Author Topic: Zubbly's Motor Conversion one tough mother...  (Read 6954 times)

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Offline tomw

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Zubbly's Motor Conversion one tough mother...
« on: July 01, 2012, 08:39:43 am »
Back before he passed away, Zubbly "Wayne Abraham" built me this sweet little 2 meter induction motor conversion on a Baldor motor frame.

It has been in the air since just before he left us in 2007. 5 years and a bit with no maintenance or problems. This is it on top of the 60 foot water pumper tower that JacquesM and Wolvenar helped me get installed. Plus one of my favorite pictures of it  ;D:



The reason it has had no maintenance is I am simply not allowed (doctor / Amy) to climb anything much more than a flight of stairs since the heart attacks a few years back.

So, when we had the tree service guys with their boom truck here raising the canopy on our driveway I decided to do some maintenance on the wood parts, prop and tail. Long story short they would not just lift me up there (damned insurance company) they removed the tail and attempted to pull the prop but failed and I ended up having them cut the cable and retrieve the entire turbine since they were up there.

I did not get the camera until after they were done. It was crazy hot / humid and I just did not have the energy to go get it when I thought of it.

Anyway, here are some post removal photos:

The assembled prop



The blades and hub close ups:









The junction box and connections were in good shape. I think they broke that top weatherproof connector taking it off otherwise it would be much more nasty inside:





The magnet rotor is in excellent shape with only a bit of tarnish on the 1.25"X1.75"X.25" curved & skewed magnets. I noticed a shiny ring on the outside shell of that rear bearing not sure if that means it spun in there but the bearing rolls a long time just flicking it so it is not dragging, tight or anything:





The motor frame stood up well:



Motor Plate side view of motor conversion. 115/230 Volt 7.6 / 3.8 Amp 1725 RPM 60 Hz single phase, I believe.



Motor shaft end view. Those dings are from the boom truck guys trying to pry the prop off without loosening the set screws.



A more detailed photo on the short test tower:




         RIP  1956-2007
Damn, that man built things to last.


edit:fixed typo on D.O.D.
Do NOT mistake me for any kind of "expert".

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24 Trina 310 watt modules, SMA SunnyBoy 7.7 KW Grid Tie inverter.

I thought that they were angels, but much to my surprise, We climbed aboard their starship and headed for the skies

Offline madlabs

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Re: Zubbly's Motor Conversion one tough mother...
« Reply #1 on: July 01, 2012, 10:33:38 am »
Tom,

What sort of power do you pull from that thing? I'm bored with my treadmill motor mill and still can't afford a real generator. However, scrounging an induction motor and modifying it would be possible but I don't want to waste time on another toy.

I knew my mill was going to be a toy when I built it but I wanted to get some experience with towers and blades. Now I feel ready and I know that I have a decent enough wind site to make it worth it.

BTW, nice pumper tower! Did you build that?

Jonathan
Some people are like a Slinky - not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you shove them down the stairs.

Offline tomw

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Re: Zubbly's Motor Conversion one tough mother...
« Reply #2 on: July 01, 2012, 11:25:40 am »
@madlabs;

Full out, balls to the wall, in a storm it has pumped a KW into 24 volt batteries many times. Unknown peak wind speed.

I would rate it day to day on an average site as a 200 watt class turbine @24V due to the 2 meter diameter. It puts out a 100 watts regularly. It flies with no furling and has withstood 70+ MPH winds unscathed on more than one occasion.

It is a half horse motor. Zubbly always believed these can put the same current into any bank voltage 12, 24, 48 at least. My experience is it does this between 12 and 24 volts. I bring 6 leads down so I have wiring options and this has been on both voltage banks.

6 magnets.

Tom
Do NOT mistake me for any kind of "expert".

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24 Trina 310 watt modules, SMA SunnyBoy 7.7 KW Grid Tie inverter.

I thought that they were angels, but much to my surprise, We climbed aboard their starship and headed for the skies

Offline tomw

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Re: Zubbly's Motor Conversion one tough mother...
« Reply #3 on: July 01, 2012, 11:40:09 am »
@madlabs;

If you scaled this up you could get more power from a larger 3 phase motor.

Zubbly preffered 3 phase motors but did this one from a "single phase" 115 / 230 volt half horse unit.

Tom
Do NOT mistake me for any kind of "expert".

( ?° ?? ?°)


24 Trina 310 watt modules, SMA SunnyBoy 7.7 KW Grid Tie inverter.

I thought that they were angels, but much to my surprise, We climbed aboard their starship and headed for the skies

Offline ghurd

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Re: Zubbly's Motor Conversion one tough mother...
« Reply #4 on: July 01, 2012, 01:05:02 pm »
Thats in very fine condition, considering.

Madlabs,
If memory serves, Zubbly told me a 3-ph 1HP 6-pole (~850RPM) 12-wire motor was a good cantidate for being able to use the existing windings.  Changing windings is expensive, and (to me) a serious PITA.
He did like the Baldor.

SparWeb's site has some good detailed info too.  He has done a few larger units.
G-

Offline madlabs

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Re: Zubbly's Motor Conversion one tough mother...
« Reply #5 on: July 01, 2012, 02:21:59 pm »
Tom,

No furling and the power range sound about good. I don't think that with one DIY mill under my belt that I am ready to set up to a high power mill anyway. Still learning about too much to risk a bunch of money and time.

Ghurd, I agree on rewinding. Just beefing up my tower and carving blades will be enough of a PITA.  What applications were the motor you speak of used in? That will give a place to start scrounging. Any of the motors on this page jump out at ya?

http://www.surpluscenter.com/sort.asp?catname=electric&keyword=MB3D

Jonathan
Some people are like a Slinky - not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you shove them down the stairs.

Offline Wolvenar

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Re: Zubbly's Motor Conversion one tough mother...
« Reply #6 on: July 01, 2012, 04:05:36 pm »
I've done a 5hp conversion.
(here)

The actual conversion of the motor is basic and strait forward.
I did not find it harder than the 1/3 hp I did before that one. ( very much a toy in retrospect )
It is the supporting hardware, tower, and controls that will present the problems.

These motor conversions are great for tough.
I may have some problems with magnets letting loose unlike Toms little gem which might outlast us all.

Trying to make power from alternative energy any which way I can.
Just to abuse what I make. (and run this site)

Offline ghurd

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Re: Zubbly's Motor Conversion one tough mother...
« Reply #7 on: July 08, 2012, 09:24:33 am »

Any of the motors on this page jump out at ya?


Not really.
If I was serious, the only one in the list (that I saw) that MAY be a good start is
http://www.surpluscenter.com/item.asp?item=10-1828&catname=electric

I don't know enough about bearings, etc, to say if it is actually a great one though.  It looks a little different than anything I ever tinkered with.

If you didn't see SparWebs site, its worth a detailed look.
http://www.sparweb.ca/Index.html

G-

Offline madlabs

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Re: Zubbly's Motor Conversion one tough mother...
« Reply #8 on: July 09, 2012, 09:54:51 am »
Ghurd,

Sparweb's page was very informative! Unfortunately I can see that I don't have the access to tools or the skills to turn the armature down to add the magnets.

I wonder what the best next step for a guy like me? I have made and rasied a tower and made blades so I have some experience and am ready for more mill than the treadmill motor I'm flying now. But I'm not ready for a big mill and don't have the money.

Are there any reasonably priced generator only that aren't snake oil in the few hundred watt range? If I could get a hundred watts in average winds and more when it blows it would be a big help around here.

Thanks!

Jonathan
Some people are like a Slinky - not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you shove them down the stairs.

Offline kurt

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Re: Zubbly's Motor Conversion one tough mother...
« Reply #9 on: July 09, 2012, 09:25:32 pm »
if you just want a bigger mill like a treadmill motor but bigger talk to 97fishmt about how to pick a surplus industrial servo off eBay. 
Climate is what you expect. Weather is what you get  Mark Twain

my small engine page

Offline 97fishmt

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Re: Zubbly's Motor Conversion one tough mother...
« Reply #10 on: July 10, 2012, 02:22:26 pm »
Yep,  I'm expecting a 10kw servo motor from ebay on Thursday.  $26.
It should cut-in around 120 rpm for 25 volts and around 1.5kw depending on how hard
I push it. 

75# for this size.  30# motors are easy to start out with and a 6' rotor for a few hundred watts.
I still build in furling but for a smaller motor and rotor I'm sure you could just let it rip as long as you
have a good dump load set up.

There still out there if you know what to look for.  Just put some blades on and
your making power.  It couldn't get any easier.

Happy hunting.

Mike

Offline madlabs

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Re: Zubbly's Motor Conversion one tough mother...
« Reply #11 on: July 11, 2012, 03:12:12 pm »
Mike,

Sounds perfect for me! Can you tell me what to look for? The 10kW one you just bought sounds like a great place to start.

Thanks!

Jonathan
Some people are like a Slinky - not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you shove them down the stairs.

Offline 97fishmt

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Re: Zubbly's Motor Conversion one tough mother...
« Reply #12 on: July 12, 2012, 09:31:05 pm »
This is what showed up on the door step today.