New guy from Minnesota
Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2020 9:48 pm
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.
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.