F&W Star 37: question about brake rod routing and tightening

[Kenneth]

Dennis, I went out and looked at my 37 this afternoon. There is another rod that goes through the tailbone that has a spring on each end. This may cushion the tailbone when open and closed. See pic.

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Kenneth

[DennisT]

Thanks Kenneth, that's a good photo. Well, it went up 2 days ago. Here are some photos - seems close to what all of you are suggesting. Mill seems to run well, brakes itself in stiffer winds. Quiet. Comments welcome.
Well, so much for photos; I can't find the way to post them................... ! Image icon doesn't do it.

[Wayne]

Dennis you can't do a quick reply to post pictures you have to click on the Post Reply at the bottom, click on attachments, scroll down to add files.

[DennisT]

Ahhh. Thanks, Wayne. I'll give this a go. She's in the air, and acts fine to my novice mind. Comments welcome. Thanks, Dennis

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[windybob]

Looks my-T-fine to me.

You can partly furl the tail over to let it run slower, as long as the brake doesn't drag.

[mtblah]

GREAT !!! it's wonderful to see another windmill up & flying , thanks for posting

[Windcatcher530 Dan]

WOW!! That looks really good Dennis great job.

[DennisT]

Thanks guys. This is a big deal for us. A lot of bartering was involved. I'd gotten this F&W about11 years ago, tried to get a tower going, ran into problems, had little expertise of my own, and............gave up. Until I met Hugh Grim. It seems to be running nicely except two nights ago I pulled in the tail and snugged it down for 24 hours, expecting high winds. It did get windy. Mill rotated some off and on; once ran slowly for a minute or so. This morning when I went out and, "released it," to run free again. However, the tail stayed tucked in. We had observed this behavior on installation day but ran out of daylight to work more with it. I have to pull firmly on the pull in lever to shut it down, so that spring is working. It's been sitting all day in a near calm/slight breeze and no action. (This is a really free running mill and will rotate with just about any breeze) I guess tomorrow with winds picking up I'll see if it frees itself. I hope the springing will provide some damping if it swings loose without me manually feathering it out with the lever. Need to work on this.

[Kenneth]

Dennis, looks awesome. I always liked these mills because of the different wheel and tail.

Kenneth

[DennisT]

Thanks again. But be aware I did not do the work. It was done and erected by Hugh Grim and Russ Neumiller of Spokane, WA