8' water pumping mill

[BT Humble]

A week or so ago I noticed a windmill tower near the road about 30km from my land that had a new head on it, and the old gearbox lying on the ground at the foot of the tower.  

A few phone calls located the owner, who told me I was welcome to take it away.  

After I'd loaded it onto my truck I noticed a suspicious looking rubbish heap a few hundred yards up the paddock, and sure enough that's where the fan was.

It's a Southern Cross "IZ" pattern mill, but the basic design will no doubt be familiar to everyone.  Here's an exploded diagram:

http://www.wdmoore.com.au/wdm/scross-iz.htm

Hey, even if I can't revive it the price was right! ;-)

BTH

[Warrior]

Hey, the feeling of getting something for free is great. Specially when the other person thinks its junk. I just got a regenerative turbine pump that had its' windings cooked for free. The pump part is still in good condition.

I think the windmill can be succesfully repaired, just a little staightening and a couple of new blades.

DG

[troy]

Free is good!  The old water pumpers give lots of torque but slow rpms.  I grew up on a farm in Iowa and climbed ours many times.  

Keep having fun!

troy

[Norm]

  Troy(climbing towers,Did your Mother know?..Boy ..What a view!)  Yeah they do have torque. the long wood stick connected to the pump could pick up my 80 pounds(back then in Illinois...near St.Louis,Mo) in a fair wind quite a few times before slowing down.(:>) Fun! Windpower! Awesome! Norm.

[BT Humble]

The only parts that I'm a bit concerned about are those wear grooves in the housing and the snapped hub shaft.  

I think I can weld up the housing, but with the shaft I reckon replacement would be a better option than trying to weld it back together!

BTH

[windtech]

Nice catch. Where I live in west Michigan there are lots of these old mill towers standing with little or no head left on it. It seems like these old dutch farms hang on to them even though there no good for anything. Around here very little is ever given away for free. But today I did managed to break tha old dutch tradition. See my diary.