So what’s the first thing you do after completing your propeller driven land tricycle build? Head on over to the Starbucks drive through and see what kind of response you get from the workers. That’s exactly what the guys from North Street Labs did. You can see the response in the clip after the jump.
Having three wheels and being moved by an electric motor with a propeller led to the name TriFly. The build is their entry in The Deconstruction, a build contest which includes other entries like the Beer pouring machine we featured on Monday. Aside from the fun with the final project, NSL’s well-produced video includes a quick trip through the fabrication process. They did a great job making the machine about 40% street legal and it’s obvious they had a blast while doing so.
Maybe these propellerheads can add a little cage around the propeller?
Yeah invisible rotating finger cutter just looks unnecessarily stupid
That and no seat belts can’t be healthy either. And the steering wheel’s on the wrong side.
shutup! ;) let natural selection do its own thing… :PPP
Darwin Bats Last- and Karma’s the Pinch hitter.
I’m all for natural selection, as long as you’re not taking out innocent drive through employees in the process of naturally selecting yourself out of the gene pool.
You’ll draw lawyers with that thing!
In the US it’s on the correct side.
But that’s only because you all drive on the wrong side of the road!
Oh, contraire! We actually drive on the Right side of the road. (Everyone else drives on the left)
look closely at the video/pictures. they have seat belts, just hard to see them
also there are pictures of seat belts in the video that i guess you didnt watch before commenting…
Someone builds an awesome propeller car and this is what you comment about?
It all fun and games until someone loses an arm. Or two.
Then it gets REALLY fun!
or turns into a rugby match… (but I repeat myself)
Well normally I don’t like comments on safety either. If a hacker creates unsafe stuff that could hurt himself, fine. But common, it is plain stupid to drive this car on the streets.
And while they are adding the cage, they could add some ducting to cut down on energy loss through tip vorticies.
and and make the prop into a ducted fan, and add vectored thrust, and put some heater bars in front of it, so they can use it as a drier when they 3d print concrete.
i see what you did there
A ducted fan would address both safety and efficiency….
“Danger Zone” music is quite appropriate. Chop chop chop! :-p
If they don’t, it’ll draw lawyers and you what a mess that turns into…
Well that looks totally safe and roadworthy.
If he got his bagel, he could have tossed it over his shoulder to see what happened
is this some kind of hype to go through drive through, with everything that rolls?
Oh yeah, it is a Rite of Passage, taking a stretch limo, or riding mower, farm implement, those have been done, new novelties must be found…
But don’t try _walking_ through the drive through, you’ll be ridiculed and rejected DAMHIKT
(Don’t Ask Me How I Know That!)
Actually the drivethroughs here have notices up specifying they will only serve a legally registered and licensed roadgoing vehicle at the drivethrough….
That just sounds like a challenge…
Three housemates and I walked in formation making car noises up to the Taco Bell in Scotts Valley, CA many moons ago, and were served. It was about 1:30am though. In any case, if there is an achievement for using the drive thru lane without a car, we all got it.
Wooo – that uncaged propellor blade is an accident waiting to happen to someone…
I smell a Darwin Award coming for those guys. Let’s hope no other people will be involved in the accident though.
*Yawn*…*Stretch* … Look Ma! No hands!
So here I thought from the title this “thing” was controlled by a Parallax Propeller…
It slices, it dices, it chops, spindles and mutilates!
Under “Related Hacks” it mentions “Building things with the Parallax Propeller” B^)
In the picture, it looks like they have a bin of giant rubber bands.
Actually, the prop diameter looks small enough that they could get a $20 desk fan from mallwart and use the cage off that.
Great idea, but we are currently sourcing an actual airplane propeller so we can use all the power of our motor at low RPMs, we figured with a bigger prop, a bunch of EMT conduit can be formed into a shroud, and a cage welded to it.
We actually brought the stuff to shroud the prop, but we simply ran out of time in 48 hours.
These guys are stupid for not putting a cage around that.
Not to mention the long hair + spinning prop disaster about to happen.
It’s hard to see any coolness in this project when there’s such a huge danger. I can live with projects that endanger the owner but taking that thing out in public. Extremely dangerous, especially for little kids that don’t know better.
Seat belts, yeah sure, should probably have them but it’s not the end of the world in my opinion. But not having a cafe around that prop is just stupid.
Whoa, you just blew my mind, cafe around it, bistromathic drive system, brilliant!
Ooooh! I had to dig deep in the recesses of my mind for the bistromathic reference!
Great call!
“But not having a cafe around that prop is just stupid.”
So… Starbucks doesn’t count as a cafe? B^)
Cafes typically serve coffee. Starbucks serves charcoal flavored brown water.
Actually, you are giving Starbucks undue credit.
Their “coffee” is worse than you describe.
*cough*
cage*
uhmmm sooo…there are seatbelts… pay more attention before you flame sucka
@Al
The video says otherwise – http://imgur.com/a/0AwEh#0 , sucka.
We went out of our way to go to a junk yard to pull them. It’s a tight fit. Your screenshots are selective. Pause other parts of the video like at :50 for example, and you can clearly see it attached.
http://i.imgur.com/U2NPdVl.jpg
:50
WHere’s the seat belt?
slowJim, stop trolling. You can see the connector going across the top of his right leg. It’s not like he was just balancing it there for fun. Never mind the fact that I watched him attach it.
Al – 1
slojim – 0
…now whos the sucka.
Hence the name “Slow” Jim. By the way, I think this is the first HaD flame war I have decided to waste my time commenting on!
not sure about coolness, but prop in such vehicle is imho not very efficient way of porpulsion. hovercraft would be cooler…. :/
Give the man a break, he obviously didn’t have his coffee yet.
Neat build, but some forethought should have gone into safety.
I mean, we all do stupid things from time to time, but usually it doesn’t involve the potential risk of limbs.
Actually the prop arc is kind of small, so sticking random body parts in it is not what most worries me. What most worries me is that it’s a wooden propeller, which have been known to splinter, and fracture and throw a sharp stake out at high velocity.
In it’s intended use on a model aircraft this risk is dealt with by model clubs having flightline safety procedures, and the fact that most of the time, at full bore the nearest humans are going to be a good distance away from it. It is also going to be up in the air, and not subject to bits of road grit and small stones being flung at it by passing traffic, the highest risk of that on a model aircraft is on landing, when it will be throttled back, or on takeoff, where it would be going away from humans.
If this contraption is only used to drive around fields and empty parking lots by the occupants the risk is small. If used within 50ft of innocent bystanders regularly, the risk becomes larger.
So a ducted fan would actually be safer, as well as more efficient. Just wrap a cylinder around it and put screens on each end. Simple mod, more thrust and safer.
(I really like the “cafe” typo…)
RoadWarrior222, thanks for the detailed criticism, this is a lot more serious to us than all the other Danger Mongerers. I wanted to address that our prop tip speed is much lower than that of an RC plane using this prop because our motor tops out at 4100RPM with this battery pack setup. The prop is spinning at 195m/s compared to 340m/s for MACH 1, this means our tip speed is only 1/2 the speed of sound.
Every time we start the prop check the hardware and propeller condition. At these speeds we have only had minor specs of the polyurethane coating chip away. Easy fixes and nothing deemed dangerous.
People can hear this thing coming from THREE BLOCKS AWAY, if someone runs into it – That is a Darwin Award in itself.
The ease of starting and stopping an electric motor allows us to turn it off when people are approaching.
There are a lot of people dissing your build for safety reasons. But I am not one of them. I think this thing is awesome!
Keep up the good work, and keep building.
I love the three wheel configuration.
Really? Wooden props pull/push thousands of aircraft through the air on a daily basis, wooden props are waaay lighter than metal ones. Besides, choosing a prop for an application is not a trivial thing. Just because it’s wooden doesn’t mean anything. A cage would have been a good idea. period.
Pilotbuilder, we actually completely agree! We even have the metal! But didn’t manage to build it in the 48 hours allotted. Now that our demonstration video is submitted we are working towards this goal, as well as much more.
Yes and airfields and most of the air, is large and empty. Props on aircraft are inspected on a daily basis and have to pass regulations and official safety approvals and inspections. The thing is, we’ve forgot most of the learning curve stuff that went with that pre 1930ish and in making bigger props for model aircraft or other applications, and may relearn the hard way.
So, use an FAA approved aircraft prop inspected and maintained to FAA standards on a road vehicle and I won’t worry about it flying apart.
Have a twin rotax homebuilt where the passenger sits in line with the plane of the prop and you broke one on landing yesterday and carved one out of a random lump of 4×6 overnight…. yah, I think I’ll pass on that joyride thanks.
We are using Hobby propellers here, this isn’t even FAA category yet. But good idea, we already know their standards about routine airplane maintenance before flight (seriously we read everything we could find). We even had an aeronautical engineer in communication with us during the build.
As far as us CNCing a bigger prop, we have done extensive research, no simple 4×6 can be used. Certain woods offer certain properties in different grain directions, etc,there are truly too may details to list here, we will do a large write up as soon as something gets designed and made. Not to mention if we make our own prop, we will not be using this without a massively strengthened shroud and a thick cage for our own protection.
is this a darwin car
it look total save to use on a street
If I was working that drive-thru, I’d have dropped his lunch into the prop just to prove a point. The point being it’s not just themselves being aware of the prop that they should be worried about. Very irresponsible.
Your “idea” of throwing stuff at the spinning prop is the kind of stuff that’ll cause people to get hurt.
Also, you should know the girls in the Starbucks were aware – one of them helped us build it. Everyone around was aware of what was coming through, including the cops inside.
Is there even one place on earth where it would not be illegal to drive around such a public danger? (except on your own property if you own a big enough property)
France, assuming it is shrouded.
You could use it as a Bassomatic where ya just toss the food into the prop for all those behind you to enjoy :)
/Still want to build that vacuum cleaner car from the back of Boys Life lol
ok. safety aside, anyone notice that the girl at Starbucks is the same one who helped build the thing??
and also was wondering the top speed (as is) of this Darwin thing is?
Haha, yes GOOD EYE, Ryan helped us build, clean, and coffee us!
Right now our top speed is only ~20 mph on smooth road, with two people it is nearly half.
This is because we are running a prop designed for higher RPMs than our motor can output. at 4100 rpms we can acheive 83.03lbs of thrust (our top thrust), but at only 5700RPM we can get 160lbs of thrust! So we are currently trying to source, or CNC, a 48″ prop to better match the RPMs of our motor, and that will get us up to 250lbs of thrust (scary time)
Steve also forgot to mention the fact that we are using enormous inefficient wheels. The rear drum brake is dragging too. Frankly, I’m surprised it goes as fast as it does. A few minor tweaks, and this thing will be crazy fast.
I’m a thinking if you geared the prop down and used one the width of the vehicle, (with a shroud) you could park it faced into the wind with your brakes on and it might do something to keep the batteries topped up :-D or go the whole hog and put a fully swiveling power head on, with a tail to direct it into the wind, that you can unlock when you park.
ooooh I really like your idea, is we upgrade prop size (and shroud it), we could totally implement a regen system to recharge the batteries! Burning Man here we come!
So what’s the first thing you do after completing your propeller driven land tricycle build?
YOU PUT A FUCKING PROTECTIVE COWLING OVER IT!
Steve,
Don’t let the turkeys get ya down! As an aero engineer, I can tell you that it’s a whole lot easier to critique someone else’s design than it is to invent and build one yourself! Ya done good here. Just keep evolving the design, (including anything good from the “feedback,”) and someday you’ll own a company selling bunches of them. Google Tennessee Props for a decent wooden one, or IvoProp.com for adjustable pitch composite ones. Also consider a ducted fan, which can be more efficient.
Spook74, thanks for the feedback, we will look into them! And you are right a ducted fan would be more efficient, and initially safer, might be a better change to look into.
If the motor is reversable, can you dry your hair with it? ;-)
Totally! When behind this at full throttle, it feels like the 100 mph winds I’ve felt in Virginia Beach from several hurricanes.
Prop atm. imho is least pf the issues on the design, whole frame is steel, that seems rather heavy, really wide small tires, that seems the opposite of good design. if they want to make just “something”, they achieved it. bot to the efficient cool design there is a long way.Btw, we have saying around here, “with engine and prop big enough everything will fly” – (about efficient designs)
you do realize this is the result of a 48 hour speed build contest right?
Bobby,
We really agree with you, but considering the build started after all the metal suppliers closed for the weekend, we had no choice. We also had two broken golf carts donated to us by the local university, and very little money to spare. We set out to do something that many doubted would even work, using a small hobby R/C prop to propel people in the most inefficient form imaginable! But it worked, and it was fun.
K, I’m shocked… The moment you took that POS out in public you demonstrated your mental worthlessness (do you guys have any common sense? I’d expect that old man would know better). You guys are idiots; kretins.
I dont like their design either, but calling names is not cool dude.
Apologies, I was upset, but everyone should ridicule these people even more (so they won’t do something this irresponsible again). Maiming people is not cool, dude. Impaling people with wooden propeller fragments is not cool, dude. They took a risk on someone else’s life… is it even legal to drive that thing on a public street?
Reminds me of those insane propeller cars from Weimar Germany.
jesus f christ. Prop cage. everyone has said it, and it can’t be said enough. First thing I thought of when i saw that pic at the start of the article,
Secondly, yes, wooden props are used in massive numbers of light aircraft around the world. But, they are not used 18″ off the ground on unswept roads and streets for their entire lifetime. You will be getting prop strikes from gravel and small chunks of loose asphalt, not to mention stray litter.
Ok, so it doesn’t crack the prop right there on the street. Where’d the rock go that hit the prop? Oh ya, on a semi-random trajectory at stupidly high speeds. What could possibly go wrong? You need a front grill on the prop, or you will put a dime sized rock through someone’s more interesting body parts at several hundred feet per second.
Has anyone noticed that there is NO CAGE around that prop!? Don’t think anyone has mentioned at all yet, but I think it might be a good idea to put a cage around that prop in case anyone loses a finger!
ehr um Yeah Prop Cage…ehr um yeah prop cage, Uh yeah i think they are gunna need a prop cage yah
Not to mention that they also need a prop cage!
Did anyone mention how dangerous this is? I think they need a prop cage. Surely no one has mentioned this yet.
yo dawg, i heard you like prop cages…
Awsome build for 48hrs work. Well impressed guys! Scrap heap challenge stuff. I reckon ‘dude where’s you’re prop cage!’ will become a meme very shortly!
I can’t understand how all these idiots have to say is “it was a 48hr build”!
Use 1 of those hours to make the damn thing safe, seriously this cannot be said enough, If you are going to make something that is around others “play safe” not “retarded”. Yes this is name calling but they deserve it, I could go on about how they could have used a lighter frame or different wheels but no that doesn’t matter if this thing can take someone’s hand off.
-Darwin
Or someone’s head! Did anyone notice that the prop doesn’t have a cage?! Unbelievable!
They say that the police were well aware that they were using this thing at the drive through and by extension I assume the police knew they’re using this on public roads. Would be great if we could file a complaint against the officers that let this happen.
no need to, someone already did, Hackaday is crazy.
i guess slowjim is that but hurt about the seatbelts….
If you want to see what the other teams made- just head on over to http://thedeconstruction.org/
What is the Deconstruction? It is a game about re-thinking the world as we know it, taking it apart, making a few adjustments, then putting it back together a little awesomer-er. It’s a light-hearted competition, but it’s really more of a large-scale collaboration between friends, participants, and the public. The concept is to make the world a slightly better, more fun, and more interesting place over 48 hours.
It really was a good time. We were used to having 72 hours to work with, so this one seemed way more fast paced. We borrowed our build site from Steve’s work. We had to drive out an hour away from the site just to make any essential CNC machine cuts. Then we had to clean up the whole build site, rest, film, and edit our final video by the next day. We REALLY wanted to go with a ducted fan setup because it dramatically increases static thrust (and safety), but we were working with inexpensive hobby RC parts with time constraints. It was also a “math” vs “gut” challenge. We had a LOT of doubters (assorted friends, family, and coworkers) who felt it wouldn’t work, and even I started to doubt myself until the first test… and man was that a relief. It’s also hilarious to feel gale force winds while traveling 20 mph.
Now, the guy in China who built the octo-copter with motorcycle engines, can use them instead to build a fleet of safe road vehicles (if he is still alive).
hi
i really like your car, it was an very cool idea
i want to build this propeller car as my college project, so the persons who build this car can help me in making this car again.