Vintage Windmill and Wind Generator Forum

Well now that's an idea that sounds good to me!

Picked up my new front bearing yesterday. Need to see how well the machinist did on the OD. It's supposed to be a press-fit. I'm hoping I can get this all re-assembled this weekend or next so I can see how my oil flow to the front bearing. I'm planing on assembling it all but leaving the front hub and sails off. I'm hoping to be able to stick a socket on my drill and spin the main shaft. I'd love to know that I have good oil flow to the front of this thing before I call it good and fly it up on the tower.

Oil Impregnated bronze will be my fall-back if this experiment goes poorly. I was just having a tough time finding stock in a size I could work with. I've got a little bit of this plastic left over if anyone else wants to play with it.

Finally got paint on the new tail metal. Turned into a family event, I got help from my 11 year old, my 8 year old, and my 5 year old. I cut in the edges, they painted in the middle of each letter. Might be my favorite thing I've done on this project so far. I also bought new galvanized hardware to bolt it all on, just ran out of time this weekend.

Played pin the tail on the windmill this weekend. Any advice on whether I should try and transfer the lettering over onto the tailbone and supports? I'm not real sure how this was originally. No evidence of any of the original lettering on the tail, none on the tailbone or supports either. None that I could find anyhow.

Rented a tow-behind manlift and put this back up in the sky this morning. Spins smooth and quiet. Still need to source a pump, sucker rods, etc, but it’s out of the garage and in the air again.

Nice job

Wow looks great Congratulations!

Did you do all of the work with the lift?

A really good feeling of accomplishment ! Looks cool spinning in the FL breeze.
I have 3 original sucker rods with original end fittings, free to you if you want them, just come over to south TX and pick them up, or arrange a "pony express " style relay to get them to FL.
Mike B
New Braunfels TX

Paul- I thought long and hard about different ways to install this mill up on the tower and settled on the rental tow-behind manlift. I have some trees that need trimming in the yard so I'll tackle them while I have it for the weekend.

Assembling the mill was a little tough- My "Garage" is really an open carport and sits about 45 degrees to the prevailing wind. Which means the slight breeze in the yard can be pretty fast coming through there so I couldn't get it fully assembled until the night before. Thursday night was the first time the wheel had been on the mill in the decade I've owned it. And then I pulled it back off in case we had any wind over night. But I left it bolted to the hub and just pulled it all off as an assembly. Friday morning I set the mill on a makeshift stub-tower (2-1/2" chainlink corner post set in the ground) and installed the tail and the wheel. The breeze picked up a little just as we went to fly it up, and those tow-behind manlifts sway a fair amount anyhow so it was a little...concerning. Plus I didn't set up close enough the first try so I had to set it back down, move the manlift and try again. I didn't want to be up in the man basket in the breeze so I ran the controls from the ground instead. I got it within about 6 inches, climbed the tower, and let my wife run it from the ground while I guided it in. The controls in the basket allow you to control how fast everything runs. The controls from the ground are "ON" and "OFF" so it was a little bumpy. Maybe not every lift is like that. But something to think about. If it had been a still morning I might have ridden in the basket. Or sent my wife up in it while I climbed the tower to guide it in. The wind certainly made it interesting.

Mike- Thank you for the offer. I have a co-worker with family all over the US and a little bit of a gypsy spirit about him. It's not unusual for him to drive from Florida to see family in the midwest over a 3-day weekend. And he does have family in south Texas. I'll see how close to you he'd be passing. It could be a single-pony relay to get them.


To everyone who assisted in any way on this build- comments, questions, suggestions, help identifying and sourcing the missing parts. A heartfelt THANK YOU! Windy Bob in particular. The parts and information you contributed allowed me to finish in the time I did. And I am not sure I could have kept on with this much longer than I did. I still need to source everything to turn it into a pumper, but for the time being I can enjoy it out of the garage and up in the air.

Joby, thanks for the photos !
You are right about the opened up space in the work area , but now leaves a void that needs to be filled with another windmill project .
LOL
Mike B
New Braunfels TX