Workshop at Guemes Island, WA, April 2004, hosted by Ian Woofenden of Solar Energy International (SEI) and taught by the guru of homemade small-scale wind turbines, Hugh Piggott. Helping out were Brian Faley, Andy Gladish, BJ Daniels, Michael McGuinness, Dan Bartmann and Dan Fink (the Dans of Otherpower.com). From blueEnergy, Mathias Craig, Lâl Marandin, and Darin Bird in attendance.
Who am I ?
Hi, I’m Erik Astrand and the man behind this site.
My story? I am about to be 50 and all my life I have been interested in technical things. Not sure if the special interest for the wind, and how to use the wind, started when I as a 5 year old boy and got my first sail dinghy.
Anyway, wind power and to build my own wind generator was a dream for several years. I studied many websites and also bought many courses before I finally built my own windmill. This site is about that journey and you will also find some more general articles about wind power.
Enjoy! and check out the about me page to read more.
i need one of them thing for my trailer house
Can you teach the full version on how to do it. And by the way i live in south east asia, the voltage and everything is different, teach me that also. with best regard.
are those blades optimised for the airflow? They look like just some woodboards…, but that is great what you are doing, i wish we could have something like that..
wacky video
You guys are pretty hard core carving those blades by hand. Are they balanced at all??? I used to carve boomerangs by hand and that was a lot of work, I cant imagine carving somthing that big by hand. Looks like your having fun though. Keep it up.
What is the reason for wood? Doesn’t seem practical. Is it hardcore environmentalism? I would think a fiberglass or composite over coating would preserve such a device for inclement weather, etc? Would that cause such a dent in your carbon footprint? Just curious. Please don’t tell me the pole is made of hemp. Heh, just kiddin’. Good work though, what a challenge. Also, why was the blade sideways on the truck test? Crosswind test??
The blade was sideways because the design will furl the tail in high winds (for turbine protection from overspeed). You can change the speed at which the tail furls by adding or subtracting weight from the tail.
keep up the good work, fellows!
Usually metal or fiberglass does work better, longer, yeah you’re right. But, wood is cheaper and easier to work with. So I can imagine that’s a reason they’re using it. Plus it’s a LOT cheaper. Even if you are replacing the blades every 4 or 5 years, I bet it’s still cheaper in the long run than a composite blade set. Just a thought.
wood is much heavier, the blades will loose movement due to weight. I was thinking about fiberglass or aluminum.
Very nice wind turbine!
That’s truly amazing! I slashed my electric bill in half! look here: gdolim8.wspower4.hop.clickbank. net/?tid=yt (delete the space before ‘net’ when your pasting it in your browser)
That’s truly amazing! I slashed my electric bill in half! look here: solar.xfollow.me (Copy to your browser’s address bar)
is that a 1 KW turbine?
Be smart – don’t pay any more electricity bills. more info: solar.xfollow.me (Copy to your browser’s address bar)
Be smart – don’t pay any more electricity bills. more info: solar.xfollow.me (Copy to your browser’s address bar)
I built my own Wind Turbine for UNDER $100 that currently provides free electricity for my 1700 square foot home using the simple plans at:
ambigrid-review.blogspot(DOT)com
yea great design, if your a caveman…the first 50mph cross wind gust will shed that thing
Was That a shot of hugh pigeot?
MUDDy