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nzwindpower Newbie Joined: 12/01/2009 Location: New ZealandPosts: 8
Posted: 12:54am 12 Jan 2009
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Hi There,
This is my first time posting here so I'm not sure how thing's work - but here goes:
I have started looking around the internet about building a DIY wind turbine. I cam across this website and read all up about the smart drive motor. They seamed O.K to use in a wind turbine, so I went out and brought one of the internet. I have even made my own blades from wood, which took me a day to SLOWLY carve, shape and sand. I have weighed each blade and they are basically are all the same, they should be for all the work and time they took!! I have made a hub from two pieces of thick ply-wood, measured the blades to make sure they were all in correctly [there is 3 of them], and I have screwed the blades and the hub together. In hind-sight I should have bolted each on into the hub. Anyways, what I'm leading up to say is: Before I found out about smart drive motor's, I was going to make an aluminum frame/box out of which would house the then car alternator and have a shaft coming out the front. But now I'm using a smart drive motor, I see I don't need the box. My plan is to buy this here: http://www.ecoinnovation.co.nz/p-280-shaft-bearings-and-hold er.aspx and use that to connect the smart drive motor to the hub. That is fine. But now, how do I connect the whole unit to the pole? Can I fix the white plastic thing [in the link above] to a piece of metal and then mount everything off, of that? That's what I'm thinking anyway.
I do hope all that makes sense above and the link works correctly for you. Regards,
You'll want to find a piece of metal section to accommodate that plastic, then mount the base swivel system from there.
Gill Senior Member Joined: 11/11/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 669
Posted: 05:42am 12 Jan 2009
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G'day Hamish,
Welcome to the forum. You know you're starting a hobby/activity that can become quite addictive. But as an addict commented, "they're much more funner to watch than solar panels".
OK, so you have a F&P motor and have made a prop. Well that's the hard part over. For mounting the bearing assy(the white thingy) you will need to find a piece of pipe that just fits over the bearing holder. If you had used that great Kiwi talent of scrounging and wrecked an old washer yourself, you could have a choice of several other ways of mounting but as the Ecoinnovation bearing holder is cut round you will have to find some pipe.
If the bearing holder is loose in the pipe, bed it in with Sikaflex-291. Best to have all construction and welding of yaw bearing and tail etc. completed before bedding the bearing holder assy though.
One method I used as an end stabiliser/support on my hydro might work as well. This is a last resort for those who have little or no welding resources and are in a light wind area. Buy two large exhaust clamps that fit the bearing holder. This allow you to clamp the bearing holder to a flat plate which is part of the head assy(yaw bearing, slip rings, furling mechanism & tail). Best to weld the "U" piece to the plate and fill the channel with liquid metal to stop wearing in and loosening with time. Also a must is double nutting, the last nut being Nyloc.
Well there's some ideas. How you do it is really controlled by your skills and workshop resources. It will be nice to see a couple of progress pics along the way if you can manage it?
Best of luck with it. was working fine... til the smoke got out.
Cheers Gill _Cairns, FNQ
nzwindpower Newbie Joined: 12/01/2009 Location: New ZealandPosts: 8
Posted: 09:00pm 12 Jan 2009
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Thanks Gill,
To be honest, I'd never thought of using an exhaust clamp.
I've been looking around on youtube and seeing when a guy their mounted his unit to the pole, he used little chunks of rubber, to reduce to sound/vibration; not sure on that idea though. Is having an exposed smart drive motor open to the elements a good idea? Now I've got that sorted, I just need to work out how I'm going to allow the turbine to spin freely on top of its mounting pole?
I'd be more than happy to post a few pictures for you.
Regards, Hamish.
Gill Senior Member Joined: 11/11/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 669
Posted: 10:12am 13 Jan 2009
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Hamish,
No real dramas with the smartdrive exposed to the weather. Being a washing machine, the plastics are not UV stabilised so will deteriorate in direct sunlight. Thick coatings of paint are needed on all exposed plastic to slow this down. was working fine... til the smoke got out.
Cheers Gill _Cairns, FNQ
nzwindpower Newbie Joined: 12/01/2009 Location: New ZealandPosts: 8
Posted: 01:11am 14 Jan 2009
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Hi There, Gill.
Thanks for the answers there, there are alot of help to someone like me who knows little about this. As you said: "If you had used that great Kiwi talent of scrounging and wrecked an old washer yourself, you could have a choice of several other ways of mounting" I did have a look around and got talking to a neighbor. He owns his own white ware business so guess what I got for nothing? A shaft and bearings. So that's $75 saved, as I was going to buy it though ecoinnovation. I'm quite happy with that effort. The bearing was all rusted and very very stuck. So I have cleaned it down with WD-40 and it now spins at the flick of a finger, perfect. Before I put the shaft and the bearing together for good, I might add a dab of bearing grease, just to make sure. Anyways, I've tried grinding the white bearing "think" down into that nice round shape with a bench grinder, but that did not work so I might get the angle grinder onto it, which should make it a quick job. Another thing I'm worried about is rain getting into the motor/windings and doing some damage. To overcome my fear of this I'm going to cut a round piece of card out, with a hole in the middle the same size as the white bearing. The plan is to then cut a strip of card around and run this over the top, as to overlap the back plastic wheel. When I'm happy with that, in card, I'm going to fiberglass all over the card and have that sitting there all the time to stop rain etc getting in. Well, that's the plan, it'll probably change. The bearing did not come with any bolts/screws, so I'm hunting around to find some that will fit it.
Regards,
Hamish
davef Guru Joined: 14/05/2006 Location: New ZealandPosts: 499
Posted: 09:37am 16 Jan 2009
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A bit hard to believe that bearing you restored will last very long. Were the balls actually rusted? If so, I would think they would be pitted and would soon fail.
Bearings are quite cheap. WD-40 is not a lube, so putting grease on it would be a good idea.
Good luck.
MadRat Newbie Joined: 30/09/2008 Location: United StatesPosts: 21
Posted: 07:01am 17 Jan 2009
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WD-40 in the bearing? Its torched now. You just stripped any chance of getting decent lube into the bearing. WD-40 pretty well sticks to the pores of the metal and will be dreadfully difficult to remove. You always want to use a grease, not an oil on your bearings.Go Huskers!
nzwindpower Newbie Joined: 12/01/2009 Location: New ZealandPosts: 8
Posted: 01:18am 18 Jan 2009
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davef;
The bearings themselves are in OK condition, just the outside of the bearing assemble was not a great condition. I only used WD-40 to clean it up, I'll be grease into the bearing itself when it goes up [the turbine] for good.
Regards,
Hamish
Tinker Guru Joined: 07/11/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1904
Posted: 11:56am 18 Jan 2009
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Hamish, here's the way I do used bearings: First I wash them thoroughly in kerosene. Then they get cleaned with compressed air but DO NOT spin them up with air.
After that I pack them with a good quality bearing grease. Its quite an art to repack a bearing properly, one really has to work the grease right into the ball cage so no more grease can be squeezed in. This takes time and is messy if done in the palm of the hand.
If a bearing has seals, they can be popped out quite easily but not replaced again. So, with sealed Fisher & Paykel bearings the best option is to replace new ones for old if they look well used and are going to be located outdoors.
WD-40 is a moisture repellent, great for keeping poor ignition leads working a little longer but keep the stuff off fast rotating parts. Also, keep it off anything you might later want to paint, ditto for aluminium you want to weld.
Klaus
GWatPE Senior Member Joined: 01/09/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2127
Posted: 01:01pm 18 Jan 2009
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Hi tinker,
The bearings in my AxFx mill [#6812 Z] are 15years old. Many years as a motor and the last 2&1/2 years as an alternator in my windmill. These only have a labrynth seal. I use a combo STP/synthetic engine oil lubricant. I have found that grease takes too long to free up in a windmill.
I am an advocate for good lubrication, but I would opt for more maintenance and a non grease lubricant on a windmill. My mill is in a salt air environment, so at least every 12 months I just check and lubricate all the moving bits. I will eventually modify my towers so all work can be performed at ground level.
Last week I went to CBC bearings and purchased two 25mm inside / 47mm outside bearings with seals for $34.12 AUD. There may be some better places to buy, but it was convent for me.
If you don't have much in the way of machinery, a hole saw could be used to cut a 47mm dia hole in some steel plate.
cheers
Peter
trying to build a wind generator :)
Tinker Guru Joined: 07/11/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1904
Posted: 02:37pm 21 Jan 2009
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Peter, I'm afraid a hole saw would never do for fitting a bearing in my book. Perhaps I have been trained in the old apprentice way where "if a job is worth doing its worth doing well" was our daily mantra.
I do own a lathe and my latest project uses 8 of the bearings you mention above. Lining them all up in hole saw holes would be a challenge , requiring lots of hi load epoxy or such.
BTW, the nearest size hole saw is 50mm.
KlausKlaus
Well you can buy hole saws with a sizes of say 46mm or 45mm, and then take the rest of the hole out by using a file. In the old days much work was done with a file as there was nothing much else.
If you did a metal trade you usually ended up having to file an odd shaped bit of steel into a cube.
I would only suggest using a hole saw if there was nothing else and you couldn't afford to pay someone.
If you have a nice lathe on the other hand, you should be able to do a very nice job.
Also if you have a 4 jaw chuck, then to cut a hole in flat plate would not be too hard.
I am looking at a cutting a 90x90mm RHS tube around the 5 to 6mm wall (what I can find in the shed as an off cut) about 77mm long.
At the F&P end, weld a 12mm plate with a recess machined in it 8mm deep with a dia of 47mm to accept the bearing that fits in the center hub of the F&P motor, with about a 40mm hole through the plate for the F&P motor shaft.
At the other end, I will put a 12mm plate with a 40mm hole in it and with four holes taped to suit a M12 bolt.
The self centering bearing I will use 4 x M12 bolts to hold it in place.
This is very similar to the photos under the project section of thebackshed web page.
For the pole that holds up the wind generator / pivit, I am thinking about using a thrust bearing, as I want to set my wind generator up for light winds so it will spin and face the wind easily.
One step at a time, just get the motor spinning on the shaft over the weekend that will be a good start.
cheers
Peter
trying to build a wind generator :)
KiwiJohn Guru Joined: 01/12/2005 Location: New ZealandPosts: 691
Posted: 08:26am 22 Jan 2009
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Klaus, I know this will have you reaching for your heart pills but I have been known to solder bearings in place! Including a wind turbine which had one bearing, same size as the F&P ones, which I mounted in a 1/4" plate by soldering. That supported the turbine and the other end of the shaft was coupled by flexible coupling to an old permanent magnet motor.
My theory was that I could use solder without heating the bearing to a temperature that would harm it. First I picked out the seals and washed out every scrap of grease, then I placed the bearing in the hole I had cut by hand in the plate (so it fitted in the places where it touched). I brushed on some spirits of salts then used two electric heat guns to warm things up. Being a good plumber I applied stick solder by transfer from an 150Watt copper soldering bolt. I repacked it with grease when it cooled then I fitted a spring loaded plate with a felt gasket to keep the weather out.
I believe it held perfectly including two expeditions to sub-Antarctic islands where it kept laptops charged for scientific expeditions.
Ummm, the six bearings in my copy router rig are soldered into holes reamed in thin wall RHS.Edited by KiwiJohn 2009-01-23
I can't knock solder, as I use to solder lots of things until I purchased my CIG Arc Welder around 25 years ago.
In recent times I have purchased a small gas less mig second hand. The small CIG wire wisp makes welding thin steel very easy compared to the arc welder.
A retrofit of a 120mm fan to provides additional cooling, so now I can get a duty cycle of the welder up to near %95.
I am interested in which sub-Antarctic island you went to?
As I spent 14 months at Davis in 1996.
cheers
Peter
trying to build a wind generator :)
KiwiJohn Guru Joined: 01/12/2005 Location: New ZealandPosts: 691
Posted: 05:39pm 22 Jan 2009
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Peter, I didnt go, but it was Campbell Island. They were marine biologists IIRC.
Notice. New forum software under development. It's going to miss a few functions and look a bit ugly for a while, but I'm working on it full time now as the old forum was too unstable. Couple days, all good. If you notice any issues, please contact me.
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how I'm going to allow the turbine to spin freely on top of its mounting pole?
, requiring lots of hi load epoxy or such.
