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Treadmill Motor PVC Blades | 49 comments (49 topical, 0 editorial)
Re: Treadmill Motor PVC Blades (3.00 / 0) (#31)
by CmeBREW (smke833f@hotmail.com) on Thu Aug 7th, 2008 at 05:12:33 PM MST
(User Info)

Sorry you are having so much problem.  I suspect the great majority of us faced that dilemma when starting out.  And it don't stop there-- there are many other dilemmas with wind mills. (I am still learning!!)

If it were me and I had no other choice, I would do 5 pvc (or, wood blades would be somewhat faster) blades (6" pipe)  4.5' diameter (you may wish to trim them down later to get more rpm).

I would make the pvc blades 3" at the widest point, and 1.25" at the tip. (tip being 4 degree angle almost straight up and down)

And You might want to try a "Magnetic de-cogging mechanism" like I did on my treadmill motor mill here:

  http://www.fieldlines.com/story/2007/3/9/2533/99152

Your motor probably has 12 poles and thus 12 big cogs per revolution.  So you would need only 12 little magnets. (guess- 1/2" diam. by 1/8" thick ///and use big pan head wood screws or similar)
The objective with the 12 magnets spaced correctly is to make 24 smaller cogs per revolution instead of 12 big ones.

It is difficult to say, but if you understand the principle well, you might reduce the cogging anywhere from 20-50 percent.

Be very careful to get your alignment exact, or it could make the cogging even worse!
Mine worked quite well for a time, but during a 'hurricane wind' (probably 70mph gust) it screwed the hub on even tighter than I thought possible, and screwed up the alignment an eighth of an inch and worse cogging came back. (I never fixed it with a 'sheet metal washer' because I knew I was going to take it down in the spring and make a bigger mill)

I took that downwind mill down earlier this year since I didn't need it any longer since I have a 6 footer now.

(If anyone ever makes one of those downwind mills, be SURE to put a wood or plexyglass 'beard' mounted below and to the motor in order to help it turn (yaw) better in the lower winds!!)

I sorta like the heavy hub though.  It seems it helps to keep it turning in lower winds better and  keep it from stopping as much from the cogging.  Inotherwords, it seems it smooths over the cogging better in low winds and 'coasts' the prop better.

Wait for a 10-20mph wind day and see what it does.  4 footers don't do anything under 10mph.  My 6 footer only gets 'bits and pieces' of low wind on a typical 5-10mph day which amounts to almost nothing anyway. (maybe 10-50Watt hours??)

-Just some ideas. Keep trying-- we all had the same headaches!  



Re: Treadmill Motor PVC Blades (3.00 / 0) (#32)
by CmeBREW (smke833f@hotmail.com) on Thu Aug 7th, 2008 at 05:54:21 PM MST
(User Info)

Sorry-- I meant to say to use FLATHEAD wood screws instead of "Panhead wood screws".  I doubt panhead (roundhead) would work good since it would cause Too much of a 'cog' at the magnets.  But it's up to you to figure out what might work the best.

[ Parent ]


Re: Treadmill Motor PVC Blades (3.00 / 0) (#33)
by packman1234 on Thu Aug 7th, 2008 at 05:59:48 PM MST
(User Info) packman1234

CmeBrew

Thank You...
I'm headin downstairs to cut the five per your suggestion...This is sooooooo... frustrating!
When I loosen the allen screw, it spins much better with less resistence(Just freewheeling on the shaft) I guess this is a good way to balance these also...Though I dont know what kind of weights to use on the hub or the blades for that matter!

I suppose I will have to redrill the hub now for for a five blade configuration.. Do you know what degree i would use for the 3" cut?  The last ones I cut two 150 degree sections with a 60 degree leftover. Then I drew a line for the tip at 1.5inches on both pieces of the 150 degree sections which made 4 blades. Would I use the same setup?Or.. do I cut the 6inch into four 90 degree pieces?

Any help is appreciated.

Bob

[ Parent ]



Re: Treadmill Motor PVC Blades (3.00 / 0) (#34)
by CmeBREW (smke833f@hotmail.com) on Thu Aug 7th, 2008 at 07:15:03 PM MST
(User Info)

Well, what I do is make a posterboard blade template and trace it on the pipe and jig saw it out in a few minutes.  I made my blades similar to yours with the bottom (trailing edge) straight all the way down to the tip. It make it easy to make them the same.  
Here's a picture of my last pvc blades:


Maybe make the blades about 2" wide at the hub where it screws down.
It is up to you how well you sand the edges down. If you don't make the "Magnetic Decogger" you might want to make the blades 3.25" at the widest point instead of 3".

Thats a good idea about balancing them on the shaft with a little oil.
It is easiest to have a postal weight scale to weigh each blade as you make them, to get them all exactly the same weight.  5 blades should be even easier to balance.
If they are off balance, I just tape a 3/16" little bolt/nut and washers to the blade up near the hub to which ever blade is off, and when It balances, I then drill thru the pvc blade and bolt the # of washers in that location.

I don't know where you live, but summer is not so good for smaller mills around here. The winter is quite good though.  Where I am at in Ohio, my solar panels probably do on average TEN times more daily watt hours than my 6 foot mill in the summer time-- BUT my 6 foot mill probably does TEN times more average Watthours than my solar panels in the winter months!  It completely reverses. In the spring and fall they seem to be about equal.

You might think about getting solar panels ASAP.  (or a 10 foot hawt 40 ft in the air! ha)

-Good luck.

[ Parent ]



Re: Treadmill Motor PVC Blades (3.00 / 0) (#35)
by packman1234 on Thu Aug 7th, 2008 at 07:35:11 PM MST
(User Info) packman1234

The pic of your blades look like they were made out of 4inch pvc...
Thats my problem now.....4inch or 6 inch? It's the angle part I am confused on.. I am VERY grateful for your help, but you are not really answering my questions... 4 inch cut into four 90 degree pieces...or  .....
4inch cut into two 150 degree and a 60 degree leftover??

Maybe you are not understanding how I made the first set.............http://www.thekevdog.com/projects/wind_generator/    This is the part I need to know!!

Thank You SO Much..

Bob

[ Parent ]



Re: Treadmill Motor PVC Blades (3.00 / 0) (#36)
by CmeBREW (smke833f@hotmail.com) on Thu Aug 7th, 2008 at 07:51:11 PM MST
(User Info)

Yeah, it is 6" pipe.  I like 6" better since the arch is bigger which means less blade hangs over with the width up near the root. But some use 4".

Sorry, my Geometry is not so good.  That link goes to his front page but it keeps going blank for me??  I just do it the simple "Caveman" way.  Maybe someone else will understand the angles and comment.

If all else fails, it would make a nice Ped generator I'm sure for excersise and 30-40 Watthours.  (Thats what I am making right now)


[ Parent ]



Treadmill Motor PVC Blades | 49 comments (49 topical, 0 editorial)

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