I Built a Medieval Watermill to Power My Tools

Рет қаралды 403,137

11 ай бұрын

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I built a working waterwheel in my backyard from scratch, allowing me to harness the natural power of nature to work for me.
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Пікірлер: 657

@noalb1 11 ай бұрын

I appreciate the commitment of Andy in showing the dangers that came with early self-moving industrial equipment. Really going the extra mile there.

@ObservingProcrastinator 11 ай бұрын

It was foretold all the way back when he fell into the cherry pond.

@Mark-dc1su 11 ай бұрын

First industrial accident is practically a major milestone.

@liammadden7572 11 ай бұрын

@@Mark-dc1sufirst robo kill

@greengreen110 11 ай бұрын

@@Mark-dc1su up next: worker's rights and safety regulations

@waylontmccann 11 ай бұрын

"Comit to the bit"

@cjohnsonwow 11 ай бұрын

For safety reasons I think adding tennis balls to the ends of that metal rod might be an acceptable addition even if it doesn't exactly fit the era you are currently in, but I think your face and eye doctor would really appreciate it.

@emoAnarchist 11 ай бұрын

pool noodles

@thexalon 11 ай бұрын

Even cork, which would be more available, might be a useful move.

@hades392able 11 ай бұрын

he should also be wearing proper ppe, osha will be knocking at his door after seeing this video

@mauritzverster3435 11 ай бұрын

Next invention OSHA😂😂😂

@austinbowles 11 ай бұрын

some leather around would work nicely

@zzzires5045 11 ай бұрын

Don't forget to seal and use lard as grease. As for your output shaft it needs to be a more solid square or hex wooden shaft

@hermitoldguy6312 11 ай бұрын

That's what I was thinking - and it should go through the water-wheel, too.

@morgan0 11 ай бұрын

yea i was gonna suggest making the shaft a much wider diameter to reduce the torque on it and be better at connecting to other stuff

@BillySugger1965 11 ай бұрын

That wheel must be your best and most precisely made creation yet. Awesome Andy! 🤗

@Cameron-ls3qt 11 ай бұрын

Probably cause he used every modern luxury he could get...

@Slaeowulf 11 ай бұрын

You used the luxury of balls in your mouth. And you loved it.

@XplosivCookie 11 ай бұрын

@@Cameron-ls3qt You have to make some compromises, he's just proving concepts and then once a step is achieved by doing it from scratch a few times, it makes sense to consider it unlocked and move the series along. Show would never advance otherwise.

@peterfireflylund 11 ай бұрын

Not a hard bar to clear, though ;)

@brendolbreadwar2671 11 ай бұрын

@@Cameron-ls3qtand.

@IPostSwords 11 ай бұрын

I love water wheels. I want to see waterwheel powered trip hammers and bellows powering a crucible steel production plant.

@England91 11 ай бұрын

Not just steel, iron in general would be ideal

@comfortablegrey 11 ай бұрын

Probably Andy's greatest construction to date. Bonus footage demonstrating how important it is to plan your crafting for movement outside of the workshop.

@Rosiepedia 11 ай бұрын

Congratulations on unlocking automation! This feels like such a major milestone. So excited to see what this step allows for the next phase of rebuilding civilisation

@Sentinel851 11 ай бұрын

technically automation comes when he has a repeatable action on the output, not just a sustained shaft speed. but still, kudos.

@KerboOnYT 11 ай бұрын

Projects like this really put into perspective the sheer amount of effort it used to take to build anything. Nice job!

@Polarcete 11 ай бұрын

Andy's carpentry skills have improved a lot over the years, keep up the great work!

@theYeti1000 11 ай бұрын

I think that what you're really learning with the saw rig is that consistency and accuracy are key in better crafting. Nice work on the wheel.

@ZirconGames 11 ай бұрын

I can definetly see the improvement on your wood working skills over the years! (Been here since the clear glass/lens series i think?)

@supjay3945 11 ай бұрын

I agree

@oofshapedhuman4974 11 ай бұрын

Just thinking that! He’s doing great

@CaptainEdMercer 11 ай бұрын

It would be cool to see a compilation video from the earliest technology you have created all the way to the current technology you are on now. Its been so many years and it would be cool to see how far you've come in a visual format.

@crusherbmx 11 ай бұрын

The way you made that hub fit into that water wheel frame was extremely satisfying, GOOD WORK!

@shorttimer874 11 ай бұрын

When I was a kid the dad of a friend had a metal shop powered by a single electric motor mounted near the ceiling. A rod ran across the room up near the ceiling, there were several drums on the rod, and straps, leather I think, ran down to each machine to be powered. There must have been some way of clutching/declutching each machine, but I do not remember how it was done.

@shorttimer874 11 ай бұрын

If you do try this, broken belts whip with quite a bit of force, so when using handmade belts I would build a protective cage around them, leaving some way to replace the belts of course.

@mbainrot 11 ай бұрын

usually they had the wheels "slip" on the belts, and have a tensoner on a lever to engage the ""clutch"" (tbh slipping belts were the first clutches)

@luke5381 11 ай бұрын

Insane that you’ve made such a range of tools and equipment on your own, from scratch, using things you’ve made previously! I do think you should hire more people, specialised in different crafts, just to speed up the process and get out more videos with improved quality too!

@swag31556 11 ай бұрын

I think half the intrigue of this channel is that someone who has no idea what they are doing (in a trades sense) tries to make these things

@netts2315 11 ай бұрын

I mean he does use modern made lumber and planks bought from a store for this project but you can't blame him, really. These videos would probably be once in a year if he only cut down trees and processed them using the methods he has available.

@nateb1685 11 ай бұрын

@@netts2315 i think where i'm at is he's already proven the ability to make those things and so in my mind, no problem for me if buys them and it means i get more content :)

@netts2315 11 ай бұрын

@@nateb1685 He definitely has proven he can make them, though of lower quality, obviously because of the tools he has available, and as I said, videos would be far in-between if he had to make everything by himself. I too think it's better this way.

@Eagle3302PL 10 ай бұрын

@@netts2315 Any technology he tries once to any success has to be assumed to have had decades of refinement in the next episode. Otherwise he'd spend his entire lifetime perfecting blacksmithing like many smiths did back then.

@KainYusanagi 11 ай бұрын

Andy, this is what apprentices are for: They work the foot pedal, while the master cuts the piece. :P Seriously though, really nice work. Hope that leg cut heals nicely! EDIT: Spoke too soon... Hope ALL those cuts heal nicely, Mr. Andy Potter. x3

@allieandevanfriesen 11 ай бұрын

You're officially a wizard now with those scars. Don't rush yourself. If you break up a project into multiple videos it might be easier on your end.

@-dystopic- 11 ай бұрын

Your projects just keep getting better & better, as do your building skills! Thanks for bringing us along for the ride!

@produde33 11 ай бұрын

Wow, that was quite a sight! Watching him roll that massive water wheel through the doorway was both fascinating and nerve-wracking. The sense of scale was totally thrown off, and I couldn't help but hold my breath every time it approached the entrance. It really highlighted how challenging it must have been for him to transport such a colossal creation from his garage to the outside. Great video!

@2DevilliveD 11 ай бұрын

10:51 You're a wizard Andy!

@gabrymoret1475 11 ай бұрын

Super happy to see you finally managed to reach this milestone, you've been keeping it as an objective for a long while and i'm stoked to finally see you realize it

@shadowstorm657 11 ай бұрын

The precision of the wheel is absolutely insane. Amazing job.

@bodaciouschad 11 ай бұрын

No rush, be careful! You'll be working with ramshackle powered tools soon- there is a serious risk of losing fingers if you aren't extremely careful!

@TAWithiam 11 ай бұрын

For running the saw make the crank pull down on a rope tied to one end of a seesaw lever mounted above your saw and water wheel, and tie the saw to the other end of the lever. Add weight to the saw as necessary.

@angelwhispers2060 11 ай бұрын

Windmill was very good for grinding grain. You're going to want to study the Dutch windmills that you can literally turn with one person. These are mostly for grinding grain. And you have to remember that dealing with the Daily Grind Milling a family's ration of flour for the day was literally the bulk of somebody's (usually a wife or daughter) workday for most of human history so don't lose sight of that and you need to remember to keep that taken care of as you go forward

@ermakers1297 11 ай бұрын

A lot of the Dutch windmills were water pumps since the farmland was below sea level. The pumps helped keep the land dry.

@jacksonc8243 11 ай бұрын

That's amazing you're able to line those cuts up so well with the tools available! Please add safety covers to your industrial saws!

@faramund9865 10 ай бұрын

Cool. As you may know, watermills and windmills were super common in the Netherlands, as we have lots of both. Common uses of watermills here were, making copper plates and making paper.

@Milites98 11 ай бұрын

This is amazing! Very clear how much time and effort went into the planning and execution of this build! Hands down my favorite project to date

@somethingstupid699 11 ай бұрын

This is a huge leap in productivity, I can't wait to see what you make next!

@fredkennedy8435 10 ай бұрын

So much love to you and your channel! Nice to see you back in the swing of things! Saw that fire extinguisher on the side of the workshop!

@ermakers1297 11 ай бұрын

Common power transmission method was using leather belts. The wheel was used to drive a shaft and machines were hooked to that shaft via leather belts allowing individual machines to be engaged or disengaged as needed. This was particularly useful for factories and driving mass numbers of machines. The same system also worked well later on with steam driven shafts. Using a belt to connect the drive shaft to the offset handle/shaft of the saw would work well.

@Bellllllz 11 ай бұрын

If you stain your wood then seal it with tung oil it will last so much longer. Brilliant build!!!

@KainYusanagi 11 ай бұрын

Tung oil is about as waterproofing as (non-culinary) walnut- that is, not very. If you want waterproofed lumber, go with a linseed oil. Then use a shellac like pine resin as a finishing coat, in place of something like polyurethane.

@Bellllllz 11 ай бұрын

@KainYusanagi tung oil has been used to seal ships actually, but linseed oil is great too! Honestly even torching wood would be better then just leaving it bare.

@KainYusanagi 11 ай бұрын

@@Bellllllz Yes, and so has walnut; that doesn't mean that they're good at it. Tung oil does dry on its own, but it takes forever to do so and doesn't provide the best waterproofing, while walnut needs heat to break the proteins from the oil and allow it to harden (but is otherwise basically the same as tung oil functionally); linseed is significantly superior in waterproofing, and even slow-drying linseed dries faster than tung oil, while providing a superior waterproofing finish. Tung and walnut are more for land-based wood items, things like teak or oak furniture and similar (in fact, several tung oil formulations that included thinners and other oils were actually named "Teak Oil") where the finish can keep curing for months, if not years, and the rest of the finishes' properties are desired far more than waterproofing.

@revilo00 11 ай бұрын

Tar would also do the trick

@KainYusanagi 11 ай бұрын

@@revilo00 As would creosote, yup.

@Chaoticgarden 11 ай бұрын

I have waited so long for this video!

@mtbrocket 11 ай бұрын

This project is a true demonstration of endurance. Great video. 😊

@twoplustwo5 2 ай бұрын

i've been watching your channel for years, and i must say i love it, you guys make youtube a better place

@syriuszb8611 11 ай бұрын

I think you made it quite big. Right now, with so little water and pressure it is working fine being feed from top, but if you want to increase power, feeding water in the middle with more pressure might be better. The top feeding is prone to splashing with higher power. If you would want to go in historical order, I think bottom fed water wheels are earlier invention and for sure are easier to make. They can be made literally with sticks and rope, although their power is limited and depends on speed of the water. But on the other hand, it does not require waterfall.

@Hati321 11 ай бұрын

It took a lot of skill and attention to detail to build that water wheel. Well done.

@draconicanomaly8597 11 ай бұрын

Punished snake cosplay is coming along nicely

@vinceraineing 11 ай бұрын

Best channel on you tube. Just humility hardwork and the most important knowledge in humanity

@TheBenjomcmlxxv 11 ай бұрын

To connect it to your saw to your wheel you need something like a Scotch Yoke. It converts rotary motion into linear motion. And it's incredibly simple to build.

@Sarah-Rae 9 ай бұрын

So much respect for the crazy amount of work you put into the projects and the channel! I've been following your work from the first sandwich you made. I'm so glad you kept going! Thank you!

@fyreantz2555 11 ай бұрын

This....was FRIGGIN' EPIC.

@therealestatewhisperer4806 11 ай бұрын

The pedal sawing is absolutely amazing. Nice work.

@conchyboii 11 ай бұрын

very proud of you and what you've been accomplishing! Great job Sir Andy

@sparkythawelder 11 ай бұрын

I wonder if you could add a sort of sled fixture that could slide horizontally toward the blade but restrict vertical movement of the work piece. It seems you are losing a lot of cutting motion when the workpieces are pulled upward by the blade of the spring saw.

@Icephoenix84 11 ай бұрын

I've been waiting for this one! So excited to see what is next. Congratulations!

@shadowsandfire 10 ай бұрын

Nice start, id double the amount of catch buckets on the wheel and when setting up your hydro you'll need to gear it down possibly twice or 3 times over to get the speed needed to turn a generator/ alternator depending how you intend to setup

@pervysage3604 11 ай бұрын

Just an idea you might consider for cutting wood. Make yourself a Shishi-odoshi (water hammer). Don't use bamboo obviously you wouldn't be able to get enough force behind it to cut wood. But you could take a 2x4, make a bucket on 1 side, and attach a saw under the bucket, and so as it goes down it cuts. And then the water drains out and it goes back up to get more water. It wouldn't be fast, but it might be easier to get working right than some of your other wood cutting ideas.

@jeffsnell4254 11 ай бұрын

It has been really cool watching your building skills grow over the course of this series. This is def your best built project yet and I'm excited to see what follows as a result!

@petterlang 11 ай бұрын

«trying to harness the power of a dog has proven to be a little more challenging than expected» is a sentence I never expected to hear

@bretlemieux2489 11 ай бұрын

I love this series. Andy you are a real trooper sharing where you get hurt. That takes real courage.

@skytek7081 11 ай бұрын

An in-between mode, for places without a strong water source for example, would be a windmill as a water pump to send water up into a tower or into a manmade storage pond, then letting the water down through a waterwheel or turbine and back into a lower reservoir to be repumped. This keeps you from being dependent on the vagaries of wind through the working day and allows you to bank away that power to use continuously later.

@feha92 8 ай бұрын

7:10 that obvious store-bought nail xD

@cajun4christ 10 ай бұрын

Aesthetically the most pleasing thing you’ve made!!! Man that’s some beautiful engineering

@jeffbrown4382 11 ай бұрын

This is such a great channel. History, engineering, and the struggle of human growth. Thank you for sharing this journey.

@OfficialBiggBenn 11 ай бұрын

Absolutely amazing. How far you've come!

@thedoubleboiler6971 11 ай бұрын

Great job! To connect to tools, yes, making gears will work. A circle with a bunch of spokes in the sides will make a gear, and the half gear rig is a great adoption as well.

@ryangunnison38 11 ай бұрын

This is awesome! I know not literally everything is hand produced, but seeing this get made by tools and materials you've taken a crack at generating before is fantastic! You really get the feeling of accumulative effort

@lancearmada 11 ай бұрын

Grats dood! You are an inspiration for all your hard work!

@mehere8038 10 ай бұрын

7:14 I kinda love that you're sawing all your own timber.... except you left the store tag on the timber, showing you bought it already cut into prepared lengths. The blue industrial dye on the end of the piece later in the video too lol

@UnluckyFatGuy 11 ай бұрын

Old factories originally used a use a main rod with pulleys and leather belts to power machines. You could attach a rod to the center of your water wheel, put a pulley on it (wooden or metal) and connect it to a pulley/cam setup on your machines. The added bonus to this setup is that the machines can be turned "on/off" with tensioners on the belt. Simple machines FTW

@matthewpohlmann6623 11 ай бұрын

As always, your work is an inspiration Andy

@DaSarcasticNorthernman 10 ай бұрын

As a long time wood worker, my younger self is full of enthusiasm for hand crafting such things and am reliving some dreams I once had of making some of the same. My older self is saying, "Are you kidding, that would be another heart attack in the making!" I admire your determination, and have subscribed to live out my youthful desires instead of adding to my health issues.

@AristonSparta 10 ай бұрын

The aesthetics of your water wheel are on point! Your extra effort is going to be worth it, and it’s very impressive.

@nate8930 11 ай бұрын

Probably one of the best things you've made yet! very smooth.

@mikerobinson3837 10 ай бұрын

Amazing to finally see you make it to this point. Been years in the making!!! Congrats

@benGman69 11 ай бұрын

Damn boy! Woodworking skills are next level!

@leonardo_fratila 10 ай бұрын

THIS IS INCREDIBLE.I can't belive it,the work that you put in this is just on another level.Keep this up❤❤💪😎👍

@drincmusic2769 9 ай бұрын

attach a wheel on the side of the water wheel, wheel has string attached to another wheel, the other wheel has 2 planks of wood attached through a hole in the wheel that goes around both the wheel and the string, and pushes up and down. in terms of binding up, it's better to attach the bottom of what you're trying to move up and down or back and forth in the direction you want the thing to go. so you don't want to attach it on the side of what you're trying to move, because you're going to be fighting against static friction. you're also going to be fighting against gravity. The crankshaft is definitely the way to go in terms of turning circular movement into back and forth movement. and vice versa with cars. it's just the most optimum method is to have the crankshaft in the middle of the load rather than off to the side of the load.

@hydealmen5280 11 ай бұрын

Look into powered hacksaw’s, especially the one by hand to rescue it will solve your problem of cross cutting

@toddablett4493 11 ай бұрын

One main power shaft (geared down from the water wheel) and then belt drives to various machines...I have seen old drawings of a water-powered woodwork shop set up this way. The main power shaft was run just over head down the length of the building. But that said, loved the video and what a great journey you keep taking us on...and the mishaps, only a flesh wound...

@Svafne 11 ай бұрын

Cool, looking forward to see the future of the waterwheel!

@mr.grizzly_builds6505 11 ай бұрын

Blood sweat ash and tears have gone into this series. Extremely impressive wonderful work.

@dudule1232 10 ай бұрын

I've never been so eager to watch the continuation of a series of videos. big fan

@produde33 11 ай бұрын

So trippy when you were rolling it. I could never tell when the wheel was going to hit the door way 😂 it’s like the scale was off

@doughnut1107 11 ай бұрын

Fantastic, you always go above and beyond

@jackwriter1908 11 ай бұрын

I am truly impressed! And I can't wait to see what you will do next.

@chettiarsirusraj9501 7 ай бұрын

You will need to add a wood piece or a plank with a smooth slit gap in the middle of it where your steel rod can move up and down (basically a gearbox to make the upward and downward motion work correctly and use the water wheels rotation work )to make the wood saw work right.

@harmonicresonanceproject 11 ай бұрын

Where I live here in South Wales you will often come across a hulking old watermill wheel, or a space where one used to be. Love this channel, very inspiring!

@RealAndySkibba 11 ай бұрын

What an incredible build!

@Rowlesisgay 11 ай бұрын

havent been following super long, onl;y a year or so, but already proud of how far youve come

@jaratt85 11 ай бұрын

The big reason why you're not getting motion out of the axle for the water wheel is it isn't keyed. You have to have a Woodruff key or a dowel pin to connect the shaft to the wheel without it being able to just turn on the shaft separately and then you need one on the shaft to the crank to keep that from just being a bearing block as well. If there's nothing forcing them to spin together, the harder material is just going to spin freely inside the softer material.

@AJB2K3 11 ай бұрын

Nice work, its moving way smoother then I could have done.

@carterhicks7441 11 ай бұрын

I hope you end up doing shipbuilding and exploring all the interesting technologies involved.

@crediblepython7339 11 ай бұрын

It is finally here! The moment we have been waiting for, the next big step! It is the most precise creation yet!

@pyromania101 11 ай бұрын

Impressive commitment! Keep the content coming!

@mredits4697 10 ай бұрын

I love the style off useing only the rescoursec you have and making beautiful creations

@redmasq 11 ай бұрын

If I were pulling from the top, I'd also connect it to pull from the bottom instead of merely dropping it. Just an additional thought, you're powering from the center, but that isn't your only option, you could make add a peg to the outside of the wheel with a track connected to a beam and have two axis of linear motion which could redirected using pulleys; although, they would be 90 degrees out of phase, so might be better for using the other axis for something with offset timing such as advancing the wood being cut, or maybe controlling a clutch. Again, just a random thought off the top of the head.

@Zpajro 11 ай бұрын

just that scare deserves a like, since it's a really indication that you are working really hard on this.

@mrpants8976 11 ай бұрын

wooden gears seem like a good step for a smooth transition from the water wheel to the devices you want to power with the possibility of increasing or decreasing the size to convert speed for torque or visa versa

@GadreelAdvocat 10 ай бұрын

Nice to see the waterwheel you made. Had thought of a project that I might build one day. It involves a slow rotating waterwheel fed by a solar powered pump. I'd build the waterwheel slightly differently for my application for easy of construction.