How I built an electricity producing wind turbine

Step 4 Building the turbine mounting

Next I needed a mounting for the turbine. Keeping it simple, I opted to just strap the motor to a piece of 2 X 4 wood. The correct length of the wood was computed by the highly scientific method of picking the best looking piece of scrap 2 X 4 off my scrap wood pile and going with however long it was. I also cut a piece of 4 inch diameter PVC pipe to make a shield to go over the motor and protect it from the weather. For a tail to keep it turned into the wind, I again just used a piece of heavy sheet Aluminum I happened to have laying around. I was worried that it wouldn't be a big enough tail, but it seems to work just fine. The turbine snaps right around into the wind every time it changes direction. I have added a few dimensions to the picture. I doubt any of these measurements is critical though.

Next I had to begin thinking about some sort of tower and some sort of bearing that would allow the head to freely turn into the wind. I spent a lot of time in my local homecenter stores (Lowes and Home Depot) brainstorming. Finally, I came up with a solution that seems to work well. While brainstorming, I noticed that 1 inch diameter iron pipe is a good slip-fit inside 1 1/4 inch diameter steel EMT electrical conduit. I could use a long piece of 1 1/4 inch conduit as my tower and 1 inch pipe fittings at either end. For the head unit I attached a 1 inch iron floor flange centered 7 1/2 inches back from the generator end of the 2X4, and screwed a 10 inch long iron pipe nipple into it. The nipple would slip into the top of the piece of conduit I'd use as a tower and form a nice bearing. Wires from the generator would pass through a hole drilled in the 2X4 down the center of the pipe/conduit unit and exit at the base of the tower. Brilliant! (if I do say so myself)

Comments

[jchowarth]

won't the wires twist up inside the tower over time?

[GrapeApe226]

Well your vacuum cleaner cord winds up over time and you have to pull it out and unwind it. It's not that hard to unplug your long extension cord from the charger end and give it a few twists in the needed direction. I live in an area where the wind blows180 degrees from morning to evening; about 30 miles inland from the Pacific Ocean. This is something I will keep an eye on,

[spylock]

You can pu a stop on the turbine so it wont spin all the way around,it will go as far as the stop both ways though still allowing the turbine the full 180.

[jamer123]

it would of been easyer to use a ball bearing to move it around to face the wind

[parnewton]

 Please explain?