First time wind

[CmeBREW]

Basil,

    Glad you are getting some results. I recall my very first mill had a balancing problem also. Hard to start and would only turn about 200rpm or so and just stay there. But I got it corrected with some washers and a woodscrew.

I presume then you are now using the pvc blades.  My DC motor mill (like yours) and it's 6'-9" pvc blades turn about 500-600rpm max in a pretty big wind. My motor is only 4.5 Amps but it goes up usually to around 100-120 watts max.  One time I saw a brief 180 watts but I was pushing it to see performance just that once in a big 40mph gust.

You may just need a better testing location. Turbulance from a house and trees can do some weird things.

Keep tweeking it and you'll get it better and better. Don't blow up your headlight!  

[Basil]

I may not get a wind gage. Man high $. Unless some one know a link to a cheep one.

I made PVC blades but they are on a test hub/Mill (no motor). There is a lot of trial and earls on them.

My first set I wont talk about. Yea that bad. My second set I cut back to 36 `' and moved the mount holes

So it does not have the angle the others had. Now I'm talking about them. The first had the full angle at the root. They took off in low wind but had low speed toped out fast. Once toped out they furled  even with the big tail on it. I made a new set and waiting on the wind to see what they will do. Due to them being so light they are hard to balance. And I mean hard. I read what danb does and that's what I have been doing.

[TheCasualTraveler]

     Hang in there Basil, your doing fine and learning by doing. I made a set of PVC blades, to "Play with" as Flux might say and I had no trouble balancing them. First I cut and sanded them as identical as possible. Then when I mounted them I drew a line on the garage floor and from that drew lines at zero degrees, 120 degrees and 240 degrees. I made sure the tips of the blades lined up with those points then bolted them tight. Then with them mounted on the alternator I hung them so the heaviest blade swung down. I cut an 1/8 off the tip of the heaviest blade and repeated the process till I could put the blades in any position and they would not move.

     They actually spin quite nice and were a big improvement over the flat plywood drag type blades I was using to test wind. I have the wood to start carving my first set of good blades though, I just need the confidence to start them.<BR><img src="http://www.otherpower.com/images/scimages/9146/newblades3.jpg" width=80%><BR>

[Basil]

Found the problem. This is a million to one. Had a hole in one of the blades and rain got in and made it out of balance. Remember I was testing and had not painted it. It's down for repair.

[Basil]

Work has kept me away. Thanks for the input. Trying it all.