3 ms·
Neat design (especially the blades), but I have these issues: 1. It's only $30 of parts if you get most of the parts for free (especially if you consider the m
by ppf 6y ago
Neat design (especially the blades), but I have these issues:
1. It's only $30 of parts if you get most of the parts for free (especially if you consider the mounting hardware).
2. You're screwed if you can't get hold of those alu sheets from a printers shop - I have no idea where I would find them.
3. There's little info on how to turn the rotary motion into electrical power, and no info on expected power output.
4. The published design, with one bicycle wheel, does not look strong enough (a later video shows a new design with two wheels, but then you have alignment issues). There's a big bending moment on the axle, and those old-fashioned freewheel hubs are known to snap axles (I've snapped one myself).
5. None of the electrics are weatherproof, but that's par for the course for homebrew stuff!
- sokoloff 6y ago2. Sheet aluminum is readily available worldwide. Used litho plates are some of the cheapest source of large sheet aluminum but those are far from the only source. Any industrial metal supplier will be able to supply this part, but the price per sheet is likely to be higher than $30.
- ppf 6y agoMany things are "readily available worldwide", if you ignore the cost.
- Vrondi 6y agoYou could get sheet metal at any place that sells HVAC supplies.
- ppf 6y agoI don't live in a country that has such broad adoption of HVAC supplies.
- jackhack 6y agofor future reference McMaster-Carr (https://www.mcmaster.com/ https://www.mcmaster.com/) sells almost any mechanical thing a DIYer could ever want. Shipping on big items might be prohibitive but the selection is vast.
- ppf 6y agoI don't live in the US.
- bserge 6y agoDoes it have to be aluminum? Looks like it could be replaced with thin PVC (or other plastic) sheets, which is cheap and also used in advertisement banners in most of the world. An induction motor works as a generator, a couple of old washing machine motors can work well. Some people made wind turbines out of LG washer radial motors.
- jccooper 6y agoMany of the fabrication techniques rely on sharp angle bends in the sheet, which would not be ideal in plastic.