My new Oregon Pine blades

[BruceDownunder]

[willib]

Very nice !

what is the gear ratio ?

does the cogging hurt the start up ,with the gear ratio?

[wiredup]

nice job bruce...... makes me want one and i dont mean wind mill. (i mean the location i am totally green with envy) are those cog belt and gears if so what was your sourse?thanks for the post &pics..............johnny

[dinges]

Looks very nice indeed!

Personally I'd have a little doubt about the belt; the sun in Australia shines brightly (so I'm told). You have experience with using rubber belts in the open (wind/rain/sun)? Or do you plan to replace them at regular intervals?

A 'shroud' (like e.g. over the chain of a bicycle) might help a little to protect against UV exposure.

Peter.

[jmk]

 Nice job! What size is it? What kind of wind speeds do you get? What output are you looking for? How big is the one you have up? I see you cut the tips on an angle does this do something for performance, or is it just for looks? I wish I had a wind site like yours. You are in some nice clean air! What voltage do you run? Feel us in we would like to know. Do you have a furling system?

[SmoggyTurnip]

Maybe it's just the picture but it looks as though

the blades have a larger angle of attack at the

tips than at the root.  ie - the blade at 3 o'clock in

the first pic looks almost horazontal at the tip.

Is this just an illusion?

[BruceDownunder]

 I was a bit fast in posting the pic's and forgot the explaining parts.

So,

The new blades are 1700mm long (5foot4 inches approx),the root area ai around 7 inches wide and has a 2 inch drop,the tips are around 2 1/2 inches with no or very little drop. the angle at the tip is around 30 Deg. this was cut after I read about this being a fast and low noise angle(that is to be seen).

The timing belt is a standard car type(but shorter) the gears are 2:1 (common). the cogging ,I hope, will not be a problem with such a large powerful set of blades-On thistest stand, I can move the the system with just a very light touch to the outer tip of the blades.

I will make a cover-Job No.4372,hahaha.

I live at 1000 feet looking down to the pacific ocean on one side and to the far border ranges on the other-,we call it "Paradise",.

PS  No,it's not for sale.

Bushboy

[ghurd]

That's 1,000 feet above see level?

You should have had a windmill a long time ago!

G-

[wpowokal]

Well done Bruce! Show em a pic looking east, I think it's called green (with envy).

And he only lives half way up the mountain, this is like real billy goat country, quite scary to drive up or down.

allan down under

[BruceDownunder]

Haha, yes, I've had a few windmills -but this is the serious one . I started carving these blades around 2 1/2 years ago , but have been distracted by those thousands of jobs I mentioned earlier.

Opps, have to go , a snake is coming through the front door,must have lost his way !!

Bruce the bushboy

[harrie]

Wow what a beautiful place, and of course the blades look good too. It will be fun to hear what your chargeing rate will be. Keep us posted. harrie

[stevesteve]

Bruce,

You have a truely awesome place to live... and it sounds like you realise that too. Makes my urban location look like a nightmare location for a turbine!

I had a brouse through your photos and was interested in the old turbine's blades.

What were those made of? Looks a bit like a set of large PVC blades but I'm not sure.

Serious looking control cabinet too. Are you off-grid for electrical power?

[BruceDownunder]

hi Steve, yes, they were pvc blades that I played around with -before the hail storm shattered them- they were good. .I replaced them with a set of American blades made by "Art" -they are up now ,made of nylon and f/g ,I think. . The control box, it developed as my system got bigger,very versitile really , can look at solar,wind and 4 battery banks-12v and 24v . will install tacho in the vacant space soon.

I'm dependant on 3 phase grid,but gradually cutting over to lights and workshop stuff .

Bruce

[stevesteve]

Hey Bruce,

They look pretty cool. I got hold of a small PM motor the other day and have scrounged some PVC pipe and hope to make some blades over Easter. It won't get me off grid but it might get the shed self powered which would be a nice start.

[commanda]

Hi Bruce,

It's been a couple of months now, how are they performing?

Amanda