Wednesday, March 6, 2013

VAWT Made From Wood Siding
Unknown11:27 AM


 This video and blog post is about a Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) made from mostly a wood called  Western Red Cedar. It has contains images from the first attempt 2 years ago and video update of of the second attempt with modified blades/airfoils.

The parts where various materials for around the shop:

- Blades (and struts) from 1 x 8 Bevel cedar siding lumber



- Hub- the top and bottom wood circle from a cable spool

- 1 inch outside diameter aluminium shaft

- Hub- 1 inch Floor flange

- Hub- 1 inch x 1-1/2 inch Reducing Bushing

- Two rare earth ring magnets (ebay), thin vinyl sheet for the blade scoops and assorted screws.

One of the blade scoops was on the VAWT was damaged slightly when it "moved" by a family member.

Future plans: Brace the struts, upgrade the shaft, create a better mount and somehow add a generator. Hopefully with the second tower in the making, I get the chance to test it out.
Shaping the blades

Adding struts to the hub

Right angle bracket for the blade

Close up of cedar strut. Cut from the thicker section of a 1 x 8 cedar siding plank

Shows how it was joined

High tech level system for blades. Sits on a spine of a VHS  tape case.

Birds eye view of the blades shape and mounted


Sandwiched the struts between the plywood cable spool  

Shelf bracket for more support

Top of dismantled cable spool

Another shot of the shelf bracket. Wanted to allow space for blade angle, etc.

Shaft, locking collar and magnets inserted on the shaft. Ah, yes, I did add an extra bearing just underneath the reducing bear. Maybe a bit of my over engineering!

The reducing bushing fits nicely into the floor flange. Tighten and you have the plywood, struts all wedged together. Plus the shaft and slide inside. 

Erected on tilt up wind turbine tower. 

Not too high, but I wish it was! My noisy neighbour would report me for some height violation bylaw.

At least it looks scary...

Can't really see it from the road. The trees really kill the wind.

Adding the airfoils to create a Lenz style of airfoil




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About The Author Scott Symmes Scotts career is based in the Graphic Design and the home finishing industry. Afterwork, he steps away from the computer and work on random projects. On weekends, Scott and his family head out to their small 420 sq. ft. cabin in the mountains to relax and test out DIY solar panels/wind tubines projects. In the year 2011, Scott combined his love "building Stuff" and a few videos to create a YouTube channel, cedarworkshop. After a few months, the channel had over 250 subscribers and was quite popular. A few months later a web site and Blog was added for more information. P.S. Scott is more of a "do-er" than a "talk-er", so the writting or grammer may not be the best. Thank you for your patience and feel free to comment or make suggestions. Enjoy! Facebook and Twitter