THE PEDAL POWERED TABLESAW
Designed At CCAT By Bart Orlando
The pedal powered tablesaw was built by Bart Orlando in 1998 at CCAT, for use in the pedal powered workshop. A Rockwell Delta tablesaw was modified by removing the original off-set 2hp 110v electric motor. In its place, a recumbent excercise bike is used to power the tablesaw via a fanbelt, wrapped around the outer circumference of the bike's 16" - 40lb flywheel. The fanbelt is also wrapped around a small pulley attached to the driveshaft which spins the circular saw blade. A moderate pedaling effort is required to cut through 1" thick pieces of wood. This demonstrates that the power of human exercise can be channeled into useful work. The next step in this project is to obtain a donation of a new Rockwell-Delta tablesaw with which to do accurate piece work for a local factory. In this way, it might be demonstrated that the people operating the tablesaw would be paid to exercise. It is now displayed at the Arcata Library Bike Center.
