DIY Windmill

I have created this blog to give some information about what to do when you are doing your own DIY Windmill project. All the information that you will read is thanks to this homemade energy instruction manual.

I highly recommend you check it out.









How to build a Windmill




Lets start from the beginning shall we.





Materials & Tools

The basic materials that you will need for your homemade windmill are balsa wood, metal sheeting, metal piping, PVC piping, rotors, strapping and a generator. The tools are your home handy man tools such as electric drill with the extras, saw, hammer and a possibly simple welder.

Minimum Wind Velocity

The minimum wind velocity should be about 7mph and the maximum can be whatever you want but you will need to make sure that in a smaller wind area there are more blades with a thinner diameter and in a higher wind area there are less blades with a thinker diameter.

Windmill Tower

The tower is generally made out of metal piping so that you can place your wiring through the middle of it. The tower should have a pivot connection to the shaft to allow it to rotate at least 270 degrees.

Shaft & Tail

The shaft is a long slab of wood that has the rotor and generator on one side and the tail of the windmill on the other. The shaft should generally be a few feet long and the tail can be made out of sheet metal or wood also.

Rotor and Generator

The rotor is what the blades are attached to and this is one of the most important parts, I suggest using a large pulley wheel. Beneath the rotor is another pulley wheel that is attached to the generator and this is generally smaller to increase energy efficiency. The pulleys are linked by a strap that is generally made out of rubber.












Blades

The blades can be made from PVC or balsa wood and should be attached to the rotor at a bit of an angle. They should also have a slight twist to them just like the wings of a plane, this increases the efficiency enormously.


More Information about DIY windmills
Please feel free to read the other posts in this blog for more information and by all means leave a comment if you wish. All the best with your DIY projects!

The best Homemade Windmill instruction manual

To be perfectly honest I had no clue where to start when I wanted to understand how to build a homemade windmill. I mean I knew that it would save me money and that it was environmentally friendly but how much was the start up costs, what materials did I need and how the heck was I supposed to construct this thing without it falling to pieces?

Homemade Energy

This was the product that gave me all the information I needed. The first thing that I liked is that it will only cost you roughly 100 dollars to make your own homemade windmill using most basic house hold materials (you will probably have to do a little shopping) and it will save you hundreds of dollars off your electricity bill.

Positive tips -

• Different conditions mean different materials and designs. If you use weak building materials for your turbine in a high wind area then it will obviously break apart.
• Also understanding the different ratios of size dependent on wind velocity is an important tip that was delivered.
• Area's to place your windmill, sometimes having it next to the home is not ideal and having many small windmills opposed to 1 big one also may increase energy efficiency.
  
• Size of generator needed for specific job you want done for example: 35 volt DC generator is useful for filter pump instead of a 30 volt.

More in-depth source

For a diagram explanation and a link to the homemade energy product I recommend clicking on the link at the top/right of this blog.

DIY wind generator - Things to remember

Here are some basic tips to remember when you are building your homemade DIY wind generator.

Generator Tower

You need to be sure that the tower is sturdy enough to hold your structure under the highest winds that are recorded in your area. A good idea is to look up the previous maximum wind velocity over the past year because you do not want your structure collapsing. Also remember to allow the tower to pivot at least 270% so that it will move with the changes in wind direction.


Windmill Tail

If your tail is not big enough then your wind generator will not be able to rotate with the changing wind direction. You can even sand the edges a bit to make it more wind dynamic.


Blades

Wind velocity determines the amount of blades you should have.

• High winds = Less blades
• Low winds = More blades

HINT: Be sure to attach the blades at an angle and if possible with a slight twist to the blades themselves, this increases efficiency.


Generator (battery)

As a basic rule of thumb remember this formula:

The higher the voltage of the generator then the bigger the rotor needs to be.

You can relate this to different sized cars and fuel consumption. The bigger the car the more fuel it consumes because it has a higher energy demand.


Build your own windmill

If you seriously want to build your own windmill then I am telling you now to have a look at the link I have at the top/right of the screen. It will show you diagrams and a link to the best instruction manual you can find.

DIY Wind power

Did you realise how much energy can be generated from wind? Do you know that over 80 countries in the World are using commercial wind power because it is environmentally friendly and there is not a limited supply of wind, opposed to fossil fuels.

Principle of wind power
To put it simply the wind force creates rotation of the turbine blades which generates energy that is transferred to the attached generator. A basic example is when you ride a bike your legs create rotation of the peddles that generate energy transfer to the wheels that create your acceleration.

Can you create your own wind power?
Yes you can do this on a smaller scale and build your own windmill. It is obviously much smaller than the commercial windmills you see but the principles are the same and you can build a windmill from most house hold materials and at a small cost to yourself. If there is wind power of about 10mph then you are looking at a situation that you are going to save yourself quite a chunk out of that utilities bill.

How do I build a DIY Wind Power Generator
You need a few things:

1. Time to do a home project
2. A relatively steady wind current
3. Basic home tools
4. Some building materials
5. Windmill Plans

Have a look at the link top/right for more information.

Using the right windmill plans

You can definitely make your homemade wind generator but I can not stress enough the importance of using correct windmill plans! If you attempt to make a windmill without any plans then you will have a long haul ahead of you and lots of trial and error and money down the drain. So what should you look for from a windmill plan?

Basic parts
The first thing your plans should have is a list of parts that you need. The basic parts that you are looking at are the windmill tower, blades, rotor and battery.

Reliable building materials
The materials that you use to build the parts need to be realistic for a homemade option opposed to an industrial wind generator. Generally these materials include balsa wood, PVC piping and possibly tarp. It does depend on your situation but a reliable windmill plan will point out what materials to use for each situation.

Outdoor conditions
You need to understand how the outdoor conditions such as wind speed, temperature and humidity affect the efficiency of your windmill because you need to make a completely different structure in different conditions.

Budget
How much is each part/material going to cost and how much money are you going to potentially save on your electricity bill. For a good resource to explain this I recommend looking at the link at the top/right of this screen.

DIY Windmill blog

This blog will show you what you need to do to build a homemade windmill. Stay tuned for future posts.