Watch my windmill almost self destruct

The perfect situation for testing the windmill.

Watch my windmill almost self destruct as I continue testing it in the most turbulent area on my property.

Watch the windmill furl as high winds spank it as an evil parent would a bad, bad, child.

Chunks of blade come visit me.

As I lasso the windmill like a bull gone wild, I revel the way I tell my wife (as the expert I THINK I am) "Just goes to show ya, gotta have a way to stop it"... then she says... Well It's Going!

Hummm.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• Testing
• Windmill
• Furling
• Broken
• Blade

[thra5herxb12s]

i notice you seem to be using a car alternator, does this turn fast enough to make any power or has it been modded.

[drewb1994]

i would put a brake on it.

[PonyHaven]

PVC is pretty good material for experimental wind turbines, but it seems that there is no way to make it survive for much more than a year.

When my PVC turbines eventually broke, they sent pieces as far away as 200 metres.

I use aluminium for turbine blades now. They have been in service for more than 7 years, and appear to be in good condition after all that time :) .

Still, it would really hurt to be hit by a piece of an aluminium turbine!

[muddymuddymuddmann]

thsi tail piece is too long. shorten it or make it lighter. That will allow the unit to run in much higher winds. nice looking framework.

MUDDy

[NikAbbot]

Interesting vid. When the blades hit the pole, they were flexing because of the centrifugal forces, not the wind. In the video, as the turbine spun vertically with the changing wind direction, the blades spinning horizontally were flexing to counteract it, one spinning force counteracts the other. It seems your blades were strong enough for the wind but not for the twisting effect of changing wind...you have some seriously turbulent wind...like, "Wow! OMG!," type turbulent.

[cyanspeaker]

damn that is scary. Almost a Darwin Award

[rednecksavant]

One last idea - increase your tail size - should keep you in the wind better and furl earlier. (re the bike wheel - it provides a radial support for your blades and helps prevent flex)

[rednecksavant]

What type generator/alternator did you use - did you gear it up at all - I saw no gearbox - what kind of output were you getting?

Those appear to be pvc pipe construction- have you experimented with bike wheel designs?

[brettymike]

Nice try.