Soup Can Savonius

Step 5 Bring in reinforcements!

For strength on larger cans, you should make a small groove on your newly traced can lines for your cans to sit into. You can instead add a thin layer of some cheap 1/8 plywood or chipboard etc. cut out where the cans go x 4 for all surfaces the cans touch. I was using thicker plywood since thats what I had so I cut grooves. This may be unnecessary, but I tend to overbuild things.

Center holes. Drill a clearance hole on all the disks for the threaded rod your using. The smaller the threaded rod the better the airflow through the overlap. There is a purpose to the 18.7% overlap. That is so as the wind pushes on the facing can, some of the air flows through the overlap and pushes back on the other can, adding power and compensating slightly for the wind pushing on the back side of the other can.

Time for the glue. I used Gorilla Glue since its expanding and strong for a wide range of materials and I had it laying around. If using Gorilla Glue, probably need some water spritzed on the cans since theyre not porous. You can tack some short finish nails at an angle through the cans or some small screws. Might need to punch a hole before nailing to finished product. Let glue dry for as long as it says on the bottle.