Yesterday I did work on the axial flux alternator. Most of the plans I made at the hardware store after I found out what materials were available worked out well enough. I needed to have an interface at the 3 phase output of the alternator. I bought three steel nuts and bolts, because I couldn't find brass. There is a price we pay for engineering projects in the hardware store aisle. I didn't have much choice and I am determined to make this happen. The problem with steal is it is nearly impossible to solder the copper wires to. My solution was to attempt to use the newly filled with gas jewelery torch to add a brass tab to solder the wires to the bolts. The difficulty is brazing rod melts very easily and it is difficult to form shapes once it flows. It was my intention to use the brass rods to make a solid weld on the bottom of the bolt, leaving enough brass sticking out to wrap the copper wire around and solder in place.
After a few tries, I kicked myself for not buying a few extra bolts in case something went wrong with my plan. I had to make due with what I had. There was no room for mistakes. In the end it did work out and I used a Dremal Tool to clean the one bolt adapter that got a little messed up. Everything was coming together and I even took some pictures for my web site instruction on how to build a wind turbine.
With all the messing around with the wires connecting the coils together, it was time to make everything fit in the resin casting mold that Louie built. Jackson arrived at this point which was truly a blessing as I was feeling a little like the Lone Ranger working on the wind turbines without Kevin's participation nor the support of the college. Something was seriously wrong with the layout of guide lines in the wooden mold that Louie made. I was at a loss as to how to fix it. The spacing of the coils is crucial. The magnets all need to pass over the coils in unison for the output to be maximum. What happened next proved how important working with peers is. I was looking perplexed at the lines in the mold where the coils were to sit, and I hadn't got the impression from my brother that he thought this project very important so did not expect much help. We both have drafting experience, and I am so rusty I can't even find my good rulers. Jackson amazed me by stepping up to the challenge and immediately offering a solution using a compass.
I was working with a mental block, but listened to what he was telling me to do. That seems pretty extreme I said. We went through all sorts of geometry and math figuring sine and Circle2 * pi * radius, and we kept coming up with the same results. As long as we had an imperfect circle cut out of the plywood the segments would never be equal. I finally broke down and dug through all the places where I last saw my drafting tools and found a better protractor, a good compass and finally the dial calipers to make this process of dividing the circle into perfect pie segments work accurately. This is how we spent most of the day, screwing around with the mold, finally we had it close enough. That was around 4:00PM. We called the Black Smith Shop to see if the rotors were finished, because pouring the resin for all three parts of the alternator at the same time is best. They called at 5:30 to say the rotors were finished. $75.00 for two pieces of ¼ inch steal, sheesh. So much for economy, but now I have the magnet rotors and building the axial flux alternator is looking more possible than it did yesterday.
I have a lot of work ahead of me today. At the very least I may not make it to Friday night music portion of Synergy Fest. That's the price we pay for being focused.
I gotta move.
We hope you all will make it out to Melody park on Saturday to see all the cool booths and music at Synergy Fest.
Brian Rodgers
