Starting to build the wind generator
At this month’s breakcore pancakes we decided to make a start on investigating DIY wind power. We are interested in these plans http://www.scoraigwind.com/pirate%20oldies/Brakedrum%20windmill%201998.pdf because they involve the use of a reused automobile part, something we surely have a LOT of in Detroit. I’m not expecting that we’ll be able to follow these plans exactly, but this is the right idea. Plus Hugh Piggott, the author, describes a lot of principles that are very valuable to understand when doing this sort of thing. He also has some books which look to be really good. We didn’t get particularly far, but advanced our ideas about winding coils. We tried to wind them with the winding machine configured laterally, but now we think that doing the vertical way (pictured) will work better after all. I also didn’t totally understand the shape of the outside wood pieces, but after trying it out I understand how they are supposed to work. I’ll post up pictures of the complete winding machine after the next try.
winding coils
the ‘magnet wire’