Ametek 30 flying tonight

[ZooT]

I built this ametek 30 genny last weekend and finally got it flying on saturday this weekend.

It uses a set of ed's ABS blades and the rotor is 32".

I don't know what it puts out for wattage but last night and half the day today I watched the multimeter connected to the battery on a dead junker 12v 7aH SLA slowly climb from about 4 volts and when the wind died down for the night tonight it was sitting at 12.09 volts on the battery side of the blocking diode.

I sorta' borrowed ideas from other folks here and decided to build a furling mount, although with the ABS blades they'll probably start fluttering and stall out before it furls all the way

What can I say?......I needed the welding practice for the next one?

It was a fun weekend project, and my first usable wind genny.

It's flying on a 14 foot "tower" that's made of a 10 foot piece of 1" black steel plimbing pipe and a 4 foot piece of the same slid down inside a 10  foot piece of 1-1/4" black steel plumbing pipe with a connector at the top for the guy ropes(?) and another three foot piece screwed into the top of the connector so only 1 foot of 1" pipe is sticking out the top.

The bottom end is held in place by one of those "railing base flanges(?)" bolted to the top of my trusty cast iron 36" x 80 pound patio umbrella base.

And it's staying up rather than being taken down and put away at the end of every day.

And here's the required pic

[TomW]

Zoot;

I hate to be the one to have to tell you this, but.

I am afraid you will be hooked now. I started with an Ametek on a water pipe mast myself and it was just the beginning of the addiction.

It looks interesting and I hope it works well. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers.

TomW

[ZooT]

Tom,

I already am looking ro a local "RE-anon" chapter.L

have a pair of 8" steel disks machined and waiting, and a set of 12" steel disks machined along with two sets of blades (7' and 10').....I'm just waiting for the spool of wire I ordered to come in....

Anyways.....another pic with the new blades leaning against my tiny tower....

[elvin1949]

 It's to late,and the addiction is uncureable.

Nice mill.

later

Elvin

[Birdmmjb]

I'm soo glad someones 30 is flying I crashed mine in a storm and have not gotten it back up.

Looks great.

Jan

[ZooT]

I was worried about mine doing a dry dive the first night up too....

Originally I used a 10 foot piece of 1" pipe nested inside a 7 foot piece of 1-1/4" pipe with three feet of 1" exposed......but  noticed that the genny wasn't above the roofline (grumbling)

So I got another 4 foot piece of 1" pipe and slide it into the 1-1/4" pipe which left almost 7 feet of one inch pipe exposed, with the guyropes attached at the top of the 7 foot section of 1-1/4" pipe.......

Er uh.......that night a storm came through, and after watching that skinny 1" pipe flexing probably a foot every time a big gust came through......I pulled the tower down for the night......the next day I added the extra lengths of 1-1/4" pipe, and raised the guy mount to 10 foot.....leaving only 4 feet total above the guy ropes, with three feet of that being 1" pipe inside of 1-1/4" pipe.....and the other foot being mostly covered by the yaw tube......

It doesn't flex anymore that I can tell.....but then again......a storm hasn't passed by since that first night either.....

Incidently.....that first night the tail was a piece of 1/2" plywood, and the tail "did" swing off the stop but never furled completely......now the tail is 1/4" plywood.

I'm almost looking forward to the next storm to see if it furls, or whether I've still got some messing around to do.....

[coldspot]

ZooT-

Nice Ametek!!



But, a few questions, if you don't mind?

From the pictures-

Now all questions as viewed from in front of turbine, looking downwind at it.

 first, Offset to the left of tower? How much?

 Blade rotation, clockwise or counter?

 Furl by turning left?

Now looking down at it from above.

 Furl by blades/tower top being pushed clockwise?

A picture of the tower top, (turbine mount,,.. ect)

would be great.