| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Victor |
Posted - 06/09/2007 : 03:30:02
Well it had to happen.One of us having an accident with our Turbine.
Today at some stage when I was not at home a blade came crashing off my turbine into the garden next door. The neighbours were all right about it...
Basically last night I forgot to turn two nuts and bolts on one of the blades tightly with a spanner. This caused my accident because I hand tightened them.....
I suppose i`m better learning my mistakes now with such a small Dynohub Turbine.
WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED IF IT WAS A BIGGER AND STRONGER TURBINE??
This has made me realise that a Turbine is not a toy! I think I have been treating it with less respect and caution as I was getting too used to playing about with it and trying to improve it....
I¬m lucky the next door neighbour went up himself and tied my 3 runaway blades with a rope.......Think about that rotating and making a racket on a windy day.
It helps having good people living next door to you.  |
| 2 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Victor |
Posted - 07/09/2007 : 04:30:52
After the accident I`m now running my turbine on 2 blades.The plate the blades sit on i`m going to renew and make out of something better than wood. Epoxy is the answer too.....
Claudes idea of using the cooking pan looks a great idea especially with the correct balance.....
It was my own fault really.....
I`LL BE MORE CAREFUL!!
I`m think ing of going down to a sheet metal worker friend and getting him to design me a stainless steel plate dedicated for the dynohub.That way i`ll feel far safer having that on the Turbine as it will not rot or fall apart....
The 4 screws on the dynohub look like the best way of screwing a bracket on instead of me using the rim.....
I`m going to spend more time on the dynohub for the rest of the year trying to decide whats the best way of sticking the 3FT blades on...
Its suprising how well the plans from the80s version of the Dynohub and the small blade were...Overall they look the far safest,but for power you can`t beat the 3ft blades.
I also made my own long blades but decided not to use them after a while.They were ideal for the dynohub Turbine for starting up in the slightest of winds,but I feel that the 3ft blade plans are the best for sheer speed....
The larger blades I made were good startup but not as fast as your design.....
Conclusion....
I`ll stick to your design and maybe keep the longer blades to test on the novatech Dynamo.....
I`ll let you know the results.....In a month or 2.
|
| gotwind |
Posted - 06/09/2007 : 19:03:59
Lucky escape Victor and anyone else that might have been around at the time the blade flew off.
Imagine the speed at which that blade must have been travelling.....
Nyloc nuts and a drop of loctite a must next time Victor, this area of the blade connection is also the most prone to fatigue and failure, a small strip of pvc or metal is advised to spread the load on the two mounting holes, as visitor Claudes very neat example shows below (he extended his blades to 5 Ft diameter, thats why they look a bit different)
The Futures Green - Getwind of it. |
