DIY Bicycle Generator

Learn how to make a generator for your bike so you can power lights and other cool additions you may have! This is my first instruct able and would like to enter this In the epilog challenge. I'm a young boy that is trying to get a job and would like to make kits with the laser cutter from this contest. My family and I can not buy a laser cutter since we have experienced some loss of my sister. I really want to design my own rc planes or parts that I could use making more instructables!

You will need: a DC motor, a belt drive, some kind of gear, plastic container, glue gun, knife, tape, bike, insulated wires. I got my DC motor and belt from an old printer. You may need a soldering iron and shrink tube to make sure there are no open connections.

If your motor already has a gear/pulley on it, pull it off gently and add a plastic disk on first. Then add the pulley back on and snug. This step is optional and is just to make sure the belt doesn't slip off and damage something.

Take your now bike Generator and find a good area for it to sit and mount to your bike. My bike has a perfect area for the generator right before the back tire.

Okay once you've got a good spot to mount your motor you will need to remove the wheel to get the belt on. There are many ways you can do this like removing the bolts on each side. Just slip the belt onto the wheel and place the wheel back on! Simple as that.

Make sure that where your belt will be us clean from grease and dirt.

I cut out a plastic ring to keep the belt on the wheel so it will continue moving as long as the bike wheel is moving.

I hot glued the ring in place so if I wanted to remove the generator, I could. I cut a circle in the plastic then cut halfway into it and then carved it out and left about 2cm of plastic on the outside. This will help keep the belt from moving off the wheel therefore not allowing the generator to move properly.

Take your motor and belt and align it up to where you want it to all fit. Make sure it doesn't get in the way of the pedals or gears and chain.

Make sure everything is clean from grease and dirt before mounting anything

Put the motor on and Mark where it will sit so the belt is a bit tight. I mounted my motor in with some hotglue for now but you can use epoxy for better results.

Now take your wires and connect them to LEDs or even rechargeable batteries so you can recharge batteries as you bike!