"Art" blades,8 feet , driving a F&P hub

[BruceDownunder]

This is a F&P washing machine stator and hub set-up. I'm driving it with a set of "Art" fibre extruded blades. They are a bit flexy so I have around 18 inches clearence from any steel. I've got them on my mast at 60 feet (no wind ,today) , and will monitor them for o/p in the coming days.

Bruce

[nothing to lose]

That's a nice looking gennie. I like that nose cone too.

I don't know if it's really needed or not, but I think when I went to Arts shop to get mine He recommened painting the hub and blades for UV protection and such. I think he was like 100-150 miles drive from me, very nice person too. WOW what a shop, his with all the giant machines, and yours in the picture looks great too.

 Anyway looks like you did not paint the hub so I thought I would mention it. Down under sounds like you might have a lot of strong sun?

I can't tell in the pictures for sure, but do you have the gennie mounted to a flat plate with square tubing. Looks like it's only supported by the flat plate steel?

 How heavy is that gennie?

Looks very interesting. And nice work. I hope you get some wind, would like to know how an F&P and Arts blades work together.

[commanda]

Bruce,

Very nice. Couple of quick questions. The round plate which has the blades bolted to it;

1. : What's the material?
   
2. : How is it attached to the F&P shaft?
   
   

Amanda

[willib]

does "art " have a website?

[BruceDownunder]

Hello ntl.,

 I'll be painting the sockets shortly- I painted the blades with three coats of paint fine sanding between coats.

The mill platform is flat 1/4 inch plate welded to a 1 and a half inch pipe on a slight upward angle to give me more clearence from the tower steel.

The platform weights about 15 lbs. not too bad ,as the tower is very strong. that pipe -in-pipe with pvc slipper is only 2 feet long -strong enough for this size mill,and the power (3 phase) cable drops down inside the revolving pipe.

Bruce-Mt.Tamborine,Queensland Australia.

[deloiter]

Art doesn't have a website, but he is very responsive to email at: elsieart@ozarkmountains.com.  I can tell you from experience that these blades are tough.  But, as mentioned, they are extremely flexible.  I also recommend painting everything, including the hub.  Mine are on a Piggott 8 ft machine design.  

[BruceDownunder]

hello Amanda,long time between contact.

 The round mounting disc is a piece of 3/4 (19mm) waterproof ply. I thought about it long time  then painted it well-it should be ok , if not I'll change to Alumin.

Now the plate is attached a bit tricky-- Glenn laser cut a couple of 2 1/2 inch discs out of steel to slide over the f&p spline. I drilled these out to fit one each side of the ply-very when bolted all the way through. Then slide it on the spline and fix it with a nut.

Don't know yet whether this blade set will drive the Neo converted rotor-very powerful with neo's.

Bruce

[Fiddlehead44]

Excellent machine Bruce. Looks very nice. Question;

I have seen some info on  F&P conversions and would

like to try one, but I'm in Canada. For other readers,

is there a simular type washing motor or other kind

that is available used in my country"?

Fiddlehead44

[kenputer]

 I am also getting ready to put F&P with art blades up when the weather gets a little better here. You can try Randy's workshop for the F&P smart drive motors that is where I got mine and I believe he has others for sale.

Ken

[scoraigwind]

A single sheet of ply like that is very vulnerable to bending stress.  Such as gyro forces in rapid yaw in turbulence when running fast.  I have had 100% success using two pieces of ply in a well separated sandwich, but I could not get this idea across to Art at all.  I like stiff, strong hubs, but maybe that's a cultural thing.  A lot of US blades have incredibly spindly roots for some reason and I presume they do not break or they would not be made like that.

Just consider how you would feel if a blade landed a distance away with a piece of plywood attached.  It's not very likely but it is very possible.  I suppose it is better than a piece of blade with a rough-edged piece of fatigued steel plate attached.  I have seen some of those.  They are nasty missiles.  I cannot understand why people attach blades to flat steel objects that can bend.

Sorry to be so negative.  Lovely looking turbine.  Nice design.

[BruceDownunder]

hi Hugh,  the hub is temporary-just had to get it up -- the ply disc is about 10 ply waterproof concretors constructors ply made with waterproof glue. strong as. I have some alumin. discs which I might give a go one day ,but 2 sandwiched with the timber blades between them -say ,in my case, 3 inches overall thickness.

The "art" blades do flex a lot , my thoughts are he could have made them wider at the root and run a fibre rod up the inside for 1/3 the length..

By the way , do you have an interesting site I can visit, like fieldlines, but one run by you guys in the uk?

Brucedownunder@hibis.wbs.net.au

Thanks-remember,u are the one responsible for my addiction-started some nearly 10 years ago. about when I bought your book.

Bruce

[Ding123]

That is a very nice looking machine you have..I think I can get one of those motors that you used

for your conversion. Is it possible to find out how many magnets you used and how many coils? Or do you have some pics that

I might have missed on the post about the conversion?Thank you.

Ding123

[Mink]

Fiddlehead, LG have been making 'direct drive ' front loading washers for at least a year or so now. In the in-store display the motor looks very similar indeed.