I positioned the blades & secured them on the motor
cover with a nut, next was getting the blades at the correct angle to each
other. Together with a bevel gauge & some trial & error I tapped the
blades around until all 3 angles were the same, I’m thinking I could have used
a bit more science here but this method worked ok (I couldn’t find a protractor).
I then drilled four 6mm holes to fix the blades to each
other to stop them moving relative to each other. I wanted to drill only 3
holes so the balance wasn’t affected but it wasn’t possible, I could have
actually got away with just 2 holes but in the end I went with 4, overkill but
it looked better.
I used M6 x 20 bolts & bolted the blades together, now I
can remove the blades at any time in the future & be sure they will go back
at the correct angle each time.
It’s important to add here that I’ve used fixings that I had
in the workshop, if I’m happy with the finished design I will replace them with
stainless steel & nyloc nuts. Even though this is just a prototype I still
used spring or shake proof washers & nyloc nuts if I had them, the main thing
was rusting over time.
I spent the rest of the day taking what I’ve already
assembled & greasing the bearings & tightening fixings, I also added a
few self tapping screws through the downpipe into the plastic bearing housing,
probably not necessary as the fit was really tight but it was the right thing
to do.
I was going to mount the horizontal 2x8 timber onto the
adjustable scaffold leg today but I had assumed that the scaffold leg was
hollow which would allow for the cable to come up the middle.
Well the dam thing wasn’t hollow, I don’t know how I could
have missed this but I did. Now I’m not too sure how to mount the timber &
still have it turn & have a cable going down into the pipe.
I had a look at one of the scaffold coupling & I maybe
able to cobble something up with that but it’s not what I had wanted.
After lunch I had lots of ideas going through my head, I’m
going to pop into a place that sells what I use to call Key Clamp but this
place calls it MasterKlamp, anyway they make fittings for scaffold tubing.
Great news, they had exactly what I needed & I’m back in
business, I may still be able to get this thing up & mounted today, more on
the coupling later.
Back to work now, I mounted the 3 downpipe brackets to the
timber along with the downpipe containing the bearing, shaft & motor. I
used wood screws straight into the timber.
Now for the wind vane thing that keeps it pointing into the
wind, I decided to make this out of one of the sides of the washing machine, I
marked the design out on the side wall, I used a side that had a stamped
impression that gave it slightly more strength compared to a side that was just
flat.
I made the vane fairly large, only because it was easier to
reduce the size later than add bits on. When it is installed if it turns too
often then I can reduce the size. Due to not opting for a proper bearing then I
could see that it could take a bit more wind pressure to turn the unit so this
is another plus for going with the large vane.
Anyway, I cut the shape out with the jigsaw, I made a lot of
noise doing this, I tried different ways of reducing the noise but in the end I
just went for it. There was no way I was going back to the manual hacksaw.
I left a bit extra at the front & back of the vane which
I bent over so it gave it a bit more strength & made the sides a bit
smoother. The top & bottom I just filed to remove the sharp edge.
I bolted the vane to a piece of cheap angled steel, the type
that shelving is sometimes made from with lots of holes in it. It was easy to
work with but it doesn’t have a lot of strength, it will not snap but I think
the vane will wobble when it’s windy. If so then it’s easy enough to change.
I screwed the angled steel to the wood so the vane lined up
with the motor, which meant that the angled steel was offset to one side
slightly, I used wood screws here.
As for how far back to mount the vane, I wish I could say
that I crunched some figures & calculated the distance, but what I actually
did was put it as far back as I dared before the angled steel became too wobbly.
If the thing turns too frequently then I can always bring it in a bit later.
It’s starting to look good now. I found the centre of
gravity by rolling the timber (with the turbine fully assembled) on a spare
piece of pipe, so it looked like a see saw, & then marked it. This is where
I want to put the bracket to connect to the vertical scaffold pipe. Getting
this right means that it should turn easier & put less strain on things
generally.
I bolted the new coupling on, the bolts come out either side
of the downpipe, just about perfect.
Next I mounted it on a short piece of pole & secured
that to my trailer in the driveway & hastily connected the blade assembly
before it got too dark.
Success, it’s eventually mounted & I think it looks
great, it looks much bigger & robust than I had thought it would.
With the blades aligned I drilled the 4 fixing holes.
I drilled the downpipe & fixed 2 self tapping screws through into the plastic bearing housing. The screw sat on the top is to just show the size & length of what I used.
Marked out the side of the washing machine for cutting the wind vane.
After making a lot of noise the wind vane is now cut.
Here the wind vane front & back edges have been bent over, the sharp edges removed & the angled steel mounted.
This shows the scaffold bracket bolted to the underside of the wooden cross member.
Now it's painted it's starting to look like a wind turbine.
Here are the 4 nut & bolts for fixing the blades at the correct angle. Plus a pic of the large nut & washer. I had to change the washer for a stainless steel one later. The nut is a Nyloc nut, which means it has a blue plastic bit inside the threads to stop the nut vibrating loose.