Ken Behrendt 3 foot Gera wheel unfortunately a dead duck

[whatzonstrat]

About Ken Behrendt’s book.
Unfortunately kens 3 foot Gera wheel  is a dead duck, no torque.  It may work on his computer screen but I have followed the construction details in the book and built the wheel, very accurately and no torque!
A computer simulation is one thing , but a working model is something else !
  The design though, is very clever, for as you slowly rotate the wheel through 45 deg.,  7 weighted levers all move simultaneously, linked together with 16 fine cables ( hellishing complicated). some CW and some CCW and reposition themselves so that at the end of the 45 deg. the levers are all back in the same configuration as before. This is what he claims in the plans for the wheel, and that does happen with the model.
    So this appears to be the perfect solution, weights going in closer to the centre on the way up from 6-00 up to  about 10-30. Or 11-00 and then from 12-00 coming out again on the way down till at about 3-00 fully out at 4-00 to 6-00 to repeat the cycle. 
      But as the weights don’t move very far in from the rim, there is unfortunately little to no torque for rotation.
  This has been a frustrating build, because initially I had some torque, and the wheel would self start from some positions without any push and rotate and accelerate for up to half a turn, but when manually turned to different positions sometimes it would have no torque, or reverse torque and start moving backwards, very difficult to fault find.
The springs are quite critical and I have changed and adjusted them many times with varying results. So currently have got to symmetry with no fwd or reverse torque in any of the 8 positions.  This wheel has a very good bearing and 1 or 2 gms on the rim will take it to the bottom. The lever / weight units also are pivoted on good bearings, so friction is negligible.
I have read the descriptions and checked positions of levers and they all seem to be fairly close to what the book says.  I have also locked all the levers to outer positions on their rim stops and then finely balanced the wheel but no go.
Although I have been on this forum for 10 years + I’ve only started posting since seeing this book.
So yes I have had built more wheels than you could shake a stick at, and would challenge any member to equal the number of “dead duck� wheels I have tried !,
My lovely wife will verify this , they can never understand the passion ( obsession .? ) of this ridiculous persuit. But we all keep trying aye.?
My challenge to Ken is, get someone to make a model of your sim, to prove it works in the real world, and then sew a tail on it and call it a weasel ( sorry Monty Python ) then write your book, in that order !, ( yes.? ) IMO
Hey I don’t want to persecute Ken , cause I looked back at some of his earlier posts and wheel ideas from a few years ago, and there are some very good designs and he is a clever thinker, and a heap of designs I’d never thought of. If I had half of his expertise, I would have solved it by now, but I’ll keep plugging away along with the rest of you. But like us all I have some new ideas I need to try, so watch this space .
You’ll never hear me say. “ a working wheel is only days away “. Rather maybe,
Hey guys, a new duck is peeping over the horizon, please help me shoot it !! LOL

Cheers Dave
Here’s some images

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Uaq-RA ... sp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Trnvma ... sp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1esvRC4 ... sp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AggKvU ... sp=sharing

[thx4]

@whatzonstrat,

Impossible to congratulate you for your creations, the access to the files is locked!!!

A++

[whatzonstrat]

Sorry, I’ve just tried them from another computer and the images open ok.
This is my first time posting images, don’t know what could be wrong

[Robinhood46]

I received authorization to view the first image, but i still cannot view the others.
I don't know a lot about stupid computer thingies. Do you have the possibility to publish them PUBLIC as opposed to RESTRICTED?
The first image looks very much like his drawings and sim. An excellent build.

[whatzonstrat]

Have changed settings in google drive, try again

[Robinhood46]

I still only have access to the first.
Maybe you will need to repost the links, now that you have made the change?

[thx4]

Access to the first, but it is already very heavy, bravo ...

A++

[thx4]

Thanks, full access this time, really good work.
The best for the future.

A++

[Robinhood46]

For posting fixed images, it is easier if you click on "click to add an attachment", which is just above preview and submit. Once you have clicked, there is a link to a site which allows you to modify the image to respect the conditions.
I think many of us were very doubtful of Ken's claims, for various reasons.
Can it be argued that your build is not good enough to show clearly it is a non runner? Objectively speaking obviously. I don't think it is the case, because Bessler clearly stated that a few ounces here and there makes no difference and i assume a few millimetres would be equally irrelevant. If the mechanisms function as Ken said they should at the same time he says they should, there is no reason it shouldn't be a runner. Other than our doubts that it wasn't a runner anyhow.
Good work.

[Sam Peppiatt]

Whatzonstrat,(Dave)

That's a hell of a build!! Every thing times 8; (SOB),I don't know how you did it------
I've built a lot of wheels but, I could never have done it. Maybe now it can be put to rest--------------------------------Sam

[John Collins]

Brilliant workmanship Dave. Although I’ve frequently decried Ken’s mighty opus, I do admire his determination to somehow drag meaning from the tiniest morsels scattered around Bessler’s portrait. As you suggest it would be interesting to see a genuine animation/simulation of Ken’s wheel.

JC

[WaltzCee]

Hey I don’t want to persecute Ken , cause I looked back at some of his earlier posts and wheel ideas from a few years ago, and there are some very good designs and he is a clever thinker, and a heap of designs I’d never thought of. If I had half of his expertise, I would have solved it by now, but I’ll keep plugging away along with the rest of you.

With all the expertise Ken has, he has absolutely no excuse to not know

A computer simulation is one thing , but a working model is something else !

Dancing around a claim it works in simulation so it works in the real world to sell a book is fraud.

I'd tell Ken you want a refund.

[Tarsier79]

Great Build Dave. Ken should have built his own model before claiming success. Even had he shared his working sim here, intelligent and skilled members would have found why his sim falsly rotates.

[agor95]

I hope there is something in Ken Behrendt’s book that is worth the cover price.

However good on you for doing the work.

Regards

[Fletcher]

Very nice build Dave .. can't fault it ! Well done. One of the most professional I've seen.

A KB purist would say the masses are not exact enough, or the spring tensions etc. But I don't buy that for the reasons given by RH46.

A runner is going to have surplus torque in one direction of rotation, pure and simple !

I hope you continue to post here after being a phantom for so long :7) I think you would have a lot to contribute and I find the process of sharing of ideas and experiences opens my own mind as a bonus, as well as being an active member of this community with a next to impossible (but not impossible) dream. Because somehow Bessler cobbled together some mechanical concepts that did give a surplus torque, and so can we ! Even if it takes team work.

Good job !

P.S. I would add to what others have said. KB never released his sim for independent analysis and verification. In fact there was a 'collision overlap' error in the sim submitted as POP on his YouTube channel which he brushed off. Many of us sim users would attempt a recreation of his sim IF he had of released his sim publicly. But that would counter his objectives of selling his book (fair enough) and promoting his solution to Bessler's Wheel mechanics. And I for one, won't build it from scratch (I don't want to reinvent HIS wheel lol) without all HIS detail else I'm on a hiding to nothing.

All The Best !