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Wind Turbine Diary
7th May
As i promised myself, i gave the blades what they wanted - a third coat, so they should be ready now for assembly into the wind turbine shape that most people know and love, and quite a few people hate with a passion because they can't see past the end of their collective nose. Anyway, that done and the holes in the back magnet plate tapped, it was possible to do the last bit of casting in the whole project - the back magnet rotor...
This time i tried to learn from my previous mistakes, and laid a thin bit of string round the edge of the mould, as well as letting the silicon rim harden more, in order to try and keep most of the resin in the mould. More or less, it worked. Apart from that, this process was exactly the same and yesterday's, so nothing particularly exciting to write or pictures to show. Below, the three blades are drying their varnish, and the last cast is in the background with its steel objects clamping the lid down. Since the mould was so heavily waxed last time, the mould was easily useable again. Now, after this major burst of activity, things will be calm for a while (i.e. nothing will get done) because i will be away from Kingussie for a week. When i get back though, i should be able to get the steel bits necessary for the main part of the turbine, to which all other bits will be attached, thus putting all previous work into sorely needed context. Until then, goodbye, and turn off the lights when you leave the car...
Update: I have now returned and got hold of all the bits of steel pipes, angles, plates and bars necessary for the "yaw bearing" which is the bit that will hold everything together and weigh a ton. I have to try and get into the high school this week to use the metal cutting and grinding equipment in there unless i want to spend all week with a hacksaw. Which i don't. After that, i'll update with pictures and hopefully welding will be in the not too distant future. Until then...
23rd May
Then is now now! Actually it was a few hours ago, but i won't get pedantic... Today i went into the high school technology department with the bits of steel for the yaw bearing, where Willie Anderson cut my steel angles and pipes using a big electric hacksaw, which was both far less effort and much more accurate than trying to do it with a hacksaw with blunt blade:
This is a close-up of the machine cutting an angle, for no discernible reason or insight other than to make this page look prettier:
This done, another angled piece of steel was shaped in the shaper (!) and i hacksawed as much off the angles as possible before Willie used the grinder to make the necessary curves in three of the pieces of steel. The purpose of these curves is so that these pieces sit snugly around the main tube of the yaw bearing where they will be welded. You will see what i mean in future pages about welding the whole thing together:
Many thanks to Willie, and also Brian Dziennik for their help and coffee for today, and for letting me into the department. The next thing that i can really do on the turbine is the welding of the yaw bearing, which requires a skilled welder (Dave Stewart) who is away until next week so i'll need to wait again. But once that is done then the end is in sight!! Rob
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