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donniedingle
Junior Member
United Kingdom
101 Posts |
 Posted - 04/05/2008 : 12:29:27
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good morning windies.
well i have got all my sowing finished so a nice easy-ish day on the farm, catch up with forums etc lovely, well the other week i bought off Ebay some pvc blades that where suited to a 1kw unit, well up early this morning man and dog have an easy day, sunshining, great to be alive, so i thinks i'll try those new blades, rummages around my scrap pile and discovers a seed disk coulter is the perfect fit onto the futureenergy PMG, and above all its a slight concave shape to it, so will help keep the pvc blades away from the mast. So out with scriber some sharp drills, and the use of pythagarus.....well pie r squared ...lol. and sets the disc out drills holes , double checks all spacings, great .
looks pretty mean, and a flywheel effect too.
Drill out the pvc blades to match my new hub, nice new dished 2" mudguard repair washers to spread the load across the face of the pvc blades, (i have seen you lads doing this a thousand times) donnie thinking, wow these all look pretty snappy when assembled, so up the ladder i go to fit this nice piece of part agricultural machine / re-use of old pipe, wow i'm recyling here. well its not over windy today perhaps 40 mph just a nice SW from the sea. Well remove the shorting link from the pmg's recitifier unit, and away she goesssssssss. wow, I'm getting a pretty decent output, so plan on sawing firewood with my source of free green energy, well a cup of tea and a sandwich is in order before i start, sat here admireing how quiet these blades are .......THEN....holy geeeeeezzzzzz noiseeeeeeeeee. even the dog coward under the desk, so out i goes to see the whole unit still thrashing away but less one blade, quickly dive into my shed and short out the unit and bring her under control, one blade had GONE.....not there.
So i quickly get back up the ladder and remove the blades and hub, and look it sheared clean off.
Dam it must have been faulty, but upon close inspection they other blades are showing signs of degrading after only a couple of hours.
PVC blades !!!!! no good for my location, but on close inspection there are extrusion lines along the length of the pipe. and cracks have run up them from the root,
CONCLUSION, the blades made from this utility pipe and not sewer pipe use's reclaimed polymers in its manufacture, thats why its only suited for underground, and carbon black used to colour it. Orange pipe uses virgin polymers in its manufacture hence why its so expensive, and polymers (related to the price of oil) so guys beware, had this happened during the night with a good wind i'd hate to think of the consequences to property or even loss of life or limb.
the offending spec of the pipe still on the blade.
regards Donnie from a disaster zone in the scottish highlands .
just keep her spinning..
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Sundowner
Starting Member
Ireland
47 Posts |
Posted - 04/05/2008 : 14:05:26
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Hi Donnie,
Shame about the blades, Its fairly obvious from the pictures that those blades are pretty poor.
Great idea for the hub now I'll have to see about sourcing one of those cutting discs.
I've made some blades from 4inch soil pipe and they seem to be fairly robust. Plenty of high wind yesterday and they performed well.
http://gotwind.forumco.com/topic~TOPIC_ID~687.asp
I've also made blades from six inch soil pipe, much heavier quality and I suspect they will last a lot longer when I eventually get around to fitting them.
If you have access to various pipes you should make yourself some from six inch pipe following the pattern of those blades you have there.
Its an ill wind that etc etc :)
Sundowner....huh.........thats what they call us.......Sundowners |
Edited by - Sundowner on 04/05/2008 14:08:29 |
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Victor
Junior Member
United Kingdom
357 Posts |
Posted - 04/05/2008 : 14:47:25
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Personally myself i have been building a few turbines this year,but to be honest in an urban area I think SOLAR is much safer for newcomers. I`m thinking of going solar and at the moment i`m just saving up for the panels.. Turbines can be dangerous and make a noise ok for rural areas i think.
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windymiller
New Member
United Kingdom
57 Posts |
Posted - 04/05/2008 : 16:27:32
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Just a thought.....the seed drill disc ....how heavy is this item? .....a few kg+
If your turbine is going full tilt with the wind......then suddenly the wind dies for a moment,the flywheel effect will keep the turbine spinning to an extent.
Also the blades act as a brake,because the air pressure around the back side of blade will be high forcing the blade forwards,possibly causing the blade to break
Could be wrong....its just somthing that i pictured in my mind.
Cheers WM |
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ghurd
Junior Member
USA
274 Posts |
Posted - 04/05/2008 : 19:06:09
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Those look very thin. How thick are they?
G- |
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MattM
New Member
USA
84 Posts |
Posted - 04/05/2008 : 20:19:37
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You have to be careful with solar panels, too. Some people don't install them too securely the first time out.
Go Huskers! |
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oz_sprog
Starting Member
USA
10 Posts |
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PVC Blade Disaster......BEWARE.
