my pictures

[jmk]

[Jon Miller]

Nice pics, any specs - 1 phase, 3 phase, 12, 24, 36, 48 volts?  good job from what i can see i like the purple blades

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[drdongle]

Yea tell us more!! ( nice looking machine)

[jmk]

 This is Hughs 12' turbine from 2005 plans. I carved the blades from rough sawed spruce. I got the wood from work as scrap. I am a rough framer, and we use the wood for corner boards and such. I harvested the straightest grain parts of the boards from 1 by 6 and 1 by 8 cut them into 2 1/2" rips, then ran both sides trough the planer until both sides cleaned up. then made a glue lam beam to carve the blades with. The top hub is a star in Hughs plan, but I didn,t like the look, so I cut the part of the star round to match the lower hub. the star peices that landed on the blade I fiberglassed, stapled, screwed, and glued together. This rotor is permenantly fastened together. The tips track perfect! I do have one blade that isn't as flat as the other two. When I run a straight edge it looks like it cuped about a light 1/8" when I run a straight edge down it. I hope this isn't going to be a problem. This is my first wind turbine. I painted the blades with urithane primer, and the paint is automotive enamel mixed with urithane to make it like an emeron paint. $100 paint job! alot of truckers have there front ends painted with this type of paint.

  The stater is 24 volts. fifty raps of #13 wire. I had a hard time winding it. even with the coil winder made from hughs plans. I should have made the handle biger. my hand keeped giveing me charly horses. I had to do them in intervals to get them all the way wound. I never wound coils befor, but with #13 wire you just can't wind the wire to fast. It takes alot of back pressure. It took me a week. I wound a couple a night after work while watching TV in the living room. The stator is 17" by 17". It has twelve coils wired star three phase.

  The machean is made from 2" by 2" by 1/4" angle iron, and a 2' piece of pipe. The pipe is 3/8" stock 3" ID. The rotors are made from 14" by 3/8". It has 32 magnets 2 by 1 by 1/2" neo magnets. This machean is heavy! I havent waighed it, but without the blades I'm guessing it to be around 200 pounds.

  The tower is very heavy! I know becouse they waighed it when I bought the pipe. 1600 pounds! Its maid from 20'7/16" stock 3" OD. It is a hard steel too. I can tell by the way it uses up blades to cut it, and how the rust doesn't penitrate very far. I had to sand the top, and hown the inside of the yaw bearing to get it to fit. It made a nice bearing. When I sprayed WD-40 on it it spun for about 5 secounds with a flick of my hands.

  The tail is heavy too. Made from 2" by 2" angle iron 8' long. The plywood is 60"by 30". I used a damaged piece of oak veneer I got from work. It's 1/2" oak on one side, and paper on the other. I'm going to guess it waighs about 100 pounds. The whole machean probably weighs 350lbs.

[Propwash]

Looking good jmk. I used milled 2x8's for my blades. I didn't notice that the plans called for real 2x8's untill after we rumaged through the whole lumberyard to find 3 knot free planks so thats what I used. I am curious if the extra width will make a difference or not. Thats some noble looking pipe you got there for a mast. Your coils may have been a pain to make but they look good. I went with two in hand of #13, 25 turns. I couldn't seem to get good looking coils so I just cranked em out however they came. I found the most difficult task to be getting the tape around them before removing them from the jig. I opted to go with small wire ties instead. When do you expect to "get er done"?

[jmk]

  I'm not sure. I started in April or May, or some time around there. I'm makeing the towerand gin pole parts now. I'm making the hing base out of 8" anle iron right now. It is 5/8" thick. I am drilling 5/8" holes so I can put a 5/8" stanless bolt through it. I am drilling three holes in each angle iron so I can put a gin pole on to raise a 30' gin pole, to raise a sixty foot tower. If you know what I mean? I am haveing a hard time drilling the steel though. I allready went through two drill bits at $18 bucks a pop. I have one more to drill in the angle iron out of six. Then I have to drill the tower pipe and gin poles. They where hard as hell to cut, so drilling them I am not looking foward to. I am half tempted to blow a hole with the cutting toarch! I need to go buy more gas anyway. My 30' gin pole is going to weigh 600 pounds. The tower and turbine are almost one tun! I am just wondering how I am going to slow down the gin pole once its reached its balance point. I could put a cable and wench on the back side but then I would need anouther person. I want to be able to raise and lower this tower easly by myself.

  With the cold weather I slowed down a bit. It takes the fun right out of it! I don't have a good wind site. I have alot of trees. I would like to get it up this  befor this spring. I am not sure if it will even work in the sumer with all the leaves.

  I bought the SW 4024 Xantrex inverter, and the C-40 shunt regulater. I also purchased the Outback PS2 dc disconect. I aso bought an Xantrex ac disconect/iversion moduel to run the 240 well pump when the grid goes out. I got 700' of 1/4" galvenized aircraft cable and hardware, and pulleys. I need to get the run wires,and batteries. I made my yaw bearing so it sits on a colar at the bottom. I welded on a piece of pipe at the top of the yaw bearing to leave a gap between the two so I can put a set screw in the top. My tower is goig to be laying down hill. I need to keep the mill from falling off. I need to put a piece of flat steel on the top of the yaw bearing with a hole in it to mount the wires to. I am going to run 1/4" copper grounding cable up the inside of the tower with the wires and bolt it at the top to suport the weight of the wires, so they cant be pulling on the stater. I figure I will just hook the bottom of it to a grounding rod in the midle of the base footing. The base footing is slightly below grade, so water can drain down the hole and make a good ground. I need to get the permit yet and someone to hook up the electric. This might tack a while, but hopefully I will have it up before spring.        

[jmk]

 I am no expert but, I think your blades will still be okay. They might be faster, but start up slower. Maybe one of the guros can coment on it? We have alot of smart guys on here. My hats off to them, I have much apreciation!  

[hiker]

tape the coils after you remove them from the coil winder[works for me]

then compress the coils between two boards in a vise-they come out nice and compact..

later..................

[Propwash]

LOL. Thanks for that tip on the tape. I always figure out how to do something right just after doing it wrong. They weren't as sexy looking as others I've seen on here but I buried them in epoxy and clamped the heck out of the mold. It was like Christmas morning when I popped the covers off that mold the next day. I had so much fun winding those coils that I made some extras for conversation pieces. It was kind of fun to wave a magnet accross them while hooked to a voltmeter.

[Propwash]

jmk I finally got a diary started. I uploaded the software that was mentioned on here and batch filed all of my pics to a smaller size. It worked great for me. I grew up in a welding shop and when I started with my dad I used to stand at a drill press and drill holes in steel all day long. Set your machine up to turn as slow as possible and use plenty of oil on the bit. We also learned that a steady stream of water on the bit worked as good if not better than oil and less mess. If you turn the bit to fast and get it hot its done for. You should be able to resharpen them many times but it does take a little practice. If you are drilling with a hand drill get a big one that turns slow. Don't overtighten the bit so that if the bit hangs up the drill wil slip rather than break the bit or your wrist.(school of hard knocks)  We used to rent a press that had an electric magnet that would grip on to the workpiece if it was to large to fit in a drill press and required a lot of big holes. That is gonna be a mega tower for sure. Keep us posted!

[wooferhound]

To hold my coils together after I wound them.

I cut a slit in the sideplates of my coil form. After The coil was wound I used a small wire pushed through the slit to wrap the coil before I removed it from the form. Then I taped it with electrical tape and cast it in my stator with FiberGlass resin.

and here is the story . . .

http://www.fieldlines.com/story/2004/4/4/164552/3003

[jmk]

  Hey Propwash, I looked in my manul for my drill press and it stated 250 rpm for a 5/8" bore in hard steel. I also found out the drill press was set at 1100 rpms. I switched it to 250, and was suprised to see how slow and great it spiraled the steel shaveings. before I was getting dust! I also very gently tuched the bit up on the side of the grinding wheel. Cuts realy good now. I wish I didn't buy the extra drill bit.

[Propwash]

Hey jmk I'm glad you got the drilling worked out. It's not a fun job under the best of conditions. Woofer thats a nice story you did on your mill. I love the cake pan idea. The disco light motor on your winder is a winner also. If only I guy had access to a large scrap yard you could probably find all the parts you need for these projects for scrap prices. The closest one here is 60 miles away and they frown on shoppers. I can only keep just so much junk behind the house for my projects but it sure does come in handy. I never think to check the pots and pans when looking for metal discs!! LOL.

                            Kevin

[jmk]

  I cut my center piece of wood slightly smaller than the magnet. Then I let the pin nails stick out to the size of the magnet. This formed a gap to slide the tape through. I still had to use a razzer blade to guide the tap through but it wasn't that hard.