[technomage]

I have seen quite a few posts about cutting metals and certain plastics with wood router spindles. I got to thinking that what might be useful would be a very tiny torque converter like on a car except scaled down. Being a small fry I have no desire to create one from scratch so I went looking and found this
http://hi-tech-pr.com/goped/goped-liquimatic.htm
Its used on motorized skateboards. I was wondering if something like this might work to convert the 8000 rpms of a wood router spindle done to something more in line with machining aluminum.
Hope this is the right forum if not let me know and I will repost.
Hope to hear what everybody thinks.
Technomage

[307startup]

A torque-converter is basically a fluid coupling that absorbs torque until the fluid becomes "hard". As in a car TC, the shape of the vanes, the spacing, the total diameter, allows for tuning a speed range for the motor to operate in efficiently...what's called a stall speed, where the TC absorbs the initial engine RPM's until the stall speed is reached, where full power is passed to the planetary gearsets. Imagine a paddle in water...at some point you have "grab" or "bite" and the leverage of the paddle lets you propel the boat forward. Until that fluid becomes "hard" against the paddle, it just slips and flows around it...just like the vanes in a torque-converter. It's a torque multiplier, not a gearhead. A gearhead would let you gear down the RPM's of your router.

[headsmess]

sorry to revive a dying thread

i just google searched mini torque convertor and came here.

so. someone beat me too it. a small scale torque convertor.

ive always wanted to make something like this for a motorised bicycle. then run a lil twostroker, worked to just rev, all that matters is peak power.

dont need a clutch. the hardest part of any motorised pushy!


anyways.

that thing is NOT a torque convertor, but merely a fluid flywheel or coupling. like in a washing machine.

i see an impeller and stator but no reaction turbine, the key to the torque convertor.

the fluid flywheel merely drives fluid around the torus in a spiral motion, transferring power from the driving side to the driven side. at "stall" condition, the oil simply gets hot as it gets squooshed around and thoroughly churned up. think a water wheel with nowhere for the water to go...

a torque convertor has a reaction turbine, a 3rd part on a one way clutch, that redirects the oil to assist its own flow. sort of like the fixed vanes in a gas/steam turbine redirect gas flow to line up with the next turbine... this creates the torque increase, with maximum increase when the speed difference between input and output is at maximum.

back to my pushy idea, i always rode freestyle/trials. i wanted a lightweight 10hp (a tuned 30-50cc will do it) with out the complication of a reduction other than the final chain.

just hold brakes, give it full blip and let go the brake!


yeah yeah, once again, old thread... not even in my section! wood? i burn wood
i fear it would be absolutely useless for a spindle drive. its more of a soft start/slipper clutch than a reliable redux!