If you're lost, think of a car's alternator and how the rotor halves appear to be interlocking fingers, which don't touch, but have their apexes running down the circumference, first one side, then the other, and so on. Now, actually "before" you load the magnets, "INDEX" each lid, such that looking from one side through both sides of the disks, there is a point on one disk neighbored by a point on either side from the other disk. Each lid has to be exactly cut the same as the other, such that there are an even number (I like 12) of pointed sections on each lid. See where this is going? Next, I cut the perimeter of each coffee can lid into little "picket-fence" points. Next, I fashion iron backing plates out of the ends of a coffee can, drilling each's center with a drill the same size as the bicycle hub bolt. I shove a magnet into each hole in each disk, such that one whole side of each disk is "N" (north) and the other whole side is "S" (south). These holes will house neodymium magnets and should be a snug fit. Then, I use a special bit called a "Forstner" bit, which drills a very precise hole and drill anywhere from 6 to 12 holes about the circle, having laid out there positions RATHER EXACTLY before hand. Just make a mandrel out of a bolt the same size for this. I take two sheets of HDPE (high density poly ethylene) plastic and turn two circles, with a hole in their center the same size as the axle on the bicycle front hub. Easy-peasy!īy the way, I have a lathe, which makes this WAY easier. At any rate, whenever ANY wind blows, no matter what direction, this thing spins. "I" personally use two sheets and two angle-aluminum bars, making 4 blades, one each 90 degrees, but that's 'me'. It doesn't need static balancing and all it does is spin. It is fastened to a bar of angle-aluminum, which is bolted to the bicycle hub axle and extends up inside the barrel. The "blade" is nothing more than a sheet of light plastic. I've been accused of thinking outside of the box, but frankly, I never knew there was a box. Instead of using a straight flow of wind to spin a blade (which must now be 'balanced', etc.) I choose to spin the wind into a vortex and immerse a flat blade in the flow. I'll take a shot at a description of the rotor here and if you want to take it to the next step, PM me and we'll go from there. I have designed a permanent-magnet-loaded 3-phase alternator, which is conceptually easy, but pretty intricate to build - not hard by any means, just a bit complicated. One side of the little hub is attached to my home-made alternator** and the other is attached to the blade*. This gives me a threaded shaft on both sides of a VERY ROBUST bearing, for a cost of nothing (if you are a good scrounger) to only a few $. Into the "V" I put the front hub of a bicycle, held there by a worm-strap, which threads through a slot ground in each side parallel to the direction the axle lays and tightened, holding it in place. Horizontal to the side of the barrel and across the open end (facing down) I weld a post with a "V" cut in its end. When bent out as such, this creates flaps, which catch in the wind and direct it inside to form a whirly vortex. I cut long "C"s down the sides with a high-speed grinder (you could also use a plasma cutter), such that they can be bent slightly outward. My design can be as large as you have room really! At any rate, what I usually use is a steel barrel with the open end down. Then, you have to get the electricity down off the tower without wires wrapping up all over the place - big headache I have designed a system, which circumvents ALL that and more.I designed, built and use a "horse-of-a-different-color" vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT). The problem facing most, who try to DIY a 'windmill' centers around a whirling mass, which must be aimed, controlled, BALANCED, ect. I will outline what I currently use, after having tried EVERY possible design over these many years. I'm new to this 4m, I have built 'windmills' for nearly 50 years ya, I'm old.
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