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Forum Index : Windmills : Mill loses a wing

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Air Bender
Senior Member

Joined: 25/01/2011
Location: Australia
Posts: 206
Posted: 09:43am 08 Jun 2011
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Over the last couple of days we have had some very stormy weather and I went out this morning and found one wing on the ground.

Luckly no other damage was done to the mill.
The wing broke off were the brass bushes that pivot on the upright rod are atached to the wing they were atached on with epoxy and cloth.

The bushes braking off were the only damage apart from a couple of dings in the trailing edge of the rear element which must have hit a few things while coming off.
I have reatached the brass bushes with a double layer of cloth and epoxy and fixed the dings with a bit of body filler.

There is a bit of Murphys law attached to this as it was only yesterday that we finnished digging a trench and wiring the wind mill to the cubby and at long last the power from the mill has been put to a usefull purpose running the kids sterio and anoying the neighbours.

At least I am learning which bits will need to be beefed up when i get around to upsizing the wings.
The wing is back up and running as i am typing this.

All the best
Dean.
 
Rastus

Guru

Joined: 29/10/2010
Location: Australia
Posts: 301
Posted: 12:16pm 08 Jun 2011
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Hi Dean,
Are you sure it was the wind?lol cheers Rastus
see Rastus graduate advise generously
 
Air Bender
Senior Member

Joined: 25/01/2011
Location: Australia
Posts: 206
Posted: 11:16pm 08 Jun 2011
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Hi Rastus my neighbour may be still a bit upset after i got over the fence with a ladder and cut the top out of his fruit trees so the wind mill could get more wind, but i dont think it was him yet.
 
smithy
Regular Member

Joined: 30/01/2011
Location: Australia
Posts: 52
Posted: 03:34am 09 Jun 2011
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Just wondering what you are getting out of the VAWT, and is that a F&P that you are using as an alt.

Smithy
"The answer my friend is blowing in the wind, the answer is blowing in the wind" Bob Dylan
 
Air Bender
Senior Member

Joined: 25/01/2011
Location: Australia
Posts: 206
Posted: 05:07am 09 Jun 2011
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Hi Smithy

It is a F/P it is just hidden in an old wash tub.
I just hooked up an amp meter a couple of weeks ago and all I am geting out of the mill in a good wind is around 2 amps charging a 12 volt car battery. The wings are very much undersize for the F/P.
I need to run wide blade angles to get it up and running but unfortunatly this restricts the rpms that it will run at. Down the track i plan to double the size of the wings this should alow me to rewire the stator for more amps or run the 100s that i have.

At the moment there is not a real demand for mor output but this may change in the near future.

All the best Dean.
 
smithy
Regular Member

Joined: 30/01/2011
Location: Australia
Posts: 52
Posted: 08:13am 09 Jun 2011
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Ok, thanks for the update, nice looking project.

The stability strength of the blade connections is concerning but I guess you knew that anyway, and is probably why one blade dropped off.

Its always a trick in an urban environment about how large you can go, and how high. The endless trade off. Dammed if you do, dammed if you don't.

Smithy
"The answer my friend is blowing in the wind, the answer is blowing in the wind" Bob Dylan
 
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