Hello and thank you for visiting andthenBAM.com!
My name is Fievel, and I’m going to show you how to create a small-scale wind turbine. This will be the first in a small series of projects aimed toward the creation of clean energy! I am also hoping that readers will post ideas on how to make this technology cheaper, simpler, and more feasible for everyone to eventually be able to make at home. So let’s get started!
First, you will need to gather the following tools:
Glue gun
Voltmeter/Multi-meter
Ruler
Scissors
Screwdriver (and/or a power drill)
Compass
Utility Knife
Pencil
Electrical Tape
Sand Paper
Pencil Sharpener
And the following materials:
Quantity/Item Sources
2 Clear plastic water bottles, 1.5 - 2.0L size, or 1 3L bottle Grocery and convenience stores, recycling bins.
1 Base 14cm x 25cm x 2cm board, plywood, or scrap wood Hardware or home improvement store, lumberyard.
120m (approx.) 28 AWG enameled magnet wire Electric motor repair shops, electrical supply houses.
4 Rare earth disk magnets (2-2.5cm dia.) Lee Valley Tools (www.leevalleytools.com);eBay.
3 total: 80 to100cm Square dowels: 2 pieces. 12”+ long, and 1 piece 8” long. Hardware or home improvement store, craft/hobby supply store.
1 Round wooden dowel (6mm or ¼”) 30 cm long. Hardware or home improvement store.
1 Light emitting diode (LED 5mmsize) Electronics supply store.
4 Fender washers (3cm diameter) Hardware store.
1 Wood screw (#8, 5/8ths inch, square recess) Hardware store.
1 Screw eye (25mm or 7/8”). Hardware store.
Plenty of Corrugated cardboard, 15” x 20”(approximately). Recycling bin, stationery store, or art supply store.
6 Braces (3cm pieces of square dowel, both ends cut at 45 degrees) cut from a short length of square dowel, or substitute other material to support the uprights (3cm lengths of corner-cut wooden trim scraps used in video example). Hardware store.
1 White glue (small bottle) Stationery or hardware store.
*Note for round & square dowels* the longer your round and long square dowels are, the more you will be able to play with your own variations of “Wind Catchers.” Round and long square dowels must be changed in size proportionately. Your round dowel MUST be thin enough to still fit through the eye of an eye-screw, with an extra inch of dowel to stick up above the eye-screw for stability.
FRAME
- We’ll start with the base of the structure. Use a pencil, ruler, and compass to make the following markings:
~Make a circle with 2 ¼” radius in the center of your base using your compass.
~Sectionalize into four parts by drawing two 90˚ angles.
~Draw a horizontal line 4” from each side of the center of your circle.
- Screw wood screw into the center of your circle.
- Hot-glue your long square wooden dowels just INSIDE of the ends of your 8” line.
- Add braces to support wooden dowels.
- Mark the middle of the 8” wooden dowel and screw an eye-screw into your mark. This is the top crossbar which will support the turbine “motor.”
- Use hot-glue to place crossbar at the top of your long square wooden dowels, with the eye-screw faced sideways toward the center of the base. The hole of the eye-screw should be over the screw you placed in the base of your structure.
- Sharpen one end of your round dowel with a pencil sharpener.
CIRCUIT
- Create a “winding jig” by cutting a 5”x10” piece of cardboard, and folding it onto itself twice horizontally. Wrap electrical tape over 4 separated spaces along the jig. Wind magnet wire approx. 200 times over each section of electrical tape (as shown in video above) in a continuous series. The more windings the better, but be sure that your windings are all going in the same direction.
- Use sandpaper to strip the coating off of each end of your magnet wire. If you have a multi-meter, check continuity of conductor to make sure that no part of the conductor broke during the winding process.
- Glue each of the 4 windings into the sections of the circle you made on your base. You still want to make sure all the windings are going in the same direction for a smooth circuit.
- Glue LED(s) to frame, and connect one end of your conductor to the positive side, and the other to the negative. Diodes only allow for one direction of electricity flow, so it is important to note which end you are connecting to what side.
ROTOR
- Using a compass and pencil, create two 2 ¼ ” radius circles on corrugated cardboard.
- Cut out and glue together. Draw two perpendicular lines on one side of the cardboard circles, exactly like the circle drawn on the base.
- Hot-glue 4 washers toward the outside of the cardboard on these lines, and place a magnet on each washer (positive side up). These magnets should match the spacing of coils.
TURBINE
- Using a compass, a ruler and pencil, create a 2” radius skewed-center circle on a piece of cardboard by doing the following:
~Draw a straight line 6” long. Place your compass guide 2” into the line, and draw a 2” radius half circle on the top of the line.
~Place your compass guide on the inside edge of the top half circle, and then make another half circle with 2” radius below the line, facing the opposite direction. The inside edge of half circle 2 should meet the center of half circle one, and vice versa.
~Your shape should look somewhat like a baby duck.
~ Cut-out shape. Repeat the process to make a 2nd baby duck shape.
- Cut off both the top and bottom contoured ends of your water bottles, leaving only the smooth middle section.
- Cut each water bottle in half lengthwise so you have two half-cylinders.
- If you used the 1.5-2L bottles, you will need to glue the water bottle halves together vertically first.
- Glue the bottle halves to the cardboard shapes just created (i.e. one half bottle around one half circle).
Assembly
1. Spear down through the center of the turbine with sharpened circular wooden dowel, and then through the center of the rotor (with magnets facing down).
2. Perch turbine/rotor assembly on frame by guiding top of dowel through eye-screw and placing sharpened point into base screw.
3. You are finished!
RESULTS
Post any results you get! Let everyone know of any modifications and/or improvements to the design. I was able to get 1.5V out of my turbine. How much can you get?!!!
Future projects include:
Hydro, Solar, & Hydrogen based power production
