1/2 Scale "model" windmill

[rockingjl]

You are welcome sir, enjoyed talking with you.

[arizonian]

Took a break from working on the motor and have started on the linkage for the furl and brake. Looks like I might have a problem on the lower linkage but with only one panel of the wheel in place everything is loosie-goosie.

The upper linkage consists of a ball socket and ball end. Turned/ground 1/2" round bar for the half ball, then silver-soldered onto the end of 1/4" round. The socket is 7/8 round with a 9/16 hole drilled 1/2" deep. Using the 118° drill angle to my advantage.

[mtblah]

good use of the fire brick .

[arizonian]

good use of the fire brick .

I've got no shortage of materials here. Sometimes I even have the right material.

[arizonian]

Can't work on the linkage without working on the motor. The linkage has to attach somewhere. Had a brain fart and only welded on two pads, had to go back, weld on the third pad and then back to the mill. Luckily the drill bit was long enough.

[arizonian]

More done on the linkage. It works but I may have missed the boat a bit. On paper the arms swing 90°, with all the hysteresis and clearance they might swing 70°. The solution will be to lengthen the mast to allow longer button head rods between the lower slew ring and the motor but that can happen later. The arms still need to be finished, the rear arm will swing the tail around (tailbone) the forward arm will apply the brake (brake arm).

The bit of weld you see in pic 3 on the top of the cup is to keep the button rod in place while assembling and will not allow it to fall out when hanging vertically.

[mtblah]

William , thanks for posting the progression of your project , it is inspiring !

[arizonian]

The mast has been extended. No sense putting it off and doing more work than necessary, especially do-overs. The geometry of the furling system has to work from the git-go. Now lets talk about...

The Mast

The mast bolts to the top of the tower and runs thru the motor and allows the motor to swivel with the change in wind direction. The base of the mast is bolted to the top of the tower with two bolts per leg. Each tower leg has a series of male/female cutouts that interlock with each other and a u-bolt to keep it all together. The mast is hollow to allow the pumping rod to pass thru to the pump below and is also the guide for the lower furling linkage.

The mast consists of 1/2" plate, 1-1/2" standard pipe, 1-1/2" and 1" heavy wall tube. The 1" tube is threaded at the end to take a lock nut that will keep the motor on the tower. The plate is machined on edge to coincide with the angle of the tower legs, drilled and tapped and then bored to accept the mast pipe. After all pieces are prepped for welding and tacked in place, they get put into the weld positioner and welded.

Since the geometry of the furling linkage was not working, the mast was extended 2" and new linkages will be made.

The last pic shows the u-bolt and if you look hard enough, you can see the male/female cutouts at the top of the tower legs. You can also see the cutouts in pic 4.

The hassle of setting up to machine the base plate is one of the reasons for the construction of the 20" sine plate.

[63markB]

That looks great! And I like that steady rest you have on your lathe!

[arizonian]

Thanks. That is not the lathe, that is my weld positioner. When it's windy out, I do my welding inside (most of the time). The base is a 3/4" melamine offcut, not much good for grounding.