CNC Pulley.

[seetherage]

Just out of curiosity, what do you guys think of a simple design for a pulley like this? easy to make on a CNC machine. Either Aluminum or Reinforced Light Carbon Fiber sheets.

As I have no experience with this part, I looked over several light weight pulley models and just kinda mixed it up, but kept it simple.

[Redneck4csa]

What are you asking?

[seetherage]

What are you asking?

Opinion on the part. I thought I made it pretty clear. More like functional opinion, the works.
"what do you guys think of a simple design for a pulley like this"

[Redneck4csa]

Well, looks mean nothing if the part can't perform.

[navylife59]

As someone who has both manufacturing experience and a knowledge of metals, I can tell you a few things that won't work.

1. Square holes in a rotating part like this is mostly likely going to crack, especially in aluminum. The corners focus tension forces that will fatigue and crack a relatively soft metal like aluminum no matter the hardness of the alloy. This is why aircraft windows on airplanes and even the edges of skin panels are rounded. You could change these to an oblong shape. Your CNC machinist should have a program that detects these flaws in the design pattern before the program is even loaded into the machine.
2. CF will not hold up to the wear of the the serpentine belt running around it. The rib section (circumference) of the pulley would have to have an aluminum ring grafted to the CF pulley much in the way that a tire is fitted to a wheel to interface with the pavement.
3. If parts made out of Aluminum, be sure to have them hard anodized. That will make them resistant to wear and prevent corrosion.
4. This one is just for laughs...... Your pullies are for a v-belt setup and not serpentine. There. I was a smart arse, but in a nice way

So, are you planning on developing these or just hypothesizing?

[seetherage]

thanks. I really appreciate your feedback. This is what I love about this community. When I used to participate in the Mitsubishi forums long ago, all people cared was about "How do I make this work, where can I get it.", and if the post had no advantage to them, it would die quick.

Anyways, as of right now I am just hypothesizing, as I am novice to this area. But I plan on developing minor (by minor I mean smaller) parts such as a pulley. Sadly, the only CNC machine I had access to just got its controllers fried. That is why I only developed the part, not attempt to load it onto the program. If I ever come around to producing any part I'll be sure to post my results.

""hahuauhah just noticed what you said about the incorrect setup" Thanks.

[navylife59]

I used to operate a CNC punch press. Actually, it was 4 (I was very productive). 5 axis CNC milling machines are crazy expensive. I am trying to facilitate a time-share deal on a 3 or 4 axis CNC mil in the near future. It is just a hypothesis right now. Not sure how I can make that deal work to the benefit of all parties. There are so many parts that I want to design and build that owning a CNC would cut costs and development time. HAve to start the business first.

Ya know, I just had an epitome. There are many people out there that have small quantity parts that have no way to bear them to the market effectively. Creating a consortium might just benefit these individuals and benefit the Scion community with parts that have been overlooked by other companies due to volume of potential sales. We could call it tC for 'the Consortium'. This idea has merit and potential. I am not talking about an Ebay store invested in Chinese products. No, this would have to be locally manufactured product of high quality that provide actual performance, aesthetics, or appeal to the tC. Sorry, no ghetto junk. Each company or individual manufacturer would be on the Board of Directors. This Board would set the standards and criteria that all products must meet to become part of the Consortium. The Board would also offer support to the needs of it's members. Just a quick thought.