Heavy Duty Hand Cranked Generator

Hello friends,

When our state was struck by a storm, there is no electricity for 7 days. I wanted to make a rigid, portable manually powered generator that would give enough power for a small LED light and will charge the mobile phone.

Today I am going to make a heavy-duty, hand-cranked generator from an old internal combustion engine. The engine's machined surfaces, bearings, etc... were damaged when I am trying to know about the engine parts and it's internal mechanisms and about the oil passages.

I hope it will work.

• Tools for loosening the bolts, nuts of the engine
• small halogen lamp(mine is 12V 35W from the headlamp of the bike)
• Kerosene or petrol ( for cleaning the oily surfaces of the engine)
• Gloves
• Grease

I am going to engage the kicker gear and its pair gear in the output shaft. The gear in the output shaft will act as an idler gear and transmits the power from kicker gear to the smaller gear in the clutch shaft. The gear which is fastened with the clutch engages with the gear in the crankshaft. By this arrangement, we can get a gear train value near to 7.1, this means for one revolution of the kicker rod the crankshaft and the generator will rotate 7 times.

To achieve this, we need to do some small modifications in the engine

Let's do it.

The disassembling process will differ for each engine model. My engine is taken from Hero Honda motorcycle. I already disassembled it one year ago without proper tools and damaged precisely machined surfaces. I kept the engine in a disassembled state. Now, I am going to clean the oily surfaces.wear the gloves.

I used kerosene for cleaning. I placed the engine parts in a plastic tray and pour kerosene over it. The engine was soiled, So I used wire wool and an old toothbrush to remove soil from the parts.

I am going to use the kicker as the hand crank. The kicker gear is free to rotate on the kicker shaft and it is engaged with the shaft by a ratchet and a spring. Ratchet engagement is controlled by a profiled plate. I am going to remove it so that the ratchet will be engaged with the gear always. The torsion spring connected with kicker shaft also must be removed.

1) I tried to remove the bolt with a spanner, but the bolt didn't turn even a small degree

2) I tried to cut it by using a hacksaw blade, it didn't work

3)At last, I deformed it by hitting it with a hammer

Now, the ratchet and the gear are engaged and continue this position unless the kicker is rotated in the opposite direction.

If you want, you can remove the piston and the connecting rod. I removed the cylinder head only

Before going to assemble the parts, lubricate the parts ( I used grease, If you put the gaskets and oil seal, you can use the engine oil)

Now check the bearings for proper rolling and seating

I put the kicker shaft, output shaft and clutch shaft in place, I removed the extra gears, gear shifting mechanisms which are not needed .the larger gear in the output shaft is free to slide in the output shaft, to restrict this circlip must be installed.

Then I put the middle casing in place(If the crankshaft bearing is not seated properly, this casing will not seat in place).

Now put the small gear in the crankshaft and then put the clutch in the respective shaft(Don't put the clutch circlip now).put the flywheel in crankshaft end and fasten it. if you are not removed the piston, assemble the cylinder also. Place the outer cover, and fit the kicker in the shaft. If everything runs smoothly, remove the outer cover and kicker. Put the correct circlip for the clutch cover and assemble the outer cover, Put the bolts in the casing and fasten it. Now put the kicker handle in the shaft and fasten it.

Try to use cardboard in between the casings if you have a misalignment in the crankshaft bearings and a sticky running.

Now I am going to check the output. My multimeter was not working, so I used a 12V 35W halogen bulb to check the generator. A 4 pin socket and two external wires are coming out of the coils. Another wire is connected with the engine casing. I connected the yellow and white wires in the 4 pin socket together and connected with a terminal of the bulb. another terminal of the bulb was connected with the ground wire which is in contact with the engine casing.

full video

I turned the handle and the bulb gives out light. But I think there is a fault in the coils, once the COVID 19 is over, I will replace the coil with a new one.

The current from the generator is AC. I am tried to use the wiring harness of the motorcycle, but it gives out nothing( I think rectifiers and regulators may be damaged)