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Forum Index : Windmills : Casting Blades from PVC Blade Shape

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Jesse
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Joined: 31/08/2008
Location: United States
Posts: 3
Posted: 03:04am 01 Sep 2008
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So I've become obsessed with building a windmill and been reading this site for a week or two, lots of good info. :) While I haven't gotten anything useful up, I've been thinking of an idea for the last couple of days to possibly do a cheap cast of blades from some sort of pipe as the mold. Sadly, I don't know anything at all about how to do molds or cast things.

Being cheap, and readily available in a stack behind the shed, I've made two sets of blade from PVC pipe. One set of 4 decent blades, and another set of 6 rather terrible blades. Of course these will improve over time as I'm terrible at cutting straight lines with a jigsaw around the curvature of the pipes, but I got the thinking the other night why not use one good blade as a mold? If PVC wouldn't be an ideal material for a mold, could always try to get some steel pipe or something more sturdy as the mold. I've taken one of the decent blades and wrapped it in ducktape to make it more of a solid shape instead of a cut out section of a pipe. The shape looks good for the way I've put it together, like a cheaply done twisted airfoil.

Anyone know if the idea of pouring something into a section of pipe like this and letting it harden into a blade would be a worthwhile endeavour? And if so, what material would be good to use to pour in there? Or am I just a crazy redneck that's going to end up injuring myself? :P
 
Jesse
Newbie

Joined: 31/08/2008
Location: United States
Posts: 3
Posted: 04:22am 01 Sep 2008
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Grabbed the camera and took some quick shots of my mockup to give a better idea of what I'm talking about. It's nothing up to par with something engineered in a CAD program, but gets the concept across I think.




 
KiwiJohn
Guru

Joined: 01/12/2005
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 691
Posted: 06:34am 01 Sep 2008
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Certainly interesting Jesse though I am not qualified to say if that is a better aerofoil shape or not!


You could fill it with builders foam for light weight or you could fill it with resin and chopped strands but I think that would be heavy.
 
Jesse
Newbie

Joined: 31/08/2008
Location: United States
Posts: 3
Posted: 07:12am 01 Sep 2008
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Yeah, the shape probably isn't optimal, but it could be adjusted. Filling the space between the pipe and tape with something could probably give a better idea of how this will work, but still I don't know what to put in there. If I had something to put in it, I'd make the pipe section a little larger, pour the material in and smooth the top off somehow and let it dry. What would come out of the pipe would (hopefully) be the blade and just require a little bit of work with rounding some edges off and drilling holes to bolt it to a hub.

It may take a little longer due to waiting on the material to cure than just taking a jigsaw to a section of pipe, but it may allow for a little more precise blades from the same mold at least. At least that's the idea.
 
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