to pull it off.

There, although it was not easy to install a huge shaft on both bearings, however, in a hurry I forgot about the pulley, I had to press it on the shaft and reassemble the entire structure when all the parts fit together perfectly on the first try. I was pleasantly surprised before installing the slide bearings. I hammered oak inserts into the pivot holes to minimize lateral friction from the pins and horizontally center the shaft between the bearings; However, the main friction reducing effect was achieved by installing the PTFE slide bearings which we milled in at my home shop beforehand, the wheel now spins as if installed on two ball bearings just silently, Additionally, these PTFE bearings do not rust or clog.

I made three sets of them. Other fields would wear out. I realized somewhere only later. Two years of running the waterwheels, so now it would be nice to put the waterwheel to good use. Let's make this wheel grind some flour. Now to do that you need to install a small hand mill on a rigid platform and add two pulleys. to the mill plus a sensing shaft and connect both pulleys with a belt. Little revelation from friends in this video. I often use the same electric screwdriver. I'm not trying to recommend this screwdriver or the company, so don't ask me about the model I made.

The mill platform attached to a locking bracket secured a cast iron mill and only hesitated a little while putting the pulleys on, however my triceps dial indicator helped me fix the problem was the V-belt I had was faulty and had a tendency to fall. In any case, the waterwheel is a machine and precision is never out of place in mechanical engineering. The faulty V-belt caused me to waste time and over-tighten it to improve reliability, which negatively affected the efficiency of the water wheel when I install a better belt on my mini. The mill will work even better while it is raining and there is plenty of water in the stream.

I decided to test the dam, aqueduct and emergency water release system. I plugged the hole in the dam pipe, closed the goddess door, and began to monitor how it worked. The water level rises while I distract myself with lunch. I overlooked the moment that caused the dam to overflow, as a result, it suffered slight damage, however, it did not bother me. It became clear that the dam needs to be built and reinforced, as a bonus, the floor was washed away. construction debris accumulated in the pond during the construction of the zagato it will be more pleasant to swim in it now that the good weather has returned so it is time to take a shovel and lift the dam to make it stronger at the same time that this work will be expanded the shipment of Grains As the dam increases, the water level will increase which will increase the water flow, so the mill will grind the flowers faster.

The waterwheel project is a construction project, which means that like any construction project, it must also be complemented by landscaping, as you may remember there. There is a tree nursery near my cabin as the saplings grow I transplant them around my low cabin camp. Some trees do not grow quickly and remain in the nursery for years, but for example, the yellow birch is winter hardy, grows quite quickly and likes swamps. In the most important areas, the yellow birch has a long life, usually 150 years, so I decided to plant two saplings near the waterwheel, one on each bank, with the rich silt that fed the sapling, it established itself. well and grew rapidly the following season after the assembly of the water wheels.

I cannot trim its elements in any way, however, the space between the wood channel and the wheel blades is measured in millimeters for each blade, so there is almost no radial runout. After tightening the V-belt it stopped falling off the pulleys and I was able to load the wheel with useful work, it is quite sad to live in the bush without bread for 20 days straight as it ran out during the first week of my stay, but Now my dream has come true: to be able to work in the workshop. near my local cabin while the new one grinds grain for fresh bread surely many people will question the effectiveness of my choice of waterwheel design, for example why didn't I place the wheel lower, turn it 180 degrees and let the water Will it come in from above essentially doing an overflow? design the fact is that overflow water wheels use only the potential

energy

of water when the speed of rotation of the wheel increases, they move below the axis of rotation they do not perform useful work since water splashes from them under the influence of centrifugal force at the same time.

Reverse-spinning water wheels are capable of utilizing both the potential and kinetic

energy

of water flow, which is why I chose the latter option. I'll be grateful for any additional thoughts and considerations on water design, as I might have overlooked a few looks at the aesthetic landscape. Working with a waterwheel gives me pleasure, it may well be a self-convention, but the bread baked in my earthen oven using flour milled from grains grown and harvested with my own hands is the most delicious bread I have ever tasted, The pleasure of the final result is even less significant compared to the pleasure of the process.

I could say that I envy myself. The will of water was my old dream and this adventure will have many consequences. Here are a few words about my plans for the future. The water wheel has limitations. For example, changing the rotation speed and torque of the wheels is only possible within relatively narrow ranges; However, by cutting the belts of a tire, I can increase the rotation speed of the axle or increase its torque with the cascade pulley system and that means I have a lot of interesting opportunities. Can you guess what I mean at the end of this story ?

I want to remind you that I made this waterwheel primarily for utilitarian purposes. I wanted to use the power of the stream for something useful, as you probably noticed that this was a very long experimental video, by far the longest on my channel, as for me the video is too detailed. I could show the wheel building process in about 15 minutes and editing would be much easier. However, many subscribers asked me for longer videos with more details. I leave the judgment of this experiment to you. I'm looking forward to your feedback on whether this experiment continues and, if so, which of the projects briefly shown in the video should be edited first.

Friends, I'm so glad you watched an almost hour long video. to the end, which means you found it interesting, maybe even useful, and the many hours spent filming and editing were not in vain. You may have noticed that I don't post my videos frequently and even if you subscribe to the channel, you most likely won't receive them. a new video notification, but you can try setting a bell for all notifications. They say it helps. Thank you for sharing my videos with your friends and writing comments. I read them all. This was Max Igorov St. Petersburg, Russia and I let the good people see them.

Nice videos PS Below I left a link to my DIY projects playlist as well as playlists about my location, construction,

bushcraft

projects, kayak making and outdoor cooking. I hope to see you again on voice.