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Downwind

Guru

Joined: 09/09/2009
Location: Australia
Posts: 2333

Posted: 03:22pm 06 Oct 2010

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Big Al, you are dreaming mate.

You guys will never get this piece of ground back,or the ashes either for that matter.

You Poms could not organize a piss up in a brewery lead alone a take over of this fine land.

As for the DIY side of things, my time in England i found the English spend more time talking about the things they want to do and never make a start on actually doing it.

With a budget of 1500 pounds you should be able to build a fairly decent mill with that, but i gather this also includes batteries and inverter and other hardware so that puts a hole in the budget quickly. Still doable though.

What sort of mill do you have in mind to build.

Pete.

Sometimes it just works

MacGyver

Guru

Joined: 12/05/2009
Location: United States
Posts: 1329

Posted: 06:05pm 06 Oct 2010

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[Quote=Big Al]Our long term plan is to reconquer former colonies

From one "Big Al" to another, it ain't gonna happen. Until all those of us who "enlisted" during the Viet Nam War die off (myself included), this colony's renegade spirit lives on. Better put your take-over ideas to rest while you still have a place to lay your head!

That being said, I'll hop back on the DIY thread. MacGyver is undergoing a slight hiatus and won't be able to build anything until about April of 2011. All my machines are in storage; safe from a soon-to-be-ex-wife's reach!

In the meantime, I've been building an alternator strictly by hand. When it's done, I'll post pictures and do a little "show & tell". The only exception is: I am having a nephew weld the aluminum components of the mill head (mounting plates, furling post and tail mount), but everything else is pretty much off the shelf with the exception of one or two parts. I'm shooting for about 300 watts, limited by Alton's Calculator size restrictions. The basic design is that of an automobile alternator using a permanent-magnetic core with enough magnetism to lift several hundred pounds! When you see how I've accomplished that, it'll become an obvious "Oh, yeah!".

I hate to say it, but this is another "Hide & Watch" project. Hey, it is what it is.

Edit: A couple hours now after posting, I remember I wanted to add that my personal goal in all this is to be at least 50% off grid by this time next year. I intend using both solar and wind to that end. All (read that ALL) my lights will be LED and all in-house fans and entertainment items 12-volt. I'll continue to use a shore line until I can figure out a way to bump 12 volts up to about 1KW to run kitchen appliances like a convection oven and the like. My hunch is I will sooner or later be the proud owner of several deep-cycle marine batteries. At a couple hundred $ each, it may take me until next year to justify the expenditures.

. . . . . Mac

Edited by MacGyver 2010-10-08

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

idwatt

Newbie

Joined: 20/06/2011
Location: Australia
Posts: 5

Posted: 12:41pm 20 Jun 2011

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I have been lurking on this site for about six months.
I love it, but it does take a long time reading.
Bob said If you were in the states all you have to do is
get a servo motor off ebay for cheep and whip out a set of
blades to put on it and there you go. A 500 watt turbine
for under $100.

So I had look on ebay and is this a suitable servo to enlist for a mill?

PML DC Electric Servo Motor with Intregral Tacho

I am interested in building a dual F&P (why waste a good pole right?) but was wondering if any other washing machines or motors would suit a .5 to 1kW mill.

What say y'all?

Edited by idwatt 2011-06-21
There must be a way to use the free power blowing past my house
in my house
to stop blowing money away out of my house.

JimBo911

Senior Member

Joined: 26/03/2009
Location: United States
Posts: 262

Posted: 03:31pm 20 Jun 2011

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Interesting read.
Tell you what, building a mill that really works as in putting out KWH takes some real (I WANT IT)
It's not really for the lite hearted, but when shes up and flying, takeing on a few storms there's plenty of (LOOK AT THAT BABY GOOOO) to go around!
Oh lets not forget the YOU BUILT WHAT from the people you tell that you built a Wind Mill this is one of my favorites. (YOU BUILT WHAT)

Jim

Rastus

Guru

Joined: 29/10/2010
Location: Australia
Posts: 301

Posted: 03:22pm 21 Jun 2011

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Hi pentanque don,
Your comments about the convenience of commercialy available units impacting on the practicle value of homemade items is reality.However this forum has the culture of where it came from "the back shed",mates helping each other achieve what might seem the impossible dream at the start.We have our own research and developement department,,some quality assurance overseers,a lending library just not on paper,and a larger bunch of freinds who share commen interest.It will outlast F&P,LG's and AXFX's.Just look at the surge in electronic threads.Have fun Rastus

see Rastus graduate advise generously

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