testing picture size

[picmacmillan]

  below is a picture of the transfer punches i use to build turbines..these are handy little tools that will transfer the center point of just about any size hole. they work well if you already have holes drilled in something, then you just take the right size transfer punch for the hole size, give it a tap with a hammer...and there you have a center point exactly in the center of the piece you are transferring your hole too..

  these are used alot by machinists and tool and die workers to speed up the process of making duplicate parts or transferring one point to another..this post is just to make sure my picture sizes are going to turn out right as i begin to post my progress on my 17' machine, and also the 12' machine some students and myself built to win their high school science fair...good job men!..pickster

[picmacmillan]

below is a wing balancer for those hobby model airplanes use..i am speaking of those ones that fly, they are real cool...i happened to see one guys setup, and among other things, they use this device above for balanciing their wings..in a nutshell, they attach a wing at the end nearest my hand..their is a threaded rod that has some threaded weight in the center..at the far end the threaded rod goes to a point, you turn the threaded rod until its point aligns with a fixed point on this jig...once you have one set up, youcan then put another wing on and add, or remove weight until all are exactly the same....i found many similarities in this model airplane flying and what we do here with wind turbines..among them the fact that we also balance out blades...i took these pictures to illustrate what might be possible in our blade building....otherthings not shown that are done include using edge tape, and there is a clear palstic film that when heated shrink wraps around their blades..it can be purchased at any hobby shop i am told..i thought maybe it might be something to look into as it may save our blades from damage and decay from the weather etc....this picture was added to again check my picture size before i start my huge post on how i built my 17' turbine...this picture is 312x400 something..pickster

[picmacmillan]

here is another view of the blade/wing balancer...when the two points align..the blade is balanced..i thought it may be something we could incoorporate in to our design for balancing the blades exactly and with less time and effort

[picmacmillan]

wings of this model plane are encased in heat shrink wrap that can be purchased at any hobby store..i have heard its expensive, but if it would help to increase our blade life..it might be something worth looking into

these model airplanes are on a smaller scale than what we do obviously, but their are many similarities in their approach..these guys use tape, or very small weights to get all the wings to be the exact same weight and balanced ..likewise we try and get our blades balanced to ensure a quiet running machine that will run efficently inlow winds or even higher winds...balance is important so the blades wont disintigrate in high winds also..just more pictures to get me up to speed for my 17'

machine posts..pickster

[kurt]

pictures are a little big try resizing to 450 pixles wide

[picmacmillan]

below is a photo of 20" stator ready for fiberglass





 below is the templates i made for the spindle size..this is where we can use the transfer punches above..just set the template on our plate and tap the transfer punch and it will leave a nice spot for drilling..if possible we should always use the same spindle . this will cut our time needed to figure out the bolt circle and where the holes need to be cut in our plates..if we use the same spindle all the time..we will have the information needed after the first turbine we build

 i figured i would make a theme for this turbine, and beings we live in canada what better color for a turbine than goose $#|+ green plus thats the only color i had

i will see tomorrow if the stator came out o.k.  i didnt want the stator to cure too quickly so i didnt put too much hardener in it, so after 2 hours, it isnt ready yet..i will have to wait until tomorrow to see how it came out..these photos were just to test picture size again..these are about 300x400 pixels

[harrie]

hi picmacmillan. looks like your comming right along, hey did you catch the post by DanB, where he said he hopes you didnt wind the coils with 70 turns of One in hand #15, cause your resistance will be way to high! I cant tell in the picture if it is one, or two in hand?? anyway, good luck and send some wind down here to Mn, but not the cold kind.

Great fun,Harrie

[picmacmillan]

ya harrie thanks...i am winding with 2 in hand..just forgot to mention it?..i blieeve i have the right amount of windings..2strtands - 69 turns #15 per coil..12 coils..for anyone who may build a 17' stator like this..i found that you need 1 foot of wire for every turn you are going to use..(x2 srands..so 2 pieces of wire 69 feet long in each coil..actuall numbe is 68 feet x 2, but 1 extra foot doesnt hurt and you can cut it out later if need be..... thanks for looking out for me though..sometimes i do make mistakes and they are usually costly ..pickster