1/2 Scale "model" windmill

[arizonian]

It moves!

Assembled the gear train this morning. It rolled over about 10 times and then got stiff. The more I tried to turn it the stiffer it got until it was locked hard.

Disassembled piece by piece until only the wheel shaft was left in the case. Got the shaft out with a brass drift and saw the score marks from one of the pinion keys. Moral of the story: The end of a key is not a good thrust surface. After knocking the bushing out and cleaning up the burr, reassembled making sure to not leave the key proud of the pinion.

I took the belt off of Dad's old wet grinder and draped a longer belt over the brake drum first and then over the center of the hub a bit later. Letting the gears run together for a couple of hours quieted them down a bit, now there is almost no noise. Running at 95 RPM on the brake drum and 129 RPM on the hub center.

I've got a 10 second movie of it but it is too large to upload (31.4 MB)

[63markB]

Exceptional work sir!

[arizonian]

Another oil thread, but this is not your typical oil thread.

Bought a quart of ATF Typ F today, set the motor up and gave it a pint. Turned the electric motor on that's driving this motor and let it run for a couple of hours. What is being checked is that oil is making it to where it needs it.

The scraper for the bull gears and the pinions are working good. The scraper for the wheel shaft is doing it's job but the oil is not getting to the snout. It's "roping" around the shaft just a fraction of an inch from entering the snout. The lube ring on the yoke is carrying oil to the top end but the tube that feeds the guide wheel is dry.

After stewing a bit, decided that a few pieces of stranded wire soldered in the right place may cure the problem. An oil thread, sort of a capillary transportation of the oil.

The snout is now well oiled, but the guide wheel on top is still running dry. Will think on that tonight and try something different tomorrow.

[arizonian]

No progress on the motor oiling today, went a different direction.

Grabbed a scrap door to secure the stub tower while assembling. Should not tip over in a breezy day.

Made a form for the anchors and punched the holes in the dirt. This is for a trial run when I stand it up at the machine shop yard. I'll take the form to the house when it's time and yank the temporary anchors.

View of the "gin pole". The braces will transfer the load to the corners and prevent the cross brace from bending and/or collapsing.

Setting up to lift the lower half of the tower to see how it feels.

Added another section of tower and tried to lift it. It is beyond my capabilities alone.

A view of the hinge at the bottom of the tower. The hinge bolt will go thru the hole on the far left.



I may need a longer "gin pole", maybe a 12 or 16 footer. I won't know until the motor and wheel gets weighed fully assembled and then weigh the top of the tower with the mast in place. With those numbers combined I'll be able to calculate the tension required for the actual lifting. The platform weight will need to be included and that has not been started yet.

[Windcatcher530 Dan]

You shouldn't have a problem raising your windmill me and my brother raised his eight ft 602s on thirty ft towers with a 10ft gin pole and a hand winch.

[arizonian]

I've got an old boat winch, would need to put new rope on it. Might be able to get 20 ft on it if that, not a lot of reserve. How did you anchor your winch to the ground?

[Windcatcher530 Dan]

We lucked out there was a tree close enough to wrap a chain around and Hook to the winch

[arizonian]

Couldn't sleep so did some ciphering early this morning.

The complete motor weighs 80 lbs and the top of the tower at 16.25' weighs in at 90 lbs.

That gives a combined load of 170 lbs and will require a moment of 2763 ftlbs to pull it upright.

The gin pole is 8' long but at an angle of 8°, so an effective 7.92'.

2763 ftlbs / 7.92' = 349 lbs horizontal force.

The winch is pulling from the ground at 17.3°.

349 lbs / cos 17.3° = 365 lbs.

To verify, the angle from the end of the gin pole to the top of the tower is 27.65°.

170 lb / sin 27.65° = 366 lbs.

The tension of both lines match close enough.

The winch is getting a new rope. There is only enough room for 25' of rope on the drum so there will be a long tail that won't get wound up. That won't be a problem for raising the tower.

If the tower is ever brought down, I'll need to remember to have a full drum with a long tail before lowering.

[mtblah]

Boy's , again , way tooo much "cyphering " !

Mike B

[arizonian]

Went another direction today. Some of you probably picked up that the platform weight is missing, so the platform got built today.

Reworked the math and the end result is a 420 lb pull from the winch.

The platform effective wt:

33 lb / 16.25 * 12.1 =25 lb at the end of the mast, so that is added in to the 170 lb already there.