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How To Build A Wind Turbine

With the ever increasing costs of powering a home, building windmills for homes is becoming a more appealing thought than ever before. The savings involved in using windmills for electricity is what drives people to learn how to build a wind turbine.

Of course like anything, you will need to do a bit of hard work along with some dedication but it will eventually pay off. When examining the pros and cons of wind energy, you will notice how effective this type of power is and how great it is for the environment.

How to Build a Wind Turbine From Scratch

When building your own wind turbine you will have to figure out how one works in the first place. The turbine itself is the heart of the wind power generator; in other words it is the motor of the entire thing. Most wind turbine plans are identical or fairly similar.

They will normally consist of have a set of blades and a shaft which is connected to the generator. This makes a DIY wind turbine fairly easy to understand and build. The hardest part is getting it right and actually using good pieces so that it lasts a long time.

How to Build a Wind Turbine Blade

At the very top of your wind power producing tower will be the blades. These blades are very important as they are the 'power catcher' and will be responsible for your success or failure when building windmills for electricity. Making your blades should be fairly easy and can be done with items found at your local hardware store. A good material to use for your windmill blades is PVC piping.

Six inch thick PVC pipes work wonders when it comes to the blades and cutting them 24 inches long is a perfect length. Once you have cut your six inch PVC pipe into lengths of 24 inches you will want to cut them into the form of a blade while keeping them all identical. Three or four blades will be more than enough to capture the wind and get your generator spinning.

How to Build a Wind Turbine Tower

Once you have your blades cut into the perfect dimensions along with a good curve to capture the wind you will need to install. In order to attach your windmill blades to the top of the tower you will need a disc. A round aluminum disc between eight and ten inches in diameter should work perfectly. Make sure that you bolt the blades onto the disc firmly enough for them to withstand the harshest wind gusts.

Remember that your windmill tower will be outside all year round. After attaching your blades to the disc you can proceed by attaching the disc to the windmill tower's shaft. There are a number of options available for this step but we are going to keep it simple.

How to Build a Wind Turbine Motor

Before actually attaching the disc with the blades to the shaft, you will want to create a sort of frame for the top of the DIY wind turbine. This could be made by using good quality wood and painting it in order to protect it from the rain.

At the opposite end of the blades on this frame you should add a vertical piece of metal or wood so that your windmill follows the wind as it moves around. The next step is to attach the disk with the blades to this platform and have your motor which you right behind the blades. A good size motor for wind generators for home use is roughly 30 volts. The main goal is to get the disc which has the blades attached to it hooked up to the motor so that it can power it. This can be achieved by adding a gear to the disc with the blades and then attaching that to the motor.

How to Build a Wind Turbine Generator

Once you have successfully built the top part of your wind turbine you will need to put it on a shaft and make a base platform for the ground. Make sure that you secure it firmly into the ground so that it remains there even through heavy winds. Attaching the motor from the top to a control unit that you can get from any electronics store is the final step. Once that is completed you will now have a working windmill.