2 ms·

Wow, I have experience welding and am trying to imagine this happening to the table I used. Sounds like that could have been a lot worse. I don't really know m

Wow, I have experience welding and am trying to imagine this happening to the table I used. Sounds like that could have been a lot worse. I don't really know much about this sort of thing short of seeing a huge generator on a field trip to a dam in sixth grade. The stator spins around the rotor which contains magnets, and these magnets have to be constant, permanent ones. Is that correct? I assume it's not viable to use electromagnets for this purpose since they use electricity. I bet it would be nice to be able to turn them off.

jacquesm 15y ago
Yes, they're permanent magnets. The reason why you don't use electromagnets on a windmill this size is that the additional complexity isn't worth it. Though it would make assembly and dis-assembly a lot easier / safer ;) It definitely could have been a lot worse, I recall having a tea break after it happened, once I stopped shaking enough to hold a glass without spilling. Here is a picture of what the thing looked like in that stage of the final assembly: http://pics.ww.com/v/jacques/renewables/windmill/dscf0312.jpg.html http://pics.ww.com/v/jacques/renewables/windmill/dscf0312.jp...
- duck 15y ago
  And is this the table? http://pics.ww.com/v/jacques/renewables/windmill/dscf0220.jpg.html http://pics.ww.com/v/jacques/renewables/windmill/dscf0220.jp...
  - jacquesm 15y ago
    Hehe, yes. And on the table is my Texan friend Ron B. who is pretending someone stabbed him with a very large chisel. Ron is a God when it comes to woodworking and helped out with the making of the blades when I got stuck, he traveled all the way from Texas to Northern Ontario for that. Amazing guy, really.
billswift 15y ago
Actually large generators normally do use electromagnets today. They need an external source of power when starting, but drain off a very small part of the generated power to keep running. As jacques wrote, that isn't done with small generators because the added complexity usually isn't worth it.

jacquesm 15y ago

Yes, they're permanent magnets. The reason why you don't use electromagnets on a windmill this size is that the additional complexity isn't worth it. Though it would make assembly and dis-assembly a lot easier / safer ;) It definitely could have been a lot worse, I recall having a tea break after it happened, once I stopped shaking enough to hold a glass without spilling. Here is a picture of what the thing looked like in that stage of the final assembly: http://pics.ww.com/v/jacques/renewables/windmill/dscf0312.jpg.html http://pics.ww.com/v/jacques/renewables/windmill/dscf0312.jp...

duck 15y ago
And is this the table? http://pics.ww.com/v/jacques/renewables/windmill/dscf0220.jpg.html http://pics.ww.com/v/jacques/renewables/windmill/dscf0220.jp...
- jacquesm 15y ago
  Hehe, yes. And on the table is my Texan friend Ron B. who is pretending someone stabbed him with a very large chisel. Ron is a God when it comes to woodworking and helped out with the making of the blades when I got stuck, he traveled all the way from Texas to Northern Ontario for that. Amazing guy, really.

billswift 15y ago

Actually large generators normally do use electromagnets today. They need an external source of power when starting, but drain off a very small part of the generated power to keep running. As jacques wrote, that isn't done with small generators because the added complexity usually isn't worth it.