You know this hobby has got you if or when

[Old F]

You know this hobby has got you if or when  

: )      

When your magnet collection on the refrigerator weighs more than the refrigerator.

Electric motor re builders are coming to you for  spare parts and wire.  

Any more to add?

Have fun with it

Old F

[ghurd]

When you find a $200 box of magnets you forgot you had, and don't really know what you wanted them for.

G-

[dinges]

When you see an air-compressor in the local dump and immediately think 'tank=batch water heater; motor=zubbly conversion. And no, this has NEVER happened to me. Absolutely. Positively. Really.

Peter,

The Netherlands.

[MelTx]

 When you start slovering and snareling when someone meerly blink their eyes, if they are looking at you creatures.

[The Professor]

  When you happen to see scrap lumber or wood pallets and examine them for knots and blade material suitability.

  Or visiting the junkyard: Oh look at those big carbon brush holders, hmmm. What's the name plate rating on that big electric motor in that pile? What's the ratio of that gearbox, it sure has a big output shaft. Should I buy it or hide it away in case I ever make that 30 ft. dia. wind mill? Look at that tub of stainless steel sheet and tube, it must have cost a fortune new. Is any of it right for the wood gasifier that I want to build?

         

[Zix]

When your wife calls you crying cos she just got back from getting a $6000 set of braces for little Suzy and the poor kid is stuck the the fridge door.-lol

Zix-----

[windstuffnow]

  When you put two N50 4" diameter neo magnets in your back pockets to keep them separated and remember their back there just after you sat down on a metal bench...

  When you go shopping and all you see is wind generator parts... I find myself doing this all the time - things already made to use as something else other than what their made for...

.

[henjulfox]

When the forcast is for heavy wind and you think "nice weather".

[ghurd]

When you put two N50 4" diameter neo magnets in your FRONT pockets...

[maker of toys]

when you have to go to the hardware store to get a new screwdriver to fix the computer with because all your current ones have arc notches in the tips or are too magnetic.  (motor run caps can be awful hard on screwdrivers. . .  but better the screwdriver than me!)

when you're disapointed that the problem with your computer isn't your hard-drive and you won't be getting some more wedge mags from it. . . .

when the TV makes all sorts of wierd colors and you can't figure out why until you remember that the fridge is on the other side of the wall. . .

when you pass the 'lego' store in the local mall and start thinking about making a mill and genny out of the parts on display.

when you get a steel plate for the top of the work bench so you can make workholding fixtures out of stacked neos.

when there's a roll of magnet wire serving as a book-end.

and the capper for me:

 when you stick the wifes new credit card on the 'fridge with a 1" x 1/2" neo. . .

(from a freind of mine)

[Norm]

   When you start wondering how many 2 liter

pop bottles made into savonius, it would take

to drive a generator large enough to get off

the grid....and the strongest wind you've seen

in weeks is about 6mph.

                  ( :>) Norm.

[hiker]

when the dryer has been broke down for over a month--and you lie to your wife that its un fixable--all the while knowing its just a heating element..dam that motor looks good for a gen....

[ghurd]

At least 6mph registers on our meters.  :-/

G-

[willib]

How about all of the above and then some.

Like when you spend every waking hour thinking about generating POWER.

Like sticking cloth to your fridge with neos and spraying the  cloth with water to keep it cool so it wont come on as much. ( although not so much lately, with winter.)

Like NOT being able to drive by stuff , people have thrown out, without thinking Hmmm i wonder if there is anything in there i could use...

[Jerry]

Like staying up way to late when you should have gone to bed 2 HRs ago and typing silly stuff on a wind power board?

                         JK TAS Jerry

[DanG]

Odd lengths of magnet wire were used in half the household repairs you've made in last six months.

The cat still sports blue glass shards in its fur sometimes from the eBay solar cells you sorted a year ago.

You keep hard drive mags on string in car ashtray to fish in dumpsters too nasty to dive in.

Your bookmarks folder links could be published as a RE DIY referance library.

[anchor1]

When you've spent more on tools than

you'll ever get back in this lifetime.

[richhagen]

When you just bought a bunch of gear hobs to cut gears to automate a mill to carve blades, and your making the gears so you can multiply the torque so that you can use smaller servos to draw less power.  -And you still have to finish the building you built to put the machine into.  

When you look around yourself as you type and see two solar panels you still have to mount, some linear slides, a couple spools of wire and a mini-milling machine, Every note on your fridge and door is held on with neodymium magnets.  Oh and by the way, they make great 'no mar' mounts for picture frames on drywall if you can find a suitably located drywall nail or screw under the plaster to stick it to.  Also, if you already new the preceding.

I'm not here yet I don't think, but when you have more in horsepower in electric motors than in internal combustion engines.  --and you own three cars.

When a gust of wind takes a 'temporary' mount down on your roof and smashes your car window, -- and your more concerned about the turbine.  (this is hypothetical of course)

When your idea of a great vacation is driving to Colorado to look at Turbines at the OtherPower 'Research and Developement' facility located in the Rockies.

When your girlfriend/wife/significant other thinks you are nuts because of RE and none of the above have come true yet.  (warning sign)

When its 2AM on a Sunday Morning, you've just gotten home and you are responding to this post, or if you have Area 52 on your property.

Have Fun, Rich Hagen

 

[kenputer]

First and last thing you do everyday is check wind speed monitor and one last look out the window to see if blades are turning.

kenputer

[Breezee]

When your wife asks you what you want for Christmas and you tell her a  $2000.00 lathe so you can turn rotors for motor conversions...

[windstuffnow]

  That could be painful and embarrassing at the emergency room !   I'll have to remember that one.

.

[ruddycrazy]

To elaborate on Breezee, when you buy your wife a lathe for christmas and tweak the fisher an paykel washing machine so you can tell your wife it's buggered and we need a new one.

[nanotech]

When your son begins to think his first name is Turn, as in "Turn Off That Light, You're Wasting Electricity!!"

[stevesteve]

Oh Joy!

Other folk collect stuff on the fridge too... my fridge top carries a collection of neos, bearing for a mini-turbine, saw blades waiting to be converted etc.

You know when your obsessed when:

You go on a sea crossing with a beautiful view... and spend your time hanging over the side trying to photograph the harbour lights with solar panels.

You get caught in a huge traffic jam on the motorway but are happy to be stuck next to a light-up display board, just so you can get a good look at the mini wind and solar panel system that runs it's batteries.

You stop at a beautiful beach, Sandbanks on the southern UK coast and break in to the education centre to get photos of the down-wind turbine they have (OK actually I'm a member of the National Trust that runs the centre so I figured that I had partly paid for the gate I climbed over!).

[mikey ny]

you know your hobby has gotten you when you have more vege-oil in your garage than the local chinese restaurant can use in a month. Your wood pile is longer than the checkout line at wallmart the day before christmass. Your neighbor asks you what his old picture window is doin on you roof. The local scrap yard sends you a sales flyer in the mail. Your mother in law can't  move in (thank god) because her crap don't stink (methane digester).

                                                Mike

[aogden]

If you keep thinking wind energy even though you have not seen more than one hour of wind over 10 MPH in the last month.

[electrondady1]

 your on a first name basis with the local machineist

[Jerry]

Maybe all newbees should read all the above befor makeing that fatal desision the do re.

If there wife reads this first you know he ain't got a chance in &^%^$$ to do re.

                       JK TAS Jerry

[hiker]

i think of it more than just a hobby--great bunch of guys that like to tinker or build things with their own two hands..kind of a dying race these days..but on the plus side of that statement--this board has created a whole new generation of tinkers -no dou"t!!

all in all its been the best place on the web-that ive ever been...

gotta admit, i havent kicked up as much dust on the trails these days..been tied down in the shop............later

[DanB]

...  you find yourself dreaming at least once a week about towers crashing and wind turbine failures.

[Bruce S]

You have more magnets that your son has baseball cards.

[MattB]

Or in Scott's case...

... you find yourself repairing a failed windturbine at least once a week after it crashed into the tower.

[TomW]

Or .... you have an n45 grade NEO the size of a pack of cigarettes that you use to hold notes to your shop wall.

T