Tilting at Windmills

[milomilo]

Originally Posted by arizonian

Friday/Saturday pulled the windmill down, disassembled and transported it to the house. Put everything back together and with the help of the wife cranked her back up in the air. While assembling the motor to the tower started to get a bit of vertigo, but it passed quickly. Climbed the ladder, added oil and put the hood on.

An hour after the oil was in, started noticing droplets on the ground and the pump rod weight was wet. Seems the oil is coming down the pump rod inside of the mast. I need to pull it back down and put some kind of umbrella underneath the yoke that will shed oil away from the hole in the mast.

View from my chair in the back yard.

View from the northwest. The house sits on the first hill above the floodplain.

Front porch view, nice sunset today. The little guy really gets turned about with gusts but the big guy is a lot more stable.

Oil droplets all over the place, including on top of the "well".

View from directly below.

How do you plan to balance it?

[arizonian]

Originally Posted by milomilo

How do you plan to balance it?

Balance, like a tire and wheel on a car?

I weighed each of the six wheel sections before assembly. The lightest one came in at 1185 grams, the heaviest at 1200 grams. I put the two heaviest opposite each other, and so on. There are 28 grams in an ounce, so everything is within roughly half an ounce.

The wind has been gusting up to 23 MPH at the house in the last few days and there is no vibration visible from the ground. It sure spins up the wheel!

[milomilo]

Originally Posted by arizonian

Balance, like a tire and wheel on a car?

I weighed each of the six wheel sections before assembly. The lightest one came in at 1185 grams, the heaviest at 1200 grams. I put the two heaviest opposite each other, and so on. There are 28 grams in an ounce, so everything is within roughly half an ounce.

The wind has been gusting up to 23 MPH at the house in the last few days and there is no vibration visible from the ground. It sure spins up the wheel!

Good deal.

[arizonian]

Not much of an update. Five sheckles for a string of lights, 3 AA batteries and 30 minutes on a ladder and I have completed my Christmas decorations. Cable tied the battery box to the hub and had just enough length to make it around the wheel. Six hours on time, 18 hours off automatically. All we need now is some wind.

[Ironman]

Good deal, Bill. You got more Christmas spirit than I do

[arizonian]

Originally Posted by Ironman

Good deal, Bill. You got more Christmas spirit than I do

Thanks Gerry. It's warm down here. 59° F, little wind, 3/4" rain between early yesterday and 6:00 pm today. No runoff, everything soaks in. Life is good! The desert will have flowers with this rain.