Coffee can mill

[Norm]

       Gust up to 15-17 mph !!

I been kinda thinking about making a small

savonius one that would look real nice easy to

make...maybe cut a few plastic coffee cans in

half lengthways, put the tops together end to end

tape the seam together with some nice white

duct tape, so with that in mind...done that to

6 cans taped them together. Then should I overlap

them about 1/2 way?...just a 1/3 ? Put it on the

shelf for a couple of weeks ...months... then

yesterday or so fixed the neighbors little

ornamental windmill (3ft. on an 8 foot tower....

sitting out on his front lawn...

  I guess he only tied it down with one stake

   Spinning real nice and purty !

......Gee Whiz...I just gotta get somethin

spinnin !...I know ...I got those coffee cans

...that square pole doesn't have to be round..

I'll just take it, round the edges, paint it,

screw some bolts in the end going thru bearings,

screw some of those cans on the side of the pole

after I get it painted so everything will look

real nice....well that's how my day went....

planed the two square edges of the sawed in half

lengthwise 2x4, sanded it ....fantasy of a 2or3

kw mill..in everyonce in awhile for coffee and

warm up my feet....

   Neighbors little mill quit spinnin'

after the tower tipped over...(maybe he

should have had 2 stakes to hold it down ??)

  Well it was getting late so you know what

usually happens....slapped it all together....

put a little pin and screw in top and bottom

a la Picoturbine and it worked and took a pic of

it in the shed and wrote this post...so here 'tis

   Had it spinning about 200 rpm. planning on

using a front fork and bearings from a bicycle

to support it....then put it to work maybe charge

a 4 amp/hr battery to light up a few night

lights ?

   According to my combination water and sewer

bill if I had a windmill that could pump about

an average of 10 gal.of water an hr. I could save

$60 a month ...etc.

                   ( :>) Norm

BTW Cans represent about $40 or so worth of coffee.

[terry5732]

The store brand is cheaper and not as bitter as Folgers.

I missed it - what were the white strips?

[Norm]

white strips holds the cans together...white duct

tape....

                  (:>)Norm.

[wooferhound]

What kinda generator are you gonna hook it up to ?

[ghurd]

Looks great!

It it spinning today?  Mine are frozen solid from last nights rain, and covered in morning snow.

I was told a primer called Zisser 'B.I.N' would stick to those cans, and allow painting.

G-

[zap]

Looks like fun Norm. If you had an old dowel or broom/shovel handle sitting around you could use that and offset every row under the 90 ­degrees you have now, making it look more like a helix and probably get more power out of it and also get away from any surges.

I put this up a few weeks ago to try and stop Zephyros and his nasty wind from blowing a solar collector off my roof. It's only held on with rope. We've had alot more wind than normal this year.

[ghurd]

If the bike wheel is part of the device, some of that 'linked' type fan belt will ride where the tire was, making a very high speed output to a alternator pulley.

G-

[Bruce S]

Norm;  

   Nice look'n .

Humor me, take the stepper off that DC motor, hook this onto a bike wheel , use the rubber tire on the wheel to spin the DC motor and see what kinda output you get.

This is similar to what I am trying the find time to put together.

Drinking coffee like a trucker to save up the cans.

Bruce S

[Norm]

  I have a few stepper motors that I got from

Ghurd...also a PM motor from Bruce S.

  I'll probably hook them to a bicycle wheel

to step up the ratio.

  Got the thought of that chain gear drive for

lower friction loss, as you'll see in my reply

to Bruce.

  Still got those ones hanging on your porch?

                ( :>) Norm.

[Norm]

About a 20inch wheel ought to do it?

I'll be going out to round up the parts in a

little bit ...the other little steppers that

Ghurd gave me are  also likely candidates.

  Ever think of making a low friction chain

gear drive (notice I said chain gear drive? and not chain drive?)

  This is where the only sprocket is the driven

one....



  Tricky part getting the circumference for the

chain just right....hence the carboard template.

  Here is where you can have the sprocket pretty

loose....less friction.

  Well for now I'll just use the bicycle wheel....rubber band tensioner to hold the motor drum against the bike tire?

  Are you using plastic cans?

           Out of time for tonight a little more tomorrow.....

                ( ;>) Norm.            

[pyrocasto]

I just built that exact mill today. :-)

[RobD]

I'm wondering if you would get better torque with the mags spaced 45 degrees instead of 90.

RobD

[wooferhound]

Well ,  I've moved since I made the picture.

But I have it hanging on the side of my wifes greenhouse. It's always spinning.

[zap]

ghurd the bike wheel is only loaning it's axle to the project for now so this is just a spinner so far.

They sure are easy mills eh Chris? This one is a 50% overlap and I have the plywood cut for a 25% overlap, just need to cut and mount the buckets so I can do a side by side comparison. It sure goes against the grain though, cutting a perfectly good bucket in half!

Sorry Norm... didn't mean to take away from your post.

[Norm]

  That's ok zap....listening and learning.

  Bicycle wheels are good for the bearings or

the rim but no powershaft unless you want to take

power from the rim.

  I did make my own hubs with 1/2 inch shaft at

one time but that's another story ...after awhile a person can get quite good at respoking bicycle wheels......

                later....

               ( :>) Norm                

[Norm]

 Bruce, Working on respoking a 20 inch bicycle

wheel to a square-holed hub to fit the shaft of

the coffee can mill.....

          I'm off to do it....hopefully it'll

only take the rest of the day ...LOL !

                  ( :>) Norm.

[Norm]

 Still like the looks of it...maybe one of these

days when you run out of things to do ...you'll

hook a real small genny to it.

 I've got a pinwheel with little leds that light

up on the tips when it spins...It sold for $10

originally and I figured it just had a little

button battery to light it up thru a centrifugal

switch...so no way I was going to pay $10 for one

....the price went down to $4.95...still no sale

for me!.....but then it dropped to 69 cents...

now you're talking...but when I got it home it

wouldn't work...so I took it apart and it is a

minature altenator with a stationary round magnet

with a hole, like a microwave magnet....then it

has a metal disk on each side with points like a

star, the points fold over the edge of the

magnet giving about 6n and 6s poles the stator

is in the hub of the pinwheel ...a coil and a

led for each blade of the pinwheel...so if you

got a microwave or donut magnet and some leds

and some wire...you'd be all set ....would look

purty at night ??

                  ( :>) Norm.

[ghurd]

Did you get it generating?

We had some stiff breeze here, naturely from the wrong direction.