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Forum Index : Windmills : MacGyver Ax-Fx Build
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Downwind Guru  Joined: 09/09/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2333 |
Hair thin....Then use your teeth...Im sure you have before 
Still scraping is easier than sanding as you just draw it through. Your canoe and you can paddle it anyway you want. Pete. Sometimes it just works |
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MacGyver Guru Joined: 12/05/2009 Location: United StatesPosts: 1329 |
Winning Combination Cigarette lighter and open-mesh. Fire first then scrape a bit; add some reducing agent (flux) and flow the solder. Easy as pie! 
. . . . . Mac Nothing difficult is ever easy! Perhaps better stated in the words of Morgan Freeman, "Where there is no struggle, there is no progress!" Copeville, Texas |
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| Downwind Guru Joined: 09/09/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2333 |
Would that be apple? Pete. Sometimes it just works |
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| MacGyver Guru Joined: 12/05/2009 Location: United StatesPosts: 1329 |
Building Update Sooner or later any self-respecting wind genny builder is going to need an accurate way to count coils of wire. For most of the crew, it can be done by hand, but when you build super small stuff like I do, the wire size gets rather tiny and you need lots of coil turns, more turns than you want to count by hand. To that end, I built myself an accurate coil-turn counter. As it turns out, I can also use it to very accurately measure my lathe's rpms. All I do is start my stop watch at the same time I start my lathe, with the counter engaged. I let it go for exactly one minute and shut things down, then glance at the counter and that's the rpms. Here we go: 
This is the finished toy and now I'll show you how I built it. 
That's a steel shutter hinge mounted on the back of the part that holds the little counter. As the cam from the winder comes by each revolution, it whacks the hinge, which clicks the counter and the numbers show in the little window. There's a knob to one side, which when twisted, resets the counter to 0000. 
Here's a side shot. The counter ($10 @ Staples) is pinched inside a 2" x 2" extruded-aluminum square tube I cut off a larger piece. A nylon 1/4 x 20 bolt holds it in place, wedged inside the square aluminum tube on three other sides. 
Here the whole contraption is mounted on my lathe bed ways. That large screw goes through to the underside of the ways and is held in place by a large bar that sandwiches everything each side of the lathe bed. 
Here's a tight shot of the little counter window sowing the numbers. That little knob to the right side is used to reset the counter to zero. 
Here's a shot of that bar underneath the lathe bed, which holds the counter tightly to the top of the lathe ways. 
This shows the counter, the long screw and the bar, which goes under the lathe bed for anyone who might be 3-D challenged!
To cut the cam, which makes it all work, I used a face plate and two- sided tape. I stuck a rough-cut circle of 1/4" HDPE (plastic) sheet to the tape and spun it up. Double-sided tape holds work remarkably well, even metals. 
Here is the final-cut of the cam piece. I marked the center with a pencil, so later I can accurately measure out 1/8" to drill the mounting hole. The cam must travel 1/4" to properly operate the little push-button on the counter. If you don't have experience on a lathe, when things are cut or in this case when things spin off center, the total amount of movement is twice the distance from center, because it comes from each side. 
Here is the finished product, securely clamped onto the lathe in the proper position ready to count until the cows come home! . . . . . Mac Nothing difficult is ever easy! Perhaps better stated in the words of Morgan Freeman, "Where there is no struggle, there is no progress!" Copeville, Texas |
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Gizmo Admin Group  Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5078 |
Good work Mac, the things you come up with are very clever. Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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| grub Senior Member  Joined: 27/11/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 169 |
If you trim the button activation arm, you would be able to see the counter window clearly. Or you off set your counter so that it is out from being obscured and have a little extra arm at right angles to the main arm to again activate the counter. It seems from your photos that you would have to stop your winding and move out of the way the counter to see what your count is. |
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| MacGyver Guru Joined: 12/05/2009 Location: United StatesPosts: 1329 |
[Quote=grub]If you trim the button activation arm, you would be able to see the counter window clearly. That's a good observation, but If I use my little flashlight, I can actually see the numbers clicking off. It doesn't matter that much to me as when I wind coils, I do it at 100 rpm, so if I miss the "magic number" I don't go past it by much. Also, I built this thing for uses other than merely counting coils, although it does a fine job of that. The little "button" on the thing is linear and must be pushed straight in; when the spring inside pushes it out, it has to be in the clear so it comes straight out as well. For that reason and others, I left the activation lever (arm) on the longish side. . . . . . Mac Nothing difficult is ever easy! Perhaps better stated in the words of Morgan Freeman, "Where there is no struggle, there is no progress!" Copeville, Texas |
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| MacGyver Guru Joined: 12/05/2009 Location: United StatesPosts: 1329 |
Update July 24, 2010 That wind we all seek to capture so much has blown in some major changes of late. Maybe it's just the seasons passing, but change is definitely in the air. For the time being, I'll have to cozy up alongside Forest Gump and say, "That's all I know about that." The "MacGyver Ax-Fx build is on temporary hold. I'm waiting on some special parts, which have been tossed out to bid (outsourced) at local machine shops, due mainly to my sub-miniature, micro-millimute lathe, etc. It'll be a while before there's any more show-'n-tell, but rest assured; it's on its way. In the meantime, I'm on the hunt for some "off-the-shelf" flux-return-path iron backing plates for three small ax-fx designs, 3", 4" and 6". Of course, you know I don't want just "any" plate; I want one shaped like a donut with a big hole down the center! There has also been a major design change, intended to increase the power output. The basic design remains the same, but a few new variables have been added to the mix. Remember that story about "Nail Soup"? The ax-fx build is of late beginning to resemble that story somewhat. To recap; Mac has lots of plates in the air and needs to get a handle on what's already in progress before starting anything new. What this boils down to is "patience, please". I'll be back when there's a good yarn to spin and some brightly colored show-'n-tell goodies to share. It has been pointed out that MacGyver builds "toys". This is true for the most part. The reason is simple. Ask anyone who has ever designed and manufactured a working toy and he'll tell you it's hundreds of times more difficult than just building what everyone else builds. For those of you following this build in hopes of powering your all-electric chateau in the Swiss Alps, dream on. My intent is to make a workable axial-flux alternator capable of maintaining a 'topping charge' on either 12 or 24-volt batteries; that's all. If merely changing the design sizes works, you're in business, but my hunch is there's a bit more to it than just increasing the sizes of everything by a factor of N! I'll be back when there's something more substantial to share. Thank you for your patience. 
. . . . . Mac Nothing difficult is ever easy! Perhaps better stated in the words of Morgan Freeman, "Where there is no struggle, there is no progress!" Copeville, Texas |
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| VK4AYQ Guru Joined: 02/12/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2539 |
Hi Mack Keep up the good work, as I am sure that there has been a lot learned with your project and as you say it is a lot harder to build a little one as these things don't take kindly to downsizing. All the best Bob Foolin Around |
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| Downwind Guru Joined: 09/09/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2333 |
Thinking about this there is a lot to be said for having a mini mill, even along side a big mill. With a big mill as the batteries get close to fully charged they can not soak up all the power being generated, so the diversion load cuts in and shunts the power, hence the batteries dont/wont reach full charge with a big windmill. Where as a toy mill punching out a amp or so, will still be able to top the batteries off before it to switches to dump. It is one of the reasons why solar an windmills go hand in hand as the mill can punch in high current while the batteries are low, while the solar is able to trickle in charge to top the batteries off after the mill is diverted. Pete. Sometimes it just works |
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| MacGyver Guru Joined: 12/05/2009 Location: United StatesPosts: 1329 |
Teaser Just to hold everyone's interest, here's a little peek at what's happening: 
Dual rotors! I realize the backing plates are not large enough; it's on my "to-do" list. The fix is about 2 weeks out, as I had to outsource their manufacturing to a local machine shop. 
Here's another angle. This was a mammoth amount of work, but the good news is I've made "templates" for everything, so the next one will merely be a paint-by-numbers project! The original 1" magnet model is being revamped as well and will be presented as its own build when the time comes. Stay tuned! . . . . . Mac Nothing difficult is ever easy! Perhaps better stated in the words of Morgan Freeman, "Where there is no struggle, there is no progress!" Copeville, Texas |
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| VK4AYQ Guru Joined: 02/12/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2539 |
Hi Mack That is looking good, it should make some serious power with two sets of coils like that,you will have to make a bigger set of blades to go with it. All the best Bob Foolin Around |
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| arklan Newbie  Joined: 18/08/2010 Location: AustraliaPosts: 29 |
how is this project going? u cant have a backing plate in the middle so how would this work? do you just have a solid steel disc in the middle to replace that white disc there? |
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Tinker Guru Joined: 07/11/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1904 |
The white disk has magnets in it too arklan. The magnets across the gaps are N-SN-S etc. At least that is how I built my dual rotor mini mill some years ago. It did never work satisfactory BTW, the very tight tolerances and tiny air gap got the magnets eventually crashing into the stator and creating a mess. I'll take my hat off to Mack if he get this idea working reliably. I doubt it will make heaps of power (coil turn & magnet field strength limitations) but for me it was great fun to build and a good learning project. You are having fun there Mack  Klaus |
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| MacGyver Guru Joined: 12/05/2009 Location: United StatesPosts: 1329 |
Hi Klaus Well, I'm currently building an air core if that tells you anything! You're right about smallness. There's a limit and I think I exceeded it. It's just too small. I doubled up on the magnets, stacking two 1/2" x 1/4"-thick magnets one atop the other and that moved my air out to 3/4", but when I put the center wheel in (what I call a "flux cheater") it kinda messed up the figures. It makes juice. My test coil runs out at 1.8 vac and in star that would get me out to something around 13.4 volts or so, but at less amps than a firefly's butt puts out no doubt. I'm waiting on some parts to arrive in the mail, which will allow me to re-make the original "MacGyver Axial-Flux" machine, which has 7" magnet wheels. That one uses one-inch round magnets and will be re-built in the "traditional" manner with two plates of magnets suspended on threaded rods just like the one Gizmo is building only very much smaller. So, for the time being at least, this thread is somewhat dormant; hibernating if you will.
Yes, I'm having fun, but it's time to make some changes in the way I do things. From here on in, except for an occasional "howdy" here and there, I'll only be posting full builds after they're done and working! The "new" ax-fx is designed to use off-the-shelf hardware and be fully functional using nothing fancier than a hand drill (I hope). . . . . . Mac Nothing difficult is ever easy! Perhaps better stated in the words of Morgan Freeman, "Where there is no struggle, there is no progress!" Copeville, Texas |
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| Downwind Guru Joined: 09/09/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2333 |
Come on Mac! it just wont be the same without your warts and all approach. It has been interesting (even entertaining) to follow in your work of paperweights. The important part is you have stated the success of the build and not claimed some outstanding results that are clearly untrue as many appear to do. It is said that from little things big things grow, perhaps have a chat to Perry and see if you can pop one of his work toys in the back yard 
Please keep "Mac's Progress" an ongoing thread. Pete. Sometimes it just works |
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| VK4AYQ Guru Joined: 02/12/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2539 |
Hear Hear Bob Foolin Around |
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| MacGyver Guru Joined: 12/05/2009 Location: United StatesPosts: 1329 |
Pete, Bob, et al Okay; sorry. I got my panties twisted by someone and had to think things through a bit. I've got a lot of plates in the air right now, so haven't had much time in the shop, although I'm just this evening trying to figure out the best way to wire my air-core stator. It's not that I don't know how, its a matter of my thinking I may have figured out a way to cheat on the amount of wire used, thereby reducing the resistance. Don't know if it'll work; gotta wind two cores, then unwind them and measure the wire used. I'll post what I do sooner or later. Along with being old-ish and working as much as I did when I was 20, I'm trying to "un-do" 32 years of marriage, so my time's not really my own lately. I can't believe how much crap is caused by two small words! It's funny what they say when it all goes down in the beginning, "For better or (not and) for worse". My "I-do"-choice is "for better" but since it didn't happen that way, I'm letting myself out of the loop!
I'm getting off-thread; I'll stop. . . . . . Mac Nothing difficult is ever easy! Perhaps better stated in the words of Morgan Freeman, "Where there is no struggle, there is no progress!" Copeville, Texas |
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| MacGyver Guru Joined: 12/05/2009 Location: United StatesPosts: 1329 |
Reviving This Thread This little axial-flux was just too small. I tried many different ways to make it work and they all failed. So, what I've done is redesigned the stator and am using half the wheels. That's one wheel with 12 neodymium magnets with an iron backing plate. The flux-return pathway is going to be through a magnetite-infused cast stator. I'm pretty sure it will work; don't know how well, but it beats tossing all the parts I've made to date in my "Damfino" drawer (damn 'f I know what's in there). The idea here is to run all 12 magnets over a skein-wound coil. It'll be single-phase and will likely vibrate like a sex toy, but it is what it is. 
This is the basic coil. It's 100 winds of #30 copper wire. I'm looking for about 15 volts here; don't care about the amps at this stage of the game. 
I fashioned a temporary mold out of Styrafoam sheet. I overlayed it with clear plastic wrap as the polyester resin I'm using will "melt" the foam if the resin comes in contact with it. 
I scrounged 25 pounds of magnetite from beach sands using a strong magnet. I then "refined" it removing all the sand and junk. 
I used a 4" hole saw to mark out the hole, then actually cut the foam with an Exacto razor knife. 
This shows the cavity filled with dry magnetite powder. Note: the coil is not in there yet. When we mix in the resin, the volume actually decreases. 
I needed an icecream stick to mix the resin, magnetite and catylist. For the sake of science, I sacrificed my boyish body for that stick! 
A slightly more rotund MacGyver is now the proud owner of a clean icecream stick! 
This shows an easy and clean way to gather up all the magnetite before it gets dumped in the mixing bowl. Just fold in the corners of the plastic wrap that shields the Styrofoam sheet from the resin. 
This is a shot of the magnetite, polyester resin and catylist. I "decanted" both the resin and the catylist using the stir stick. I just guessed at the amount of catylist and cured things in sunlight. It 'went off' in about 30 minutes. 
It's soup! 
Here's the finished product. The coil is imbedded within the core. In the morning, I'll face both sides of the disk on my lathe, then mount the stator on my little windmill. I'll post that part of the build later. NOTE: I should have installed two studs and wrapped the copper wire leads aroud them in order to have a place to attach my down-wires to the stator. Instead, I did the quick and dirty and left them each wild. Oops! I'm actually just going to build this to see how well it works. I don't really expect much out of it but that's okay, because I've spent the past week designing a brand new stator concept. This new design will absolutely knock your socks off. I'm excited to build it, but I'll finish this build before I jump to a new project. Of course, I will turn a wood plug tomorrow just for fun. This new stator will be an injection-molded design and it's a doosey! Stay tuned. . . . . . Mac Nothing difficult is ever easy! Perhaps better stated in the words of Morgan Freeman, "Where there is no struggle, there is no progress!" Copeville, Texas |
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Perry Senior Member Joined: 19/11/2009 Location: Posts: 190 |
I already have one picked out for him.....and who says you can't design a generator to put out 2.3 million watts at 15 rpm. That's me on top eating lunch. 
As always....nice job Mac. Perry |
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