Two projects nearing completion

[wildbill hickup]

Well with the help of ED's blade program I finally dove into blade carving. Here are some photos of the result.

Whoops, oh well you get the idea, just turn your monitor on it's side :->

What do ya know about that, they all look the same(well almost)The will be replacing PVC blades on my 1/2 hp conversion. PVC worked OK and started with just a breath of wind but stalled pretty bad just about the speed the gennie started to put out some decent power these should be much faster, I just hope they start OK(seem pretty flat to me. 30" long 4" at the root 1" at the tip I don't remember exactly but I think I used a TSR 8.

Here's a front shot all assembled on a 6" hub.

And a look at the back balanced with strips of lead flashing. Mounted on a 4" cast aluminum pully for shaft mounting.

At this point they are just painted with black primer haven't figured out the final color yet.

Well that's it on those for now. Will post again when I get the final paint scheme and get them flying.

Second project

My 3hp conversion is finally back together. Hey Zub, TomW and others I finally got the armature to fit and back together (and I still have all my fingers). Couldn't wait for the lathe so I just wrapped about 3' of heavy string around the pulley and gave her a yank (1 coil, leads 7 and 10 open). 24+ volts holy crap that's about 1/2 what the 1/2 hp did a 350 RPM, all coils. There is just a hint of cogging but not bad concidering the number of magnets I got in the thing.  Zub I'm not going to be able to get those blades right away, trying to come up with money for shipping right now is like pulling teeth, but I'm saving my penny's (when I don't have to use them to buy gas that is) sorry I put you though all the work of digging them out. I still would like to get them to play with on this monster (going to be on the test stand for awhile). I think I gonna get brave and try carving a set of wooden ones for it too. Not sure how I'm gonna come up with a tower for it, just keep scroungin' I guess!!!!

Well I just though I'd share the latest, can't wait to get this thing on the lathe and get some real readings, but that will have to wait till another day chores and stuff to do. I'll post um when I do.

Wildbill

[wildbill hickup]

Oh well another brain cramp, forgot the pic of the 3hp

[willib]

wildbill nice job !! they look real sweet.

the blade program from ED , is that in xls format?

cuz i might need it to complete my set.

[wildbill hickup]

The blade design program is self contained, He charges a very reasonable price for it(well worth the money). Go to his website at:

http://www.windstuffnow.com/main/ and then click on blade design you will find instructions to download it there. Best 5 bucks I ever spent. Output has tons of information. My net step is to carve 3 5 or 6 footers for my 3hp, gotta find some wood first though. It's easy to scroung up 3 30" 2 X 4's but now I actually have to spend money which I don't have so it may take awhile but if I'm going to do it I might as well get good wood.

[Shadow]

Nice Job, It's always nice to get the first set of blades done and realize they are not so hard after all. From now on each set gets easier and nicer.Good luck

[willib]

i wasnt sure if that was the one he charged for. thanks for the info.

[ghurd]

That's $5 well spent for sure!

There is a link(?) to iFred with a great explaination on how to use it to the best advantage. Or if some of the terms are unfamiliar. Yes 'iFred'.

G-

[nothing to lose]

You have a beautiful house, is that a pond in the living room, and hardwood floors too

I like your blades. I hope they fly well and may the winds be with you.

[wildbill hickup]

NTL thanks It's a 175 year old farm house, post and beam. No that's not a pond, my wife has an aloe plant that seems to keep outgrowing flower pots so one day I threw some heavy plastic on the floor in the kitchen and built that out of motar and field stone 3 feet wide by 4 feet long by 20 " high, that'll hold it for awhile(so I thought). Now we have 4 aloe plants all of which are bigger that the origional. Give nature room to run and it will. It's great though I burn myself alot. Most of the floors are softwood only the one that's painted is hard(go figure) someday I'll strip it down to the natural maple. Can't wait to get those blades up.

 

[Experimental]

  Very nice Wildbill,

     And I see you, like most of us, had fun trying to balance the blades -- I now, try to select woods for each blade with "matched" weight -- but even then, it seems, one blade is always heavier than the others!!

    They look real good, hope to see some performance reports soon !!!

    Happy whittling, Bill H........