1. •metal frame

  2. •tale

Possible hubs and metal discs

Frame for 1.2m turbine. All steel pieces are cut to length and cleaned up ready to for welding. Note the whole to fit the shaft (angle grinder)

Welded frame. Now weld the shaft onto the frame. The hub needs to be screwed onto the shaft to do this. Use spacers to lift the frame slightly (room for rotation) leaving an even gap all around. Cover the ball bearing in moist tissue paper or equivalent to ensure NO welding bits fall into it.

Use the left-over of the stator mould to mark points on the frame that will later be drilled. First drill 5mm holes in the 3 corners of the stator mould piece. Using a ruler position the piece so that all holes are exactly the same distance from the shaft. It’s also important that one hole is in on the centre line of the bottom T bit of the frame. The other 2 holes have to be positioned with the same space from the edge of the top T bit of the frame (See page 26 of recipe book 2009). Clamp the stator mould piece to the frame without moving it and drill through the holes with a 5mm bit just to mark the positions on the frame. Use a pillar drill if available.



Clamp the frame into a vice and position it on the pillar drill, using a spirit level to make sure it’s even. Drill the 1st hole with a 5mm bit, then an 8mm (ish) then with a 12mm bit. Repeat steps with the other 2 holes.



An extra pair of hands helps to keep the frame level.



Use oil or ear protection if needed!



Cut the yaw pipe to lengths, cut the top pipe plate and the bracket that will set an angle

of 4 degrees between the alternator the vertical. Clean the pieces up.



Weld the square top plate onto the yaw pipe (Make sure the hole is in the right spot). Position the pipe on the top of the T shaped frame. The bracket should be about 12mm from the bottom of the tube. The distance between bracket and the edge of the T and the top plate and the edge of the T should be roughly the same. Weld together securely (build the weld up gradually from different points avoiding it to snap).



Note the hole in the top plate.

Set a bevel to 55 degrees and position the entire frame structure accordingly. If it’s possible to clamp the whole thing do it...

... The inner hinge pipe (tail) has to be welded onto the frame. Place it on top of the yaw pipe towards the end without the top plate, about 10mm from the end of the yaw pipe.

Use a spacer between the hinge pipe and the yaw pipe to to create a 20 degree angle between the two.

It should look like this.

Cut to pieces of steel to weld on both sides of the spacer (ignore the hole).

Fill in the gaps between spacer and steel plates using the welder. And the metal screw fitting on top of the hole in the top plate on the yaw pipe. This should fit a rubber lined light fixture. The rubber is what will stop the cables (that will be fed through this hole) from just being pulled down and ripped off the alternator.

Prop the frame onto a temporary pole.

It spins...

...

Cut the outer hinge pipe and weld a plate onto it. It is important that the weld does not create blobs on the inside of the pipe.

Use an angle grinder to round the edges of the plate of to match the outer hinge pipe.

If you can see a line after using the angle grinder it means the weld has not properly melted the two pieces of metal together. Weld over it again otherwise the top will just drop off under the pressure of the tail/ wind.

Cut the boom for the tail to lengths. Weld it to the outer hinge pipe with a 70 degree angle from the bottom (Lot’s of hands).

The boom moves upwards as it swivels...

...

...

Position the tail boom in a 110 degree angle from the back of the alternator.

Weld a ‘stop’ bracket on the back of the outer hinge pipe touching the yaw pipe. 

Weld a second stop bracket on the yaw pipe ...

... that will be right under the first bracket when the tail swings behind the alternator...

...

Cut two flat bar pieces to length with a 45 degree angle on one end. Drill holes to later attach the tail vane.

Weld the two pieces on the tail boom.

Painted tail boom/hinge and plywood vane.