The file 'Balloon Turbine Car 3D Printer Model' is (blend,stl) file type, size is 1.8MB.
It works! It's not that impressive! It's kind of a dead end.
My original design had these structures that plugged into each side of the turbine and stretched out to the backsides of the wheels. The idea was they would support the axles, eliminate the need for the clip on the output shaft, and provide a mounting point for the car's body. In practice, they added too much drag to the axle and were way too flimsy. The axle spins much better without them, but it's easily dislocated.
The body was designed in a bit of a hurry, so the front axle design is basically the one I used on my version of the Bugatti balloon car, and it doesn't work that much better here. It's only attached to the front sockets of the turbine, so the car sort of bows in the middle when it runs (like a top fuel dragster! Demonstration of torque. Feature, not bug). The shape is inspired by the Lotus 56 turbine Indy car.
When I printed it all out, I hooked up a balloon and... it went 4 feet. Hmm.
I whipped up a set of lightweight drive wheels, which added maybe another 6 inches. On a few runs, the deflating balloon fell over onto a drive wheel, which brings the car to a stop. I'm thinking now that a gear-driven rear axle with smaller rear wheels might yield better results.
turbinecar1.blend | 4.2MB | |
turbinecarbody_repaired.stl | 463.9KB | |
turbinecarpin.stl | 114.2KB | |
turbineFaxle.stl | 20.4KB | |
turbineFwheel.stl | 469.4KB | |
turbineOshaft1.stl | 340.9KB | |
turbineRaxle.stl | 210.6KB | |
turbineRwheelLight_repaired.stl | 93.8KB | |
turbineRwheel_repaired.stl | 93.8KB | |
turbinewheelclip.stl | 114.7KB |