There is nothing more exciting then building and designing your own creation and seeing it fly in the wind. Seeing the blades rotate freely around, it's memorizing and captivating; it seems to almost take you away to another time and place. Let's do it with safety in mind.
In part one I suggested building small wind turbines until you had a grasp on the technology and the forces involved, so here is the reason why I suggested this. Try and stay below 6ft rotors in your first couple of builds. The larger the rotor the larger the multiplier of force will be exerted on all mechanical linkages, cables, poles and assembles.
The following information is made not to scare you in any way but to inform you of the danger involved in building any type of wind turbines.
Experience can only come from doing, and if doing has taught me anything it's do not assume anything and anything can happen. I have personally witnessed several of my turbines do the unspeakable, 120mph wind gusts made the turbines hideously fast and uncontrollable, it shredded the blades sending fragments over a 100ft area, tails that where securely welded fell off, cores that exploded, blades that have been thrust into the earth over 5ft in depth from a distance of over 50ft from a 25ft high pole, pole cables stretched and released through double clamps, poles bent, bolts sheared right off, cracks beside welds, vibrations of imbalanced rotors making the entire generator assembly move side to side and up/down motions with fast revolutions but only in higher winds did it become very noticeable. The list does not end.
Experience has taught me that you cannot predict what will happen with certainty without experience and doing. I have a friend that can mathematically predict almost anything, but has no experience in building or doing, the problem however arises because no matter how good the math, Mother Nature can throw a curve ball that you didn't predict, and there is always the issue of imperfection of something somewhere that wasn't predicted, an offset here, an imbalance there. Assume nothing. Take the word apart.. Ass-u-me.
My personal experience rules
Rule #1. keep all wind turbines away from people work areas and structures when in operation. This means, the pole length times three at minimum. The pole is 20ft high, it should be 60ft away minimum from everything till you see what it does and understand it.
Rule #2. do not think you can stop a turbine once in motion, even the perfect tail can fail, even shorting it out might not stop it. Coils can open or short. Be prepared for failure.
Rule#3. high winds do unspeakable things. Stand clear and away. Far away.
Rule#4 before and after high winds, and once a week, check pole cables for tension, check welds on bases, check clamps and ground points etc... check everything visually.
Rule#5 when raising a turbine, 40-60 degrees is the most stress and most critical point, this is where things can go wrong. The weight increases more then 3 times. Cables stretch and poles and mounts have to handle it, so anticipate for it and build the strength to handle it. Check welds after all rises.
Rule#6 magnets can be dangerous things if improperly handled. I almost lost my Johnson once when two magnets decided to slip from both my hands and come together at the sipper point during the fall... unpredictable yes! Worth losing your Johnson, no, or fingers for that matter. Be aware when handling neo magnets.
Wind turbines can be a fun and enjoyable hobby, but be aware and be safe.
