New guy from Minnesota

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Terrywerm
Posts: 6
Joined: Sun Jun 28, 2020 2:16 pm
Location: Jordan, MN

New guy from Minnesota

Post by Terrywerm »

I have long been a fan of farm windmills, going back as far as I can remember. I am told that we were traveling in the car one day when I was a toddler, just starting to talk. As we passed a farm, I pointed at the windmill there and said "LUM!" My parents naturally had no idea what I was talking about but knew that it was something on a farm that always got my attention. A few weeks later we stopped to visit an aunt and uncle on their farm where they had an Aermotor pumping water for both the house and the livestock. I started in again, pointing at the windmill and saying 'LUM!' At this point they had finally figured out what I was talking about but no one ever figured out how or why I came up with the word LUM for a windmill.

About 20 years back I was given one of those classic 8' decorator windmills but it had only the tower and the vane, the wheel was missing. I managed to make a new wheel that had 18 sails and ran on ball bearings. After applying a fresh paint job I erected it in my front yard where it ran happily in all kinds of weather for quite a few years. We had a particularly nasty wind storm come through that uprooted it and tipped it over, bending two of the legs, the vane arm, and the wheel was bent beyond repair. My wife hated the thing and was happy to see it go.

I have a lathe, two milling machines, welders, and other equipment and usually model steam engines but I've been looking for something different to model. A windmill might be just the ticket! I am contemplating a small mill with a furling system that works, and knowing little about windmills as yet, I figure that this is a good place to get started.
Terry
Jordan, MN
Home of 4600 nice folks and one grouch!
hedgerow
Posts: 231
Joined: Wed Jun 12, 2019 6:26 pm

Re: New guy from Minnesota

Post by hedgerow »

Terry welcome to the forum.
Sounds like a neat project to build your own what I call yard type windmill. I have both the real ones to pump water for cattle and we also have a yard style. It would be neat to build one with a furling system. No one seems to build the yard style that way. I am sure the cost would be too much for the general public.
Mister Ed
Posts: 408
Joined: Fri Dec 14, 2018 6:06 pm
Location: Fremont, Mich

Re: New guy from Minnesota

Post by Mister Ed »

Welcome Terry.

I seem to recall your user ID from someplace ... must be one of 2 machining forums (I frequent only intermittently).
Thanks,
Ed
Wayne
Posts: 2115
Joined: Mon Dec 17, 2018 10:03 am
Location: Corsicana Tx.

Re: New guy from Minnesota

Post by Wayne »

Have you checked out the salesman samples. Will give you an idea of what others have done. I figure if you can build a working steam engine a windmill will seem pretty simple. Good luck. You might look in the literature section at the parts list for an idea of what makes a windmill. Keep us posted
Gregg
Posts: 257
Joined: Sat Dec 15, 2018 9:14 am
Location: Stratford, Iowa

Re: New guy from Minnesota

Post by Gregg »

Welcome to a great group of windmillers. You should contact minnemiller, he has done some miniture 3D modeling of windmill parts. Along with collecting many full size mills. He is about 15 - 20 miles from you.
Gregg
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Terrywerm
Posts: 6
Joined: Sun Jun 28, 2020 2:16 pm
Location: Jordan, MN

Re: New guy from Minnesota

Post by Terrywerm »

Thanks for the warm welcome, guys!

Hedgerow, I am thinking a 36" wheel on a 10' tower, so more or less half size of one of the smaller mills. I agree that the average person would find one of these to be too expensive, but it would also look far more realistic than the average yard mill as well. I would love to have some full size mills to put up, but having the room for such things is a problem when you live in town.

Mister Ed, you are correct! I am a member of a number of machining forums, but frequent only a couple. I happen to be a moderator at one of them, so I more or less have to frequent that one. Forums are wonderful places to learn and share, but can be a huge time sink, so I try to limit myself a little bit. Great pastime in the evenings when I happen to be on the road all week!

Wayne, I have not, and have only recently become aware of their existence. Certainly something to consider.

Gregg, thanks for the tip!

Have a great evening, everyone!
Terry
Jordan, MN
Home of 4600 nice folks and one grouch!
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