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Forum Index : Windmills : F & P shaft size & hub mounting

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david leswell
Newbie

Joined: 03/06/2014
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 2
Posted: 12:08am 07 Jun 2014
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Hi. I currently have (had untill yesterday) a small 150w hand built stator and carved blades wind mill. A Storm yesterday cracked two of the blades. I think my tail was too heavy so it did not turn out of the wind.
It took way too long to build the last one so I thought I would go down the f&p route.

New to f&p drives, I have ordered a F&p drive from the usa. I cant get hold of a shaft or its bearings as I live in the uk. Rather than me trying to reinvent the wheel, I thought I would ask for your help as I am sure someone else would have had the same problem.

1: Is it possible to drill out the rotor spline and fit a smooth shaft. Then use pillow block bearings. Mounting the rotor to a steel disc welded to the shaft?

2: any ideas on mounting the blade hub onto the smooth shaft.

My location is exposed to the prevailing westerly winds so get very high average and peek wind speeds.

Thanks in advance.
Dave
 
Downwind

Guru

Joined: 09/09/2009
Location: Australia
Posts: 2333
Posted: 04:05am 07 Jun 2014
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Hi Dave,

Welcome to the forum.

Its Pete here from the Picaxe forum, 300 watts of torque is not a lot of energy and 2 grub screws will more than secure a hub to a shaft without the need of the spline.

Just remember if you machine the shaft diameter smaller the holding power of grub screws reduces, but there is no reason you can not counter drill the shaft to take the grub screws and solve this problem.

As for blades, you might like to look at purchasing some alley GOE222 blades from Phill on the forum here, as they would be the best investment you make for blades to suit a F&P mill.

Im not sure on costs to the UK but Phill posts worldwide, also he could help out with your shaft problem.

I would expect Phill to jump in with a comment soon.

Blades link here........... http://www.thebackshed.com/windmill/Trade/AlBladeOrders.asp

Pete,


Sometimes it just works
 
david leswell
Newbie

Joined: 03/06/2014
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 2
Posted: 10:38pm 07 Jun 2014
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Hi pete, I have some blades I carved earlier this year to this design http://www.scoraigwind.com/selfblade/index.htm but my motor was way too small to control them. So I hope the f&p stator will.
I am using a picaxe to control, that operates 5 relays to 4 dump loads. Loading in sequence with the 5th shorting. This slows the turbine down without it just grinding to a full stop in average winds. With the 5th relay (if triggered) bringing it to a stop.

Re grub screws,
Would the ideal be to drill out thr rotor spline and grub screw through the rotor plastic onto the smooth shaft?
Or mount the rotor onto a steel backing plate, then grub screw plate to shaft?
Thanks dave
 
Downwind

Guru

Joined: 09/09/2009
Location: Australia
Posts: 2333
Posted: 11:56pm 07 Jun 2014
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Dave,

I thought you were asking about the shaft for mounting your blades to, and not the magnet rotor.

Im unsure why you would not use the spline with a single stator mill, for a dual stator mill, i think Phill and others just lathe out the rotor spline and use a press fit direct to the shaft, as i said there is not a lot of force applied with 300 watts.

On the other hand the blades need a secure fixing as there is a lot of force and energy being applied to the shaft from the blades.

How are you balancing your blades, as this is very important to get a near perfect balance, and personally i dont think the horizontal string method is that great (as per the web site you linked to), and i would rather use on shaft balancing.
I find balancing to less than 1 gram is able to be achieved this way.

Its the finer details that makes a mill work and not fly apart.

Personally i think using 5 stage dumping sounds good but its an over kill and just complicating a basic simple function.

One thing i use for mill control is RPM overspeed dumping, the F&P can handle over speed without burning out where other mills dont so well, so i monitor RPM and above 450 RPM i hit the brakes (full dump), as my view is better to control the mill and keep it on the pole, rather than produce huge power for a small moment to brag about it, which is only a 1% fraction over a year, than it is to pick your mill up in pieces scattered across the yard.

Pete.

PS. i did leave an email address to your PM reply on the picaxe forum, regarding the picaxe questions.



Edited by Downwind 2014-06-09
Sometimes it just works
 
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