How to Build a Wind Turbine
There are several types of wind turbines designed to generate power. Building a wind turbine is not as difficult as it may sound. The materials are fairly easy to obtain and the process does not take all that long.
Required Materials
- plywood
- 120m enamel magnet wire - 28 gauge
- disk magnets
- ¼” square dowels
- 5mm LED
- four 3cm washers
- 7/8” eye screw
- corrugated cardboard
- 6 square dowel braces 3mm
- white glue
Required Tools
- tape measure
- electrical tape
- compass
- scissors
- utility knife
- screwdriver
- voltmeter
- glue gun
- pencil/paper
Instructions
- Cutting the Blades - Begin by cutting two half circles with a 6” radius from a piece of paper. Glue them together so that one end point is half way across the other half circle. Place on some cardboard and trace around the edges. Cut out the shape. Repeat the process.
- Constructing the Base - Begin with a piece of plywood. Make a 6cm radius circle and mark two 90-degree angle lines on it to get the center of the circle. Drill a wood screw into the plywood at the center point of the circle. From the center point, measure 8cm in both directions for turbine supports.
- Constructing the Frame – Using glue, attach two 30cm long square vertical supports at the 8cm mark. Make sure that they are vertical. Construct foot supports at the base of the vertical support member. Find the middle of the horizontal frame member and screw an eye screw into it. Slide the circular dowel through the eye screw to the screw on the base. Glue the horizontal member in place, being generous with the glue.
- Constructing the Coils - Wrap the corrugated cardboard around itself so that it forms a jig 3cm x 20cm. With electrical tape, secure the cardboard together. Leaving 40cm of extra space on both ends, wrap 200 rounds of wire around the jig. Repeat this step four times, leaving ample space between each wrap. Carefully remove each wire coil from the jig and tape it with electrical tape. Scrape 15mm of enamel from the ends of each coil and test for current using the voltmeter.
- Coil Layout - On the base, use the center-point lines as center axes for the ovular coils. Lay the coils onto the base so that they are positioned lengthwise along the axis line. Now, using the LED as a starting and ending point, wire each coil to its neighboring coil in the series. The direction of the coil from start to finish should be clockwise. Glue all coils to the base and make sure the end and beginning portions cannot be caught by the propeller.
- Magnets - Cut a 6cm disc from cardboard and mark the center with 90-degree lines. Punch a hole in the center of the disc. Glue clean washers to the end points of the center lines. Glue the magnets, with north facing up, to the washers.
- Constructing the Tower - Cut a plastic water bottle in half lengthwise and remove the top and bottom curved portions. Glue it back to itself so that it matches the disc shapes constructed in step 1. Attach the discs with glue. Both ends should now be closed. Punch a hole in the ends and insert the circular dowel. Continue the dowel into the magnet disc hole with the magnets facing the wire coils. Make sure the dowel has a sharpened point on the bottom end.