Slow but Sure. Dry Lift on mast for the 12 footer.

[TomW]

Well, folks.

The saga continues.

Raised my 6.75"  ~32 foot main tube mast today to test guy setup and lifting rig.

All the photos including high resolution shots are over here:

http://pics.ww.com/v/TomW/WindFarm/12footer/Mast/?g2_navId=x9bf78eae

It went up pretty easy and my math worked on back guy length! Came out nearly perfect.

She is not quite tweaked for vertical yet in the photos but is now.

From the Field Drive:







From the west on the grassy knoll



The Top From the West:



From the North. OSHA requires toilet facilities on all work sites



I use this big winch by hand to get it started then drive it with my Hitachi AC drill to run up all the easy turns. Single pulley reduction so it is not hard to crank just takes a lot of them:



Well, it is a long process doing this stuff solo but it does happen. Next I rig the mast stub and raise that. Then add the head with no tail / rotor and raise that. Just to be sure it will work and sneak up on the final lift with all the eggs in one basket.

Just documenting as I go.

Technically I raised it once last fall but only for a minute to see the guy setup worked. Pictures of both are in my files on http://pics.ww.com/v/TomW/WindFarm/12footer/Mast/?g2_navId=x9bf78eae If the short 4 leg tower is upright it is an older photo as it is down due to a problem with a damaged  stator and this got bumped up as that one will be redundant when the 12 footer is flying.

Just a share.

Tom

[zap]

Nice Tom.  Looks like another thing off the list eh?

Wanted to tell you since the move... that I really like your avatar.  zubbly  was great.

[Volvo farmer]

Looking good!

So what kind of 6.75" pipe is this? Surely not thick wall stuff?

Also, what's the total planned height on this tower? Looks like you could go up a long way with sturdy pipe like that.

[TomW]

Looking good!

So what kind of 6.75" pipe is this? Surely not thick wall stuff?

Also, what's the total planned height on this tower? Looks like you could go up a long way with sturdy pipe like that.

VF;

Not exactly sure what it was "for" but some kind of either steam or sprinkler system water pipe with a 3/16" wall thickness. It has a kind of groove on each end probably for some sort of clamp. It was in a guys iron pile and when I expressed interest he gave me 5 or 6 of them [forget which] 11 feet long. 2 of them were already welded together and I used that as my lower section and made a band from one of the others to hold the third one to that.

Very rigid stuff and not excessively heavy. I cannot easily lift one but I can manipulate them.

I have photos of them when I first got them someplace but my Alsheimers has kicked in the last few weeks so I cannot find them  wherever they are hidden on the internet.

Thanks for the comments.

Tom

[ghurd]

I gotta ask...
Whats the toilet for?
Filler in concrete?
G-

[Volvo farmer]

I gotta ask...
Whats the toilet for?

You don't know what a toilet is for?    It's like an outhouse.. with running water 

[TomW]

I gotta ask...
Whats the toilet for?
Filler in concrete?
G-

First.

O.S.H.A. requires toilet facilities at all job sites.

Second.

We had to put in a new toilet with a higher seat for Amy after her surgery to comply with seat height restrictions after that. As well as the desire to not flush 4 gallons per ineffective flush. The new Gerber Ultra Flush has cured both issues. Extremely effective flushing with 1.5 gallons of water.

Third.

I got lazy when it was time to "relocate" the old one. If nobody wants or can use  it eventually I will pulverize it with the .44 Magnum for fun.

I got one out in the woods on a stump I thought made an interesting unexpected object in the timber. Last time I was out that way close I noticed someone had used it. and apparently brought their own Charmin Probably the deer hunters that trespass regularly.

More info than anyone wanted but its my Diary and they are my crappers.

BTW, Glen got those Feebay power resistors today. Bigger than I expected.

Tom

[DamonHD]

What about electrifying the seat of the remote station to teach the next trespasser TWO valuable lessons at least?  Euuuugh!

Rgds

Damon

[fabricator]

Pretty classy facilities for a remote job site, I gotta ask though, on the big free standing tower the third cross member up, what the heck is that gray electricians nightmare looking thing?

[TomW]

Pretty classy facilities for a remote job site, I gotta ask though, on the big free standing tower the third cross member up, what the heck is that gray electricians nightmare looking thing?

Fab;

Frankly, it is an electricians nightmare .

That is where my feed lines all come together to go to the batteries.

I use an overhead 00 Aluminum "drop" line for feeding my 24 volts to the batteries 300 feet down the hill in the garage / shop / office area.

The box has an ammeter on the face  Heat Sink outside for the rectifiers inside for that Zubbly (RIP) conversion on that tower that feeds my 12 volt bank but way too small to read from the ground. Duh.  I do not even remember what I used for the box but probably something recycled in my pile.

Typical for me a fair bit of the mess is old, unused cabling I just never removed as I upgraded the system.

Don't share this but here is a LARGE version of that photo:

http://pics.ww.com/v/TomW/WindFarm/12footer/Mast/100_2277.JPG.html?g2_imageViewsIndex=1&g2_navId=x9bf78eae

I also like a lot of loops and bends in feed lines to hopefully act as inductors to filter any high voltage spikes from near lightning  strikes. Drip loops are good, too.

Tom

[fabricator]

I love it! Now when I get my tower up and its got lots of "drip legs" and "filter coils" I can say I learned everything I know about it from TomW. 

[RP]

The box has an ammeter on the face 

Tom, I have to ask who that ammeter is designed to be read by.  Do you have Goliath come by as a meter reader?  Or maybe you use a telescope from the next hill?
 

[fabricator]

The box has an ammeter on the face 

Tom, I have to ask who that ammeter is designed to be read by.  Do you have Goliath come by as a meter reader?  Or maybe you use a telescope from the next hill?
 

LOL, I wasn't even gonna go there.

[TomW]

Well, thanks for all the comments. I finally got a calm morning and enough time / energy to do another test lift. This time with the tower stub bolted on. The lift was pretty easy took <15 minutes alone including installing the ~100#  
stub.

It didn't seem any harder to hoist that extra weight. Still got away with driving it with my AC drill but I really need one with better torque in the low speeds. Got my eye peeled for an AC motor reduction drive to get into the 60 RPM range and say a 1/4 horse reversible motor.

Heres some pics from misty early AM Sorry for the crappy focus I will get some full sun photos later when the dew dries off and stick them in another comment.:





Got 5 coats of polyurethane on all the wood parts now and enough to do maybe 3 more on the blades.  I figure the blades need better protection due to their speed and the excess abrasion so I mounted the fin on the tail boom on the test stand and I am calling it finished as far as coating is concerned:





The fin was pretty grubby from handling and I couldn't get some staining off so it looks blotchy but is well sealed under 5 coats of poly . Not like it is furniture you see up close daily.   It was an instructional / display model while on its way to me. DanB and crew built this for me.

These 12 footers are light years ahead of the older 10 footer in construction detail. Very beefy all around. I suspect the assembled unit will tip the scales at 300#. I can move the head itself but not easily and getting it off the ground is a grunt for me anyway.

Keen eyes might notice I added grease zerks for the outer tubes on both the tail hinge and yaw "bearing". Once it is on I do not wish to have to pull it off to grease it. That took a half hour with a drill and wrench certainly will save that much time over the life of the turbine on maintenance. They are on the back side of the yaw tube in this photo but there are 3 spaced equally up its length.

Just FYI folks.

Tom

edit>>> As usual, larger photos are available on pics.ww.com over here:

http://pics.ww.com/v/TomW/WindFarm/12footer/




 

[ghurd]

Couple coats of poly... then what else is left to do?
Looks about finished. 
G-

[TomW]

Couple coats of poly... then what else is left to do?
Looks about finished. 
G-

Well, Glen, some more dry lifts with the steel parts then assemble the prop to it and up she goes.

It still needs some minor tweaks on the guys add a bit of length so I can snug them up some. It is good now but the turnbuckles are all the way in so I need to get some slack for offsetting any stretch in them over time. Easy stuff I am going to do before the final lift.

Then its on to wasting power as I have what is going to be an anemic battery bank for that monster turbine. Hopefully my Feebay income will let me buy another 450 AH of 24 volt battery before winter but with Amy being on medical leave until July with her hip replacement the cash flow sucks Takes a lot of sales to grab $2500 after fees on Paypal and Feebay from a commission. And, with my luck the same unit will cost considerably more.

Long range RE plans include the controller you built, an Outback Hub, another Outback FX2524 inverter to stack to get the 220 AC deep well pump on RE.  Nothing a few grand won't buy.

It never ends, you know.


My Outback Mate quit the other day and Outback customer service is sending me a gratis replacement (swap) so they have my future business with no question. No questions asked and it is probably 5 years old and likely no longer technically under warranty.

Try getting that kind of service from wholesale Wu or Harbor Freight!

Tom

[TomW]

Well, folks.

DanB George and Scotty showed up about noon Saturday (5-15-2010) on their way to a workshop in Wisconsin . We visited awhile and then got down to turbine installation.

I had things fairly well ready and DanB checked the prop balance. Stripped it off the test stand transported everything to the site, adjusted the main side guys to allow some adjustment I knew it would need.

Put it all on the stub mounted the prop and tail and wired it up. The winch took some heman effort by all of us and the drill could not drive it until it was nearly vertical.  With double reduction by pulleys it took 50 revs on the handle to take up 8 inches of lift and the gin pole is 17 feet long hypotenuse is like 24 feet  that is a lot of cranks! Rough math yeild nearly 1800 

I really expected it to work with the drill but hanging that ~300 # assembly on a 10 foot stub beyond the guys really made the winch pull hard compared to just the mast. DUH!

It spun up immediately and spun until dark hovering around cut in and we saw up around 10 amps a couple times.  Reported local wind speeds were not above 10 MPH and it was fairly calm. It is doing the same thing this AM with a reported 9 MPH wind. Everyone was happy with the lift and fun was had by all. I was run ragged by dark but I have a generally less active Saturday and this was a long ongoing process for me and I was as nervous as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. I am very grateful to the guys for the offer of help and the help. I feel bad I cannot remember George or Scottys last names.

Anyway, more reports as it flies. For now here are a couple photos of the unit after it was up. I did not get any photos of the process but Dan took some I suspect he will post one day after the workshop.









They arrived in this elegant cruising machine:



Just wanted to share it.

More information as I gather it.

Tom

[dlenox]

Tom,

Sure looks pretty, the exposed wooden blades really make it look great.

Let us know how it performs for you.

Dan Lenox

[Volvo farmer]

Good thing they didn't stop here. That Volvo would have been confiscated for the farm!   

Seriously, those guys had better be good friends, there ain't a whole lot of sittin space in them old wagons! Maybe the box on top is where George rides?

[TomW]

Update;

It has not even been up 24 hours and the Doc Wattson says it has seen 43.1 amps into ~26 volts. 9 MPH steady wind and 20 MPH gusts at the airport 3 miles away. No anemometer yet here on the ranch. This is going to be a sweet machine I think.

Which leads to another Outback FX2524 to stack for the well pump and extra oomph which leads to another battery upgrade likely another Deka to match what we have now and parallel. Which leads to ...

You see where this is going 

It truly is an addiction. Especially with so many enabling friends!

I like the wood showing myself so I hope the MinWax Hellmsman polyurethane lasts well. 6 coats on this set, one less than the set on the 10 footer got. After 9 months flying the 10 footers prop looks like the day I mounted it.

Happy happy here today.

Tom

[DamonHD]

All good stuff.

Just wish I had more that bean-powered wind here!

Rgds

Damon