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Forum Index : Windmills : 26th November, Southern Cross Windmill
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Gizmo Admin Group  Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5078 |
I bought a old Southern Cross windmill a couple of weeks ago, and this weekend I decided to put it up in the air. What a job, lots of bad language and spilt blood. The windmill is a Z model, meaning its over 50 years old. Has a 6 foot fan and 25 foot mast, plus a 2 1/4 pump. Now you are supposed to use a crane to put these things up, but I dont have a crane so I decided to use a gin pole and my trusty electric winch. I had already set the footings in concrete, hard work digging those holes as the ground here is full of shoe box sized rocks. I used my car as the anchor point, and set the gin pole. A mate came around to give me a hand, and we raised the tower a few feet so we could fit the windmill head. With the head attached, my poor old electric winch gave up the ghost when we tried to lift up the tower. So I dug up an old chain block and this started to raise the tower. But soon we found the tower stoped rising, and the car started creeping along the ground! The car was in gear and handbrake on, but the back wheels just slid across the ground. So my mate jumped in and pressed the foot brake to lock the front wheels as well. This worked and we soon had the tower up. Now I see why they say you should use a crane! I fitted the tail and poured in the oil, and she was off. Next day was spend sorting out the pump, and soon after lunch I had it pumping water. I did take a big chunk out of my finger in the process, there is a lot of power in the wind! Give it a couple of weeks and my finger will be as good as new. 
Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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| brucedownunder2 Guru  Joined: 14/09/2005 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1548 |
Looks good ,Ol mate. Is it pumping from your dam or,cause I didn't remember u sinking a bore ?. Yep, the old claret is sure to run once you start using hand tools and working outside-reckon they should supply band-aids with every tool sold And by the way, I'm welding to day ,so I'm sure to get sl*g burns-the ones I hate are the barstards that drop into your boots ,hahaha, that makes me yelp. Having fun ,between drinks Bruce Bushboy |
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| Gizmo Admin Group Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5078 |
Yeah I've had a few of those down the boot events, and did the old one legged "welders dance". The windmill has been pumping water for a few weeks now. It pumps from my main rain water tank next to the shed to the header tank up the hill. When that fills, it flows back down to the main tank. So I know when the header tank is full. I've worked out 10 minutes use of water takes about 1 hour for the mill to pump back up ( a 10 minute shower takes the windmill 1 hour to refill the header tank ). Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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| RossW Guru Joined: 25/02/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 495 |
Well, there are 24 hours in a day, you can afford to take longer showers. Hell, its the only time of the day a bloke gets to himself, to plan projects and work things out! |
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