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Forum Index : Other Stuff : 4th Feb 2007. Rain rain go away!
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Gizmo Admin Group  Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5012 |
Well I'm starting to loose it, this rain is driving me crazy. Bored stupid. Constant rain since last Tuesday. Cloths line fell over, cats favorite tree broke in half, car wont start and all my shoes are wet. Started working on the Chinese blades, worked out how to reshape them and did one blade as a test. The fibreglass is easy to work with, I cut a wedge out with a wood saw and then used a power file to reshape th leading edge, but a normal wood file would work just as well. Then finished off with some sandpaper. Took about 15 minutes to do one blade. Then the itch hit me. Spent the next 6 hours scratching my arms, I hate working with fibreglass. Trev, your the fibreglass expert, are there any tricks of the trade to stop the itch? Below you can see the new profile, and the reduced angle of attack at the tips. This new twist should give more power and reduced noise. The blade tip is still very wide at 70mm, only took 30mm off, tapering back to nothing at about 200mm from the root end of the blade. 
Angle A was the original tip angle, and B is the new tip angle. Now I just need to work up the courage to face the itch and do the other 2 blades. When done I'll post some pictures and measurements of the whole process. Converted a 240c 40watt fluoro to 12v operation. I used the circuit found here. Works a treat, draws about 2.5 amps at 12v. I'll write up a web page about how I went in the next couple of weeks. 
Dam finally has some water in it after all this rain, the dog wasn't too sure of what to make or it, she didn't go in very deep. 
The car, an old 92 Commodore wouldn't start on Saturday. Wound over but I couldn't hear the fuel pump run, so out came the multimeter. I figured water had got into the computer, but that was fine. A few tests showed the fuel pump, in the fuel tank, was open circuit. I gave the fuel tank a big whack with my hand and tried again, this time the car started. This means the brushes in the fuel pump are worn out so it needs replacing. Bugger! The old Commodore has had a few problems over the last year, but I own it and its still cheaper to repair then pay off a new car, plus the V6 is good on fuel and great for the highway. Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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wind-pirate Senior Member  Joined: 01/02/2007 Location: CanadaPosts: 101 |
Hi Glenn I will trade you some rain for our snow and -40 degree weather. Yes -40 degrees is the same in both scales. I will admitt that i'm getting spoiled, we usualy get worse. I'm in the construction industry and it makes it very hard to do things the easy way. Like in the summer. But thats Saskatchewan Canada. Ron THE Pirate. stealing wind & solar energy is fun |
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Pt w/field Matt Senior Member Joined: 24/02/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 105 |
hi Glen are you going put a inverter circuit on the board for the 24v boys as well? matt down south |
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| permaclutter Newbie  Joined: 04/02/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 19 |
Hi Glen &and All I have made and lived under many of these litle inverters over the years.unfortunately i could not work out how to listen to the wireless with one running, some way to lessen the noise would be a great improvement. Lyn |
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| RossW Guru  Joined: 25/02/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 495 |
Build the circuit in a diecast (metal, screw-together) box. Run the power in through feedthroughs and bypass it properly. Feed the HV out to the tube in screened cable, ground the screen to the metal box (but leave it disconnected at the fluro end) and you will be well on the way. If you put all the electronics in the fluro fitting, as long as you have it nicely screened, you can probably get away with running the DC line through a ferrite core a couple of times as close as possible to the metal of the enclosure to stop the RF getting back down the cable. |
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| Gizmo Admin Group Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5012 |
Some good tips there Ross. I'll remember to add the ferrite bead. Hey Matt I'm not 100% sure about the conversion to 24v, Ross or some of the other electronics guru's might be able to help, but I would suggest changing the 180R resistor to 330R, and use 30 turns on the primary instead of the 58 turns used for 12v. Might pay to drop the primary wire size down to 0.8mm too. The one shown above was a messy build, just wanted to see if it worked before I build another one for photos on the web site. I used 0.6 mm wire for the secondary, so ended up with about 6 layers, close to 30mm diameter when finished. And I had problems with the transistor over heating, probally due to the poor transformer winding not giving the correct circuit loading. I added a bigger heat sink and used a 220R resistor instead of the 180R. Still runs warm but will survive. Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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Trev Guru Joined: 15/07/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 639 |
Hi Glenn, Sorry, the itch is just how it is......... You can use hand lotion/cream, all over uncovered skin. But that gets messy all over your F/g and then you have to get it off for painting. You can use rubber gloves, long sleeve shirt and trousers. Basically just cover up. You should avoid breathing the dust. The secret is not to rub or scratch it. Wash with soap as soon as you are finished. How would a FAN go for your purpose of reducing noise.  Trev @ drivebynature.com |
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