[Vwdiesel] Windmill

[James Hansen]

I'll have to send you a few pictures Travis.  I used to work on what was I'm
pretty sure is an aeromotor 80.  The local museum has one, and I was the
only guy that would help the original owner maintain it on the museum
grounds (it's on a power pole, so you had to be part squirrel).  He donated
it when his farm sold, and yeah, it is the only one I have seen too.  They
used a block and tackle anchored to a big gas tractor, a team of horses, and
a fulcrum to set up and take down this one on the farm.  I've machined some
parts for it too.  Not a lot you can't make for them, it's pretty simple
technology.
In a good stiff breeze, it runs a cordwood saw equivalent to a tractor.  He
used it for grinding grain, sawing wood, pumping water, and the like.

I would use a big warn winch to set up- they power feed out as well as in.
Could set things down very gently, especially toward the end of the trip
down, and run another line out to an anchor off the back of the truck.
-James

-----Original Message-----
From: vwdiesel-bounces at vwfans.com [mailto:vwdiesel-bounces at vwfans.com] On
Behalf Of Travis Gottschalk
Sent: June-27-11 8:41 AM
To: vwdiesel at vwfans.com
Subject: [Vwdiesel] Windmill


Also to update the few that were asking about the windmill although it isn't
a Diesel topic. The 40 ft high windmill I helped my brother take down is now
put up. He split the tower in half and setup the lower part after making
sure it was braced square and put the posts in the ground and cemented them
in making sure it was all level. That was taken back down then and put back
together and the head (fan, gearbox, tail) was also put on. There were then
some hinges bolted on one set of lets and the other end of the tower toward
the head was put on a sawhorse so it wasn't resting on the fan blades. Then
a folcrum was put up (post in the ground and it hinges on that). Then a
cable from the tower just below the head to the folcrum and then another
cable from the folcrum to a truck. Needs to be set up so when the tower is
up the folcrum isn't on the ground yet so it has to be the right length of
cables and folcrum. Then another rope on the other end to prevent it going
over to far a
 nd to help put in bolts. Once up you bolt the oposite side of the hinges
and then pull over some to unbolt the hinges and then you can bolt that side
up. The fan is I think an 8 ft size. The largest of windmils were 80 ft high
with a 20 foot fan wheel. The gearbox is so big that to put oil in it there
is a ladder on the gearbox as well. The fans are in a way governed so they
don't spin out of control as the have a brake on them. They take oil in the
gear box and my brother put some grease zerts in for a couple other areas. 
 
The big thing with windmils is the towers are the easier and cheaper part as
there isn't any wear part on there. The heads have gears and bushings that
need to be tended to once in a while. Several of the heads the makers only
were in business a few years and parts you can't get. Aeromotor is basically
one of the last that you can still get parts for and unless you have that it
almost isn't worth getting as everything from the governer/brake to the
bushings can be worn and can't be fixed and could become unsafe to where the
fan shaft could wear through and break or self distruct in higher winds. 
 
That being said sometime I might have to take a drive in Texas and
California to find an 80 windmill since taht is about the only places they
were put up. Just to have the biggest. We figure the tower alone would weigh
around 1600 lbs and would have to be taken apart totally to haul. The fan
also would have to be taken apart if it is 20 ft. Hardest thing would be
getting the gearbox on the trailer unless someone had a tractor or forklift
there. And the tipping over of the tower would require a really large
folcrum. I don't know if anyone is alive that has done and 80ft without a
crane but when they were put up they only had horses in most cases. You
would need a large enough vehicle/s to be able to set it down without it
dragging it forward and ruining a rather expensive tower/head since you
would own it at that point.
 
Sorry for the long post for those that don't care much about them but it is
kind of a cool history and not many can see how they were put up and taken
down. Also the pictures of takedown didn't turn out. The trees and electric
lines were the focus on the camera and the angle iron of the tower didn't
show up enough. Don't know how the pictures of put up are yet. 
 
Travis G 		 	   		  
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