Author Topic: tower failure  (Read 2156 times)

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Jason Wilkinson

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tower failure
« on: March 11, 2007, 06:29:14 PM »
HI to all, just want to share a little misfortune with my turbine. my tower was 45 ft of 2 in galvanised pipe  with a 9ft prop , the gen produced a good 30v in normal breeze until the wind was a bit high  (3 days ago)  this pictures tell the rest
« Last Edit: March 11, 2007, 06:29:14 PM by (unknown) »

TomW

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Re: tower failure
« Reply #1 on: March 11, 2007, 11:42:11 AM »
Jason;


That sucks. Hate to see hard work destroyed. While I hate to see folks have problems, I truly think sharing failures is as [or more] important as sharing success.


Better luck next time.


For the users here is a link to his [fairly large] files:


http://www.fieldlines.com/user/Jason%20Wilkinson/files


And, thanks for Not posting them directly in the diary!


Cheers.


TomW

« Last Edit: March 11, 2007, 11:42:11 AM by TomW »

zubbly

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Re: tower failure
« Reply #2 on: March 11, 2007, 03:23:43 PM »
hey Jason,


keep the chin up, i know the feeling well.

almost 2 years ago, my 60 foot tower got away on me while i was raising it.  smashed everything all to hell.


you will have it back up (and improved) in no time at all.


zubbly

« Last Edit: March 11, 2007, 03:23:43 PM by zubbly »

wpowokal

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Re: tower failure
« Reply #3 on: March 11, 2007, 04:57:03 PM »
Jason, Have you determined the cause of the failure, 2" pipe seems faily small for 45' and a 9' prop. Raising and lowering would require careful control to not bend the tower double, but you obviously raised it the first time OK.


Things like distance from top to first guy wire, number of guy wires, radius of guy wires etc would be critical in a light tower.


Been there done that.


allan down under

« Last Edit: March 11, 2007, 04:57:03 PM by wpowokal »
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DanB

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Re: tower failure
« Reply #4 on: March 11, 2007, 05:39:57 PM »
Yes - I think 2" is too small for a machine that size no matter what.  I used to use 2" pipe on the nose of my truck when we did truck testing and bent it over a few times.


It's a small increase in cost and a great increase in strength to go half an inch or an inch in diameter bigger.  Nice to have a safety factor (or try) in the tower.


Sorry to hear about the crash - I hope it goes back together quickly for you!

« Last Edit: March 11, 2007, 05:39:57 PM by DanB »
If I ever figure out what's in the box then maybe I can think outside of it.

Jason Wilkinson

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Re: tower failure
« Reply #5 on: March 12, 2007, 09:03:39 AM »
thanks for the suppoprt guys it really hurts after so many months preparing , but i've learnt my lesson, no more short cuts  ( the 2 in pipe  was really old)  i'm starting on new blades and tower from today

 ps  i need help in getting pictures down to size for submitting      thanks
« Last Edit: March 12, 2007, 09:03:39 AM by Jason Wilkinson »

zap

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Re: tower failure
« Reply #6 on: March 12, 2007, 10:52:38 AM »
Hiya Jason,

Have a look at this post. A little less than half way down the page, the topic kind of splits off and goes into photos and photo manipulation.  http://www.fieldlines.com/story/2007/2/2/233828/8893

There's a link for a photo program and a link for a tutorial for the same program.


If that's not enough info, reply to this comment or feel free to send me an email.

« Last Edit: March 12, 2007, 10:52:38 AM by zap »

Jason Wilkinson

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Re: tower failure
« Reply #7 on: March 13, 2007, 07:16:38 PM »
Thanks Allan, i should have mentioned before that the 2in tower was used with the same genny but with a smaller blade (3 ft)but stalled under load. The 5 ft blade really worked well ( maybe too well ) untill the tower broke from the 19 ft joint  

it was really old pipe  rusted threads   i used 12 guy wires, but the rusted threads ????

As touching the raising and lowering it was a one man show  with a (cumalong 1 ton mini hand puller, took me about 45 to 50 mins to get it up i really enjoyed the work  but would've more had i company.

« Last Edit: March 13, 2007, 07:16:38 PM by Jason Wilkinson »

Jason Wilkinson

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Re: tower failure
« Reply #8 on: March 13, 2007, 07:28:13 PM »
hi there Zap thanks   will try that or at least get my son to try it as i'm new to all this stuff   was only on sunday 11th that i got my 1st posting off after trying for weeks     ps i'm in Barbados W I
« Last Edit: March 13, 2007, 07:28:13 PM by Jason Wilkinson »

Jason Wilkinson

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Re: tower failure
« Reply #9 on: March 13, 2007, 07:38:52 PM »
Thanks Dan B I will be back up but not shortly as (chuckle)i have to carve new blades, dismantle and restructure the front magnet disc, weld the brackets on the bearing hub   and yes i bought 3 inpipe for a stronger tower . By the way i live in Barbados  W I    

     jason
« Last Edit: March 13, 2007, 07:38:52 PM by Jason Wilkinson »

DanB

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Re: tower failure
« Reply #10 on: March 13, 2007, 10:02:54 PM »
using pipe threads anywhere on a tower I think is a bad idea...  its a very weak point.

Did yours break at the threads?


It would be neat if you could share a lot more detail about your tower and exactly how it failed.  You allready talk about 2" pipe which seems scary but it would be good to know all the details about it if you care to share!

« Last Edit: March 13, 2007, 10:02:54 PM by DanB »
If I ever figure out what's in the box then maybe I can think outside of it.

Jason Wilkinson

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Re: tower failure
« Reply #11 on: March 14, 2007, 07:41:29 PM »
Thanks for offering me to share by experience. I live in Barbados W I, came across the otherpower web site by accident and got stuck to it by the wealth of info put out. After seeing all the experiments from way back in 2003 etc, i thought of trying one myself, an e-mail was sent to "forcefield" enquiring about magnets, and the the first set of 24 1" were obtained from them.   Break drum,plywood, wire were obtained locally (i don't recall how many turns went with the coils) but the 1 in mags were not strong enough.    24, 1-2-1/2 ndFeB plus 4  35 amp bridge rec were obtained again from "forcefield", this time i tried to work as closely with " OUR LATEST WAY OF DOING THINGS "http://www.otherpower.com/turbineplans.html (" building moulds,templates ,winders etc untill i came to the blades,i just could not understand the carving, but thanks to all you fellas who shared info i got a piect here ,there , every where untill i came up with a diagram of carving a 39 in blade

 "http://www.windstuffnow.com/Blade-layout.pdf" after 2 sets of blades were carved, the turbine was ready. I had some old lengths of 2 in pipe which were used to erect the tower, about 45 ft, 12 guy wires and my genny was flying, giving me a good 20 volts in moderate wind but when i tried to charge a battery the blades would slow down and stop. I must say the tower was erected by me alone with a 1 ton hand puller. I read somewhere if the air gap (and i presume the distance between stator and mags)was decreased it will not stall, so down it came, air gap adjusted, up it went, but this time the blades were parallel with the wing  i think the tail was not performing correct. In the process of taking it down the anchor of the gin pole came loose when it was about 3/4 way down, needless to say what happened.    I next obtained a 14 ft lenght of 2-8 pine cut in 3 pieces and followed the method of carving the blades http://otherpower.com/bladecarving.html. Blades completed coated with boiled linseed paint etc, up again but no turning ( by heart sank , wife and kids having a ball   lol)down it came "again" bit more carving and ballencing on the blades, up, spinning ,light bulbs burning to the fullest, ( wife & kids enjoying

the light making plans for a bar-b-que in the yard under turbine lights

By the way this turbine had a break system, used a bicycle system to squeeze the mag disc, We had fairly strong winds one day last week  and i could'nt let all that wind go to waste  so i released the brakes   and boy did that turbine fly, flew fo much that the tower broke from the 19 ft joint ( now the entire family is sad)


          Jason

« Last Edit: March 14, 2007, 07:41:29 PM by Jason Wilkinson »

TomW

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Re: tower failure
« Reply #12 on: March 14, 2007, 07:54:01 PM »
Jason;


Keep your chin up, setbacks help you learn. Back up, look it over and make note of what you learned then change your methods to avoid them next time.


By now you are probably addicted to the hobby. There is no known cure.


Wishing you good luck getting things back and making power.


Cheers.


TomW

« Last Edit: March 14, 2007, 07:54:01 PM by TomW »