How to make a homemade pulley for an electric motor. How to make a homemade pulley. Making a product at home

Pulley - important detail belt drive. It transmits the rotation of the drive shaft to the driven shaft, and also allows you to change the speed. Belt drive is common among household appliances, low and medium power machines, in various engines internal combustion. For homemade designs You can make a pulley yourself; for this you will need a home workshop and skills in working with wood, plastic, and metal.

Purchased pulleys made in factories are most often cast or machined from metal alloys. Plastic products are produced for low-power engines.

At home, without foundry equipment or precision lathes, it is difficult to make a drive wheel from these materials.

Many experts believe that a pulley made of wood, plywood or plastic, which was made in a home workshop, is unreliable, short-lived, will immediately overheat and fall apart.

This is not true at all. If you do not try to replace the wheel of a forge hammer with a force of 6000 tons, but use it on desktop machine with limited power and speed, then a carefully made part will be able to replace the standard one for quite a long time.

You can make a pulley from sheets of plywood. This is the most simple design, she won't need it complex equipment or intricate technological processes.

If you make a part from aluminum, it will be much stronger, will be able to transmit more torque, and rotate at a higher speed. You will have to master the foundry process, even if only simple version. Manufacturing a pulley by casting will require provision fire safety, use of personal protective equipment.

The wheel can be turned on a lathe if you have one in your home workshop.

How to make a plywood pulley at home

This design is the easiest to manufacture. It consists of the following parts:

pulley body;
pulley cheeks;
screw fasteners for wood.

The number of parts depends on the width of the drive belt. If it is greater than the thickness of the plywood sheet, the drive wheel body will have to be made from several plywood circles.

The diameter of the cheek piece must be greater than the diameter of the body by the height of the belt.

The sequence of manufacturing plywood pulleys is as follows:

mark the workpieces;
cut them out of plywood with a jigsaw, drill a central hole;
if the body consists of two or more circles, fasten them with wood glue or PVA, making sure the axial holes coincide;
tighten the circles with self-tapping screws;
process lateral surface disk sandpaper, file or grinder until a smooth, even surface is obtained;
chamfer the inner surface of the cheeks, their slope should be equal to the slope cross section belt;
secure the cheeks to the body with glue and self-tapping screws, being careful not to get into those already screwed;
Carefully drill out the central hole.

When performing the last operation, you need to make the diameter of the hole half a millimeter smaller than the diameter of the shaft. This will allow you to fit the detailed axle into tension. The wooden pulley is ready.

Places for self-tapping screws should be marked in advance. They must be on the same circle, as well as at equal angular distances from each other. If there are four self-tapping screws, the angle should be 90°, if there are 5 - 72°, if there are six - 60°. Then radial vibration can be minimized.

How to make an aluminum part

Manufacturing a cast aluminum pulley will be much more difficult, but the strength and durability of such a part will be much higher. You should approach each step very carefully, follow the dimensions exactly, and follow the recommendations.

A piece of aluminum will be used as a raw material. You will also need:

melting crucible, steel or ceramic;
muffle or induction furnace;
fine sand, clay for molding sand;
foam for the model.

The sequence of operations is as follows:

prepare a molding mixture from clay, water and sand;
use a knife to cut out an exact model of the future pulley from dense foam;
fill made from sheet metal or form boards with the mixture up to half, compact;
put the model down, cover it with the mixture, compact it again; leaving a hole for the release of casting gases;
melt aluminum in a crucible and carefully pour it into the hole;
After the casting has cooled, clean it of any remaining mixture, grind off the sprue, and sand it.

Such a part can be mounted on the shaft with a key or spline connection. It will sit much more firmly and will be able to transmit significantly greater torque and rotation speed.

Making pulleys yourself

Before repeating this or that design, you need to keep a number of points in mind. For wooden structures The diameter of the motor axis should be slightly larger than the hole.

The design must provide for camber of the internal surfaces of the cheeks with an angle equal to the slope of the cross-section of the drive V-belt. This will greatly increase the transmitted power due to the adhesion of not only the internal, but also the side part of the belt.

Before starting to manufacture the part, especially if the wheel diameter is large, a drawing or at least a sketch is a must. It will also be necessary to calculate the gear ratio - it will be equal to the ratio of the diameters of the drive and driven disks.

A homemade belt drive pulley will allow you to quickly repair the machine or create a mechanism of your own design.

It should be understood that plywood pulleys can last a long time only in structures with limited transmitted power and low angular velocities.

The belt drive in question is distinguished by a minimum of parts: it has only one pulley, made by hand, and works without a rubber belt, instead of which a piece of a dog leash is fitted.

The pulley made by yourself is very different from the usual shape (with sides): it does not have a recess for the belt, and moreover, its edges are rounded. In general, the entire pulley should be slightly convex. Thanks to this form, self-centering occurs flat belt, and sometimes it is enough for only one pulley to have a convex shape. By the way, in mechanical engineering for flat belts the pulleys are convex. A flat belt cannot be held by a pulley with a side - it will either climb onto this side or begin to jam at the side. Pulleys with sides are used for V-belts, toothed and round (in cross-section) belts.

If you doubt that a convex pulley can hold a belt, you can conduct a simple experiment with a real model. You will need simple parts: rods, a straight cylinder, some part with a smoothly changing diameter, a wide elastic band and the base of the structure.

This model demonstrates how, when rotated, the elastic moves along a wooden "pulley" from the narrowest part on the left to the place with largest diameter, where it remains. If the elastic is placed in the concave part, it will again quickly move to the place with the largest diameter.

The pulley is made of fiberboard. Instead of a second (small) pulley, a bolt is fitted. Due to the large difference in diameter between the large pulley and the bolt that replaces the small pulley, this transmission has a large gear ratio. However, this contributes to more slipping of the belt on the bolt, which, even without this, almost does not adhere to it. Therefore, for example, abrasive paper should be glued to the bolt. Of course, it will not last long, but over time you can pick up something else.

The belt, as mentioned above, is made from a piece of a dog leash, which is made of nylon. To connect the two ends of a segment, some piece of iron is heated by fire, then the ends of the segment are applied to it, they are melted and immediately pressed against each other.

In order to select a pulley for a walk-behind tractor in a store or online, you need to know several parameters of this product. The driven pulley is designed to transmit the rotational motion of the engine to attachments walk-behind tractor using a belt. Using this part, you can increase or decrease the number of revolutions of the walk-behind tractor mechanisms.

Pulley characteristics

They happen different sizes, are fixed on the main shaft of electric motors and are made of different materials. When purchasing a pulley, you need to pay attention to the size of the seat. It would also be a good idea to buy a new belt and select a part in accordance with its parameters.

The diameters of the pulleys used for electric motors are standardized. The standards establish 3 types of structures:

Photos of types of pulleys.

monolithic (up to 100 mm);
disk (from 80 to 400 mm);
with spokes (from 180 to 1000 mm).

The mounting holes come in conical and cylindrical shapes. The standard number of grooves does not exceed 8. In order to reduce the wear of rubber belts, work surface grooves are ground.

The main material used for manufacturing is aluminum or duralumin. They are considered the most optimal, since they have good level strength and least subject to wear on the belt. You can find pulleys made of textolite, plastic, and plywood on sale.

Making a product at home

There are several ways to make a pulley with your own hands, and we will tell you some of them.

The easiest way to make it at home is to use lathe. You need to select a suitable workpiece and simply turn the part to size.

For the second manufacturing method, you will need plywood with a thickness of at least 20 mm, a hand router and jigsaw, and a drill.

First you need to make a disk of the required diameter from plywood. Using a compass, draw a circle and make a hole in the center of it. Next, using a jigsaw, we cut out the disk with a margin of 2-3 mm from the line.

In order for the disc to have a perfect round shape, we clamp it into the drill through the central hole using a bolt and nut and sand it with sandpaper, processing all the irregularities.

The next step will be to form a seat for the belt. For this we use hand router. We fix the disk on the workbench using self-tapping screws and, having selected a suitable cutter, select a groove for the belt. So, the pulley is ready. You will need to measure the seat diameter of the pulley on the motor axle and drill the required hole.

A homemade pulley is attached to the engine axis using a flange.

If you do not have a lathe at hand, you can order this part from a familiar turner, but the driven pulley for a walk-behind tractor is of impressive size, and most often it is very difficult to find a workpiece of this diameter for turning. Therefore, we recommend making it yourself and ordering a flange.

Keeping parts in proper condition

For long-term service of pulleys on a walk-behind tractor, you must follow some simple rules:

promptly check the strength of the seat fastening on the engine axis to prevent the part from becoming loose and failing;
don't forget to check protective covers which protect the part from dirt and large objects;
check the belt tension to avoid slipping;
visually inspect this unit to identify chips, cracks, etc.;
observe necessary equipment security.

A homemade product will serve you for a very long time without needing repair. As the service life expires, the part can be remanufactured.

Doing something homemade device on a belt drive, you often encounter the problem of a missing pulley of the required diameter. Finding it on the market or through friends takes a lot of time, and it is not yet a fact that it will be found. And not everyone has a familiar turner. In most cases, I solve this problem on my own.

What can you make a homemade pulley from?

Of course, made of plywood. If you don’t have a lathe, you have to choose from available materials. Wood is not a reliable assistant in this matter - it can easily split. But dense plywood copes with this task quite adequately.

Depending on the size of the pulley, I select plywood optimal thickness. I cut out three circles from it, two of the same size, and the third a little smaller (the thickness of the V-belt). Also, I immediately drill a hole in each of them - strictly, in the future they will be very useful.

I clean them as much as possible, first each one separately. Moreover, on two identical circles, I chamfer one side at approximately 45 degrees. Cleaning is easier and better if you put a circle on a large nail.

I assemble sanded plywood circles onto a bolt with a wide washer placed on the head. I try to select the bolt itself with such a diameter that it fits snugly into drilled hole. I collect circles in the sequence large - small - large. Large ones are chamfered inward.

I smear PVA on both sides of the smaller circle, assemble the future pulley and tighten the bolt with a nut and a wide washer. And I leave the whole thing to dry well.

Although PVA glue holds the parts perfectly, for reliability they can be fastened together with self-tapping screws. Just screw them into pre-drilled thin holes.

Now the pulley just needs to be modified a little. If it is of small diameter, I insert it into a drill mounted on the table and first process it with a large file, remove the unevenness of the circle and smooth out the chamfers. And I finish the treatment with sandpaper. If the pulley is large, I put it on the electric motor and carry out the processing directly on site.

In order to select a pulley for a walk-behind tractor in a store or online, you need to know several parameters of this product. The driven pulley is designed to transmit the rotational motion of the engine to the attachments of the walk-behind tractor via a belt. Using this part, you can increase or decrease the number of revolutions of the walk-behind tractor mechanisms.

They come in different sizes, are mounted on the main shaft of electric motors, and are made of different materials. When purchasing a pulley, you need to pay attention to the size of the seat. It would also be a good idea to buy a new belt and select a part in accordance with its parameters.

The diameters of the pulleys used for electric motors are standardized.

Making pulleys without a lathe or making pulleys on a knee

The standards establish 3 types of structures:

monolithic (up to 100 mm);
disk (from 80 to 400 mm);
with spokes (from 180 to 1000 mm).

The mounting holes come in conical and cylindrical shapes. The standard number of grooves does not exceed 8. In order to reduce wear of rubber belts, the working surface of the grooves is ground.

The main material used for manufacturing is aluminum or duralumin. They are considered the most optimal, as they have a good level of strength and are the least subject to wear on the belt. You can find pulleys made of textolite, plastic, and plywood on sale.

Making a product at home

There are several ways to make a pulley with your own hands, and we will tell you some of them.

The easiest way to make it at home is using a lathe. You need to select a suitable workpiece and simply turn the part to size.

For the second manufacturing method, you will need plywood with a thickness of at least 20 mm, a hand router and jigsaw, and a drill.

In order for the disc to have a perfect round shape, we clamp it into the drill through the central hole using a bolt and nut and sand it with sandpaper, processing all the irregularities.

The next step will be to form a seat for the belt. To do this we use a hand router. We fix the disk on the workbench using self-tapping screws and, having selected a suitable cutter, select a groove for the belt. So, the pulley is ready. You will need to measure the seat diameter of the pulley on the motor axle and drill the required hole.

A homemade pulley is attached to the engine axis using a flange.

Keeping parts in proper condition

For long-term service of pulleys on a walk-behind tractor, you must follow some simple rules:

promptly check the strength of the seat fastening on the engine axis to prevent the part from becoming loose and failing;
do not forget to check the protective covers that protect the part from dirt and large objects;
check the belt tension to avoid slipping;
visually inspect this unit to identify chips, cracks, etc.;
observe the necessary safety precautions.

A homemade product will serve you for a very long time without needing repair. As the service life expires, the part can be remanufactured.

The idea arose to make it out of plywood. I thought it was temporary, I’ll find a real one and replace it. But then it became clear that there was no need for this. It has been working flawlessly for me for 7 years now, no worse than any metal one.

The machine turned out great.

Large diameter disc pulley.

I use it to cut wood up to 50 mm thick and of any linear dimensions. The pulley behaves perfectly.

A. CHERNOV

Usually I make all my homemade products from start to finish with my own hands, without welding, without metalworking machines. I use what I have on my farm, what I can find. Once from a faulty, outdated sewing machine, I was making a machine for sawing wood, and I could not find a suitable metal pulley.
The idea arose to make it out of plywood.

Pulley making

I thought it was temporary, I’ll find a real one and replace it. But then it became clear that there was no need for this. It has been working flawlessly for me for 7 years now, no worse than any metal one.
I calculated the diameter of the pulley, and took the remaining dimensions from the drive pulley on an existing 600 W electric motor.
I cut out a round disk from plywood of the required thickness - medium. Then the two outer ones are made of 10 mm plywood. I drilled holes with a diameter of 3 mm in the center of each disk.
On a grinding wheel I processed the outer edge of the small disk, and chamfered one of the sides of the large ones.
Then I glued all three disks together by inserting a 3 mm diameter rod into the central holes. Additionally, I tightened it with four screws on each side, as shown in Fig.
In the finished pulley, I drilled a hole in the center to the required diameter.
The finished disk was mounted on a drill with the appropriate equipment. I cleaned it with a file and sandpaper while rotating. And, of course, pro-oil.
At this point I finished the work and installed the pulley on the machine. I secured the pulley with a clamping nut and lock washer.
The machine turned out great. I use it to cut wood up to 50 mm thick and of any linear dimensions. The pulley behaves perfectly.

A. CHERNOV

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HOW TO MAKE A PULLEY FOR AN ENGINE WITHOUT A LATHER. HOW TO MAKE THE ENGINE PULLEY

What metal is the pulley made of?

To understand what material a pulley should be made of, you need to understand its purpose.

A pulley is a friction wheel designed to transmit torque from a motor to a rotating shaft by means of a rope or belt. The transmission of motion can be either long or short. And also - with different efforts. The load can be constant, or it can be dynamically changing.

It follows from this that pulleys should be made of cast iron or steel. As a rule, ordinary 40 steel is suitable. These metals have high wear resistance and increased strength.

The manufacture of pulleys according to drawings is carried out according to the following scheme:

cutting a workpiece on a lathe
end processing (trimming)
cutting a hole in the center of the workpiece
boring the central hole to the required diameter
grooving
thread cutting

MICRON LLC performs turning work on the manufacture of custom-made pulleys. For more complete information or to place an order, you can contact the company’s specialists.