Author Topic: 4.8m up and running  (Read 3829 times)

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Offline niall

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4.8m up and running
« on: June 29, 2015, 04:52:43 pm »
 :)

this mill has been in storage for 6 years after the initial course build with Hugh Piggott .....great to see its finally up , it was the biggest mill built here during courses at the time .....and a lot enthusiastic fun work , a few good beer runs as well

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it looks small now its up ......but its a big machine .....that build course at the time ....http://www.scoraigwind.com/ireland09/index.htm

i did,nt see it going up ...but its great its now flying for andy



 

 
 

Offline niall

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Re: 4.8m up and running
« Reply #1 on: November 27, 2015, 06:46:46 pm »
 :-\

unfortunately its down now ....the prop seems to have loosened on the studs and worked its way off....its a big prop

the alt seems sound and repairable though , it was in a very tough environment .....must have been quite the moment

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seems its a hard life for windmills  ....a lot of work went into this one ......but a stunning machine to sit under

Offline hiker1

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Re: 4.8m up and running
« Reply #2 on: November 27, 2015, 06:55:06 pm »
Rough start - after sitting for so long...I'm sure you'll have her up and flying..proud.
just do it

Offline niall

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Re: 4.8m up and running
« Reply #3 on: November 27, 2015, 07:14:00 pm »
the whole alt Hiker still looks pretty good ....the main stub bearing might have been up to the task ...we got it from the local agri scrap yard ...... just blade failure

the tower is probably fine ( no pics of that ).......

failure scenarios seems to go in multiples of 2 ...then 4 ...then it quickly goes to 8 ...16 ....

as to its destiny i,m not sure .....but it was a lot of fun building

in a way ..ish...thats the main thing  :)





Offline ClockmanFrance

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Re: 4.8m up and running
« Reply #4 on: November 28, 2015, 04:28:34 am »
Hi nial,

That's real sad.  :'(

Nice looking machine though.

I have allways used the Peugeot Boxer, Citroen relay, and the Fiat Ducato van rear wheel 5 stud 150mm dia hubs on my 3.7m. All three van maufacturers use the same hubs and stub axial design. They are not that expensive New, and I search on fleebay etc.

Bearings... still allot of fake stuff so each new bearing gets the fine file test, gave one back to Timken recently that I could file, and it was not stainless steel.

The above van manufacturers are now using a single bearing instead of the 2 singles, so I modify my hubs with a spacer. see pic.

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My No1 has been up 9 years now and is running fine, just needs it cable un plugging and unwinding about 24 turns each year.

My No 2 has a new fiberglass design HP blades on and is slightly heavier on the nose. This early design has water ingress on the plywood hubs and needs re-balancing every year. A few years ago it was just slightly out of balance, and to my cost, in a winter bad storm the tail jumped off its spigot, (the max furl stop bracket needs carefull attention when welding up as it has a tendency to force the tail assemble upwards), smacked the remains of a blade 200 meters away.

Next spring No 2 will get new hubs.

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I now fit a bronze soft cord that will not allow the tail to lift up and away.

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My mate Dimitri, just in the next village, has some fine Cedar for your blades, its taken him years to get some.

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My No 3,  up nearly 3 years, is running smoothly, and a No 4 is in production although a bit slow on that........




Offline bj

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Re: 4.8m up and running
« Reply #5 on: November 28, 2015, 06:39:19 am »
   A shame, for sure Niall.
"Even a blind squirrel will find an acorn once in a while"
bj

Offline niall

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Re: 4.8m up and running
« Reply #6 on: November 28, 2015, 03:41:21 pm »
hi Bj , Clockman

you,ve certainly fine tuned the 3.6 (7) design Clockman , it must be one of Hughs most popular designs , i like it as its a kind one man machine . one person can deal with all the aspects of the build , while a big machine its still easy to manhandle .

the site the 4.8m went to was a bit challenging as well . it didnt have an ideal flatish base area for the mast and it was situated a small distance away from the house....not easy to drop for a quick checkover 

from a distance any loosening on the prop might have looked fine , cut in i think was about 80rpm , not very fast

my "guess" ( at that point ) is it just rumbled away generating normally untill high winds hit and it threw the prop clipping the tower  ...hard to tell but maybe it just needs two new blades and a fix on the alt bolt mounting point ? ...but theres a good bit of work in even one blade

theres always a gremlin somewhere.......like the saying.........keep your friends close and your enemy's even closer 
       



 

Offline niall

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Re: 4.8m up and running
« Reply #7 on: December 05, 2015, 06:02:37 pm »
small update ........but maybe later  :)

seems the mill will be rebuilt with some new cedar blades .....that should be fun  :)

all is not lost .........