It's Flying, but there might be a problem

[klsmurf]

The problem is that I just might have another addiction to deal with! A little background to explain my skillset. Raised as a "Hoosier" farmboy, 2+ years of basic engineering and drafting (way back when they were still punching cards for computers), carpenter by trade, handyman, tinkerer. Always had a passing  intrest in RE. (got a stack of PV cells for something to do this winter) Since the construction business hit bottom down in Florida, my folks talked me into returning to the homestead and taking care of things that have been neglected for years. As I approached the county where I live, I was amazed. Hundreds of turbines. I've lived in a couple of states that have windfarms, but this really surprised me. Started to do some reading and ran across this board. Many thanks to all who contribute. Learned a lot. Here's my projects I'm having fun with in my spare time.
#1 GS Treadill motor: 100VDC, 4800RPM, 1.5 HP I realize this is a marginal motor at best, but I will get it to charge a 12V battery.
#2 Buehler 24VDC Servo? motor, 5000+ RPM Fun to play around with. Made some rudimentary blades and hub and it about flew ought of my hands when I stepped outside.
So far I've spent less than $20, but I think I'm going to have to get a couple of meters and other items. I've got 4-6V Trojan T105's that are about 4 years old out of a junked golf cart. They were still holding about 6V and they had been sitting for over a year. Any comments, question, suggestion will be welcomed. I put the GS on a test pole yesterday, light and variable winds (0-7 mph I guess). It yawed just like it's supposed to and when it flipped the switch, presto! I got 8V with no load according to my little wally-world tester. Not sure if I've done this picture thing right, but here goes.





i made your photos display. please read the posting photos sticky down in site news.
Kurt

[Rover]

"I will get it to charge a 12V battery"

Grin... having been there, and never left. YOU ARE in the first stages of addiction. You will make it work, you will also spend enough money and time to do so. I know.. I stlll do it.  Funny part is there is a point where you go ." I just did it, it works". But its temporary , its followed immediately by another thought, "I can make it better" , this cycle will probably repeat enough times to become a possible epitath and warrant a position on your headstone (way down the road)

   Your only chance know is to find another hobby, I faild miserably at that.

Welcome to the club.

[klsmurf]

Thanks for fixing the pics Rover. Already changed the tail assembly. My cobbled caster/yaw bearing needs to be addressed. Since my test pole is only a 4x4 braced real low, I've got all kinds of wobble. I can definitely see this will fill my spare time.

[kurt]

lol the dog always gets the credit it figures :/

btw allot of people have had threaded pipe connections shear off were the threads screw into the fitting on towers even on small mills that is why threaded pipe connections are not recommended for tower assembly

[Rover]

Hehe..Thank Kurt, not me .. lol he did the pic adjust

[mbk]

(btw allot of people have had threaded pipe connections shear off)that happened to my wife we was working on the tail on a windturbine and the pipe she was pulling on had a elbow in it with a short pipe coming off of it and the thread broke and hit her in the headshe wasnt very happy with me or the windturbine building the rest of the day but was fine and building the next day
 stay safe                                                       max

[klsmurf]

@ Kurt Thank YOU for fixing the pics and I have read about the threaded pipe issues. It was just a quick and temporary cobble to check my blade design mainly. Once I saw and realized all the stress the whole thing came down. Yes, Be safe all. Kevin

[Ungrounded Lightning Rod]

Using a caster for the yaw bearing is cute.

[klsmurf]

Time for an update. Hot, dry, and calm; only one good day for flying in the last week. I did brace my test pole better. I also made another tail and boom. I removed the blades, refined the airfoil shape and rebalanced them. I made a shroud for the genny and painted everything to protect it. The only windy day was because of an approaching front. We had constant 10mph winds and occasionally building to 15-20. (guessing). I placed a 6amp, 100V diode in line with a 6V battery I have and actually did some charging. No idea how much current the draw was. I had 8-10 open volts with the wind and on occasion, it held at 12-15V. I was really pleasantly surprised. "Tightening" things up seemed to really help. The sound of the blades have improved considerably. Vibrations are down considerably as well, especially once it started gathering speed. Just guessing, but probably due to a gyroscopic effect. A yaw bearing revision is next on my list. I have ordered a real multi-meter and an anemometer. The addiction is taking over (gotta have it). Thinking about ordering one of them Ghurd controllers next. Will need it down the line. I talked with the fellow around here that has a golf cart rental business. He rents his fleet out for special occasions and also does maintenance for private owners. He said he would sell me some good used ones for dirt cheap. He swaps his fleet's out every 2-3 years. Started researching "Desulfators"  I understand the process, and some of these used batteries would probably benefit, so any comments on personal experience would be helpful. Also looked into gearing up my little genny. Been awhile since I've been in school, so anyone knowing what kind of losses I should expect would also be helpful. Looking at chain drive with ratios of 3-5:1. Thanks all, happy flying and be safe. Kevin

[12AX7]

Hello...

mbk..

If my wife got hurt while helping me with a project,  that would be the end of my project!
If I would post pictures of her and her injury here she would beat me with that pipe!

btw..   nice looking lady.

ax7

[mbk]

        Hi


              12ax7

    Yes she surprized me while at the doctors. She says hey take a picture of my head for the otherpower forum maybe for a safty page of what not to do.

  Then she surprized me again the next morning by going to the shop and started cutting and grinding again. I think she likes this stuff as much or more than me. LOL

   Thanks for the compliment,

                                                                                      max

[luv2weld]

Sounds like that girl is a keeper!!!
Sorry she was hurt, but I guess the next thing, she'll be proud of her "battle scars"!

Ralph

[thirteen]

Maybe you could paint her name on the shroud or just her intials. Biulding scares are ok to talk about but not recieve. Sound like a nice project. I could not even get my wife (now X) to hold a board when I rebuilt our house that burnt down. It makes a worthy project when you both work and succeed together. Dont forget to tell her thank you. MntMnRF

[klsmurf]

Gee mbk, looks like MY diary is filling up w/ posts about YOUR wife , maybe she should start her own. Seriously tho, glad she's alright and a big help.


Got my multi-meter, it isn't a fluke, but it will do for now. It will read amps up to 20 and that's what I need. Also got my anemometer. It was part of a Honeywell weather station that was a return. Tested it out the other day at 5,10,20 and 30mph and seemed to be spot on. The software wouldn't work w/ win7 and there is basically no customer support since it was an older model. Found some sw on line that worked, so I can now plot and graph speed, direction and gusts. Didn't do anything to the genny, but did manually top off some of my 6V batteries. Started charging them at about 7mph. I saw 80 watts for awhile. 6.02V @ 13.5A. Isn't much, but it's just a treadmill motor and a watt is a watt.

[klsmurf]

I decided to take a crack at gearing up my little genny. I had been thinking of a chain drive system, but then it occurred to me that I had a perfectly good flat belt and pulley on the treadmill that I got the motor off of. Since the motor is marginal at best, I was figuring a 3 or 4:1 ratio would be needed. Turns out the pulley was only 2.5:1, but it was free. I got a couple pillow blocks, a shaft and a collar. I used an old saw blade and sandwiched the pulley between it and a wooden hub. I then made another wooden hub to attach my blades to so I could extend the rotor away from the motor. I attached everything on a piece of treated plywood so I could do some testing. Since I didn't use anything other than hand tools, it took a little doing to get everything to line up, but I did. I then used my hand drill on the back of the shaft to do some testing. Low speed setting (~350rpm) I got 11V open. On the high speed setting (~1200rpm ) it was putting out over 27V. Looks promising to achieve my goal of getting this little starter genny to charge 12V batteries. A couple pictures below. Be safe and have fun.  Kevin

[thirteen]

Looks like you need to get some allthread and make a slide so you can change the belt when needed and have it so you can adjust it's tightness. As a suggestion could you put the pulley on the other end so the belt can be replaced easier? Depending on where you are living you might be able to go to a lighter grease to operate the bearings in thus giving you less drag. Some bearings are sent with only a small amount of grease inside and should be filled. As an idea there should be some information with the bearings. Just some ideas

[klsmurf]

@ Thirteen,  Thanks for the suggestions. The allthread idea was already planned if this testing platform works. I'll actually move everything over to plate steel. The shaft on the back of the motor is barely 1/2" long and rounded over, so that won't work, but I could put the prop on the opposite end and make the belt more accessable. The bearings on both the motor and the pillow blocks are the sealed type. The zerks are for the swiveling races. The weather mans not cooperating, it will be a couple days for some breezy testing weather

[klsmurf]

Update time. Started a new job a couple weeks ago so my tinkering time has been minimal. Have had three nice wind days over the weekend. Consistent 7-12mph and gust in the 18-22 range by my logger. I left my small 2', high rpm blades on the new geared up set up, but they just didn't have the torque needed. I had previously made a large set, 3' when I first started this project. They seemed like monsters compared to the others. I changed my improvised caster yaw bearing to a pipe in pipe because of the weight. I also made a larger tail to balance the whole thing.  I had also purchased a cheap bicycle computer and mounted it on the back side of the new 6' rotor. I put everything on my test pole and the new rotor started up in 6-7mph wind, but once it got close to cut in at 12V the whole thing pivoted 45-90 degrees out of the wind. I guess I reinvented a fixed tail, self furling machine. Unfortunately it would never hit cut in, but did yaw back into the wind once rpms decreased, only to repeat. After some deliberation, I decided the gyroscopic effect of the large rotor was overcoming the ability of the tail to hold the Genny into the wind. So, larger tail, repositioned the pivot point and presto! I'll tell you though, the new set up in free spin scared the "bejebus" out of me. 6' rotor at over 600rpm a couple times in gusts. That's 1500rpm and over 24V open on the Genny itself. I, needless to say, shut it down and got my trolling motor batteries to clamp it down. I actually topped off both batteries, 12V deep cycle in fairly short order. Well, I've accomplished my goal of charging a 12V battery with this treadmill motor. Now to condense the design down, tighten the whole thing up, maybe even carve some real blades. I am a carpenter, not an electrician. Already thinking of a dual rotor axial down the road. Have fun, be safe.   Kevin