Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Cedar Projects
Unknown9:57 AM

Cedar gate with Arbor


Two cedar Adirondack Chairs finished in red latex paint

Had a comment from a viewer about the lack of woodworking projects. Good point. Yes, I have been quite busy with wind turbines and solar panels, which in-theory, has little in common to woodworking.
So, to show good intentions, I dug into the photo albums and pulled out a few summer freelance projects. As I remember, it was quite enjoyable and help pay for college. Feel free to browse through cedar structures, Adirondack chairs and pergolas.
More pictures found at the Cedar Workshop Google+ Page

Garden Corner Pergola for grapes and shade



Wednesday, January 22, 2014

The Plan to Build a Tree Mounted Wind Turbine
Unknown6:13 PM

Surrounding Lodgepole Pines
I've been thinking about mounting a wind turbine to a tree for quite awhile. Not happy with the wind turbine on the deck. It's not getting clean, undisturbed wind. If I could just get the turbine above the trees, I could maybe generated a couple more watts. 

I have two wind turbines, a small 175 watt DC and a larger 700 watt 3 phase AC turbine. The small one works good at throwing a few watts in and keeping the deep cycle batteries topped up or trickle charged. It's a nice peace of mind in the below zero winter nights.
Haven't installed the large turbine yet. The 1" keyed shaft did not fit into the tower pipe. So it was back to the drawing board. Have found a fencing pipe that would be big enough thou. Another problem the 700 watt is very heavy and the tow raising turns into a two person job.

One thought was to find a dead tree and fasten a tower to it. The only catch was it would have to be lowered for servicing once or twice a year. There are a few "standing dead" pine trees on the property, but are only 12' to 15' below the tree canopy. I estimate the average height of the trees is 40'. 

The next idea, was to select a live tree and safely mount a wind turbine to it. I don't want injuring or impede the growth. 


The ideal tree was directly behind the cabin, is a large, triangle shaped, White Spruce. It's quite magnificent to look at and would make a fine mount for turbines. Almost 90% of the wind comes rolling down the mountain and hits the back side of the property.

The cabin is located in a forest of Lodgepole Pine trees. I measured a tree that fell down and it came out to 40' tall.




Large White Spruce
Still have to mount the large turbine, but, the height factor is cancelling out the project.

On my lunch hour, I did a few sketches. I think about what resources are available: lumber, bolts, nuts, etc. Instead of what could be purchased.

Concept 1- Tree fort support

Concept 2 - Clamp platform
Concept 3 - Swing up
Concept 2- Is a Birdseye view, looking down on a "platform". The tree would be sandwiched in-between. 

Also, I have to think, "how does one person climb up the tree and hoist the lumber up?" That's what it comes down too. 

Then went to Adobe Illustrator and hashed out some more ideas. See below for the animated gif.
Updated January 24, 2014





Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Wood Stove Reco Fan (Build #2)
Unknown3:19 PM

fan-working-on-stove-iPhoneBuild #2 The second build was a success. It was based on the Instructables guide by the author "tinkerme". After reading the guide, I had a hankering to try again.

**Parts List**
Hot side:
- a passive aluminum heat sink from a Power Mac G4 466
It's roughly 3" wide by 6" long, lots of fins. The raised part for the chip, was cut off with a hacksaw and ground down. Upgrade: concerned the heat was slipping through the outside fins. Put a shroud around the hot side of the cooler. This would prevent the loss, and gather the heat. Found an aluminium control box from a washing machine. The shroud also prevented the heat from reaching the Thermalright cooler fins.
- little 1-1/2" x 1-1/2" square piece of copper. It was used as a spacer/transfer sat of heat to the peltier module. Use a copper pipe, cut length wise, pound flat and buffed up on the grinder.
- Peltier module (90 watts, ebay@$19.00) Model TEG1-12710 Note: click here for a good web site about Peltier markings     - 40mm x 40mm x 3.3mm  
  - Power input from 0-16 volts DC and 0-10.5 amps (when used as a thermoelectric cooler)
  - Operates at temperatures as high as +350 deg F  
  - Fitted with 6-inch insulated leads  
  - Perimeter sealed for moisture protection

Zalman's cooler paste **A must have. This grey goop was cheap and was included with most CPU heatsink kits. It really increased the heat transfer and the voltage.
Thermalright CPU Cooler Rated for a 120mm fan. Aluminum base. Well made heat sink

- 1.5 to 3.0 Volt DC Hobby Motor **A must have. The earlier motor, needed a couple of volts to get running. But, hobby motor required 1.5 volts to start. So, I broke the "made-from-junk" rule and bought a small hobby motor for The Source (Radio Shack) @ $4.99 *Note: a standard 4" computer fan didn't work. Not sure how other people can get theirs going?

 Props
  - The homemade, 2 blade, prop works OK, but the motor gets only up to .23 volts. Plan to work on it and make improvements
- the cooling fan from a blender gets up to .43 volt, but doesn't push air at a lower RPM
- made a fan blade from a coffee can bottom, works good, lots of shake
- A plastic, 4 blade exhaust fan blade works the best. The only bummer was it's made from plastic and could melt. So, made a heat shield for the bottom.

Testing
- Had it successfully working on the December 7th weekend during a record cold snap. Since it was minus 32° Celsius (-25° Fahrenheit) outside, I had the wood stove wide open running as hot as I could.
- Noticed the fan blades started to turn when the wood stove hit 100° Celsius (212° Fahrenheit) 
- Once I realized it was turning the wrong way, I reversed the positive and negative leads. It started to push the cold air through the fins and out the other side.
 

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Build Three of Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) from Cedar Wood Siding
Unknown11:47 AM

This is the third version of the vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) made from cedar siding lumber. It’s very close to the Lenz style of VAWTs. These type of wind turbines are fun to build. Lots of room for improvements and coming up with new ideas.
For example:
- the hubs with bearings, came from my portable generator. Had a handy grease spout that could easily be greased with a grease gun
- the struts for the scoop (Lenz style) of blades were extended to clear the garage door style generator
- Used boiled linseed oil to seal the wood parts. The stain lasts forever and works great against the sun
- Did a quick test on top of our house, but, nothing really happened. (The motor garage door motor was not hooked up) The wind is quite poor in our residential area. Plus, without the aid of mirrors or a surveillance system, it’s difficult to see it spin when it’s right on top of your house
- The VAWT was designed to be mounted on top of a tree a off-the-grid cabin
- At the moment, the garage door motor on it, but, it does not turn well with the belt-pulley system. The wind really needs to be blowing. I thinking about going the magnet and coil route
- Had to take it down after 5 days of testing. A certain neighbours started to ask questions and I didn't want the bylaw officer give me a ticket for having a structure on the roof.


Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Installing a RV Refrigerator into a Cabin
Unknown11:36 PM


With the summer fast approaching, the quest for cold beers and the ability to store food for longer periods would definitely keep the family happy and increase the moral. Therefore, the propane RV refrigerator project shot up to the top of the list.

Prior to the propane fridge, we had a 12 volt Mobicool thermoelectric cooler. On hardware store shelf, it looked ideal for my humble 12 volt solar system and didn't seem to draw a lot of amps. It cost around $100 dollars and was easy to move. But, the downside, it had to run all the time, 24 hours a day! In about a day, it would drain the four 6 volt golf car batteries down to dangerous levels. I'd have to run the generator to charge the batteries back up. It was a waste of fuel and time.  We ended up disconnecting it and use it as cooler with blocks of ice.

The next plan was a small refrigerator that would be used in a dorm room or under a bar, It ran only on AC current, but, we estimated it needed about 175 watts to run on the lowest setting. It worked without problems in the summer months and it was exciting to see it running full-time off my solar panels system. But, as the sun got lower in the sky, I noticed it started to draw more current and drain the batteries. Luckily the AC inverter had a low power setting and shut off the power before the batteries were damaged.

Wall modified for RV fridge 
One day, a good neighbour dropped off an old Dometic 12 Volt or propane refrigerator. He had upgraded to a bigger model in his cabin and wasn't using the smaller one. What a treat! Since I was new to propane appliances  I was a little leery about bringing it inside. So for the first year, it was out on the back deck working. My spouse made a few subtle comments about it looking a little junky for the neighbour. So, I decided to bring it indoors.

The only problem with the smaller style of RV refrigerators is that it needs to be inserted into a cabinet. The plan was to install it into a nifty wall/pantry unit, but, there just wasn't enough time to build it. I suggested that we go to IKEA and check out the "As Is" section for any cabinets or wall units that were big enough. Ended up finding a pantry unit with a couple of dents, but the price was right and was perfect for the space.

Before any building, I went online a found a Dometic Installation and Operation Manual. An excellent guide with diagrams for 5 different Dometic models. For example, on page 16, there is a Technical Data chart giving overall and recess dimensions, capacity, weight, electrical data (watts) and LP gas data. very handy! 

RV refrigerator can sit in a cabinet, but the chamber behind the cooling
Chamber covered with flashing
elements had to be made from non-combustible material. Went to my hardware store picked up some wall flashing and furnace ducting.
The plan was to make a box in a box approach. That way, if I did need to service the RV refrigerator, it could simple slide out of the chamber. The installation manual had all the measurements and I made a simple box out of plywood,
After assembling the IKEA pantry unit, I measured for the height of the plywood box and adjusted the shelf it was to sit on. Added a few more boards to the shelf for extra strength.
After the RV fridge was hoisted up and on to the pantry shelf, I went around the back and did some more measurements for a ventilation chamber for the wall.
Since the cabin wall behind the fridge was not insulated yet, it was easy to trim the boards and build a frame. It looked like a window frame, accept there was no hole for a window. Once the lower, upper vents, hole for propane hose and exhaust for the flue were cut, the unit would slide back and screwed into place.




For the exhaust flue, a 4" dryer vent was fastened to the flue with pipe clamps. A larger 6" hole was cut and flashed with furnace duct metal. To keep out drafts around the 4" vent, a special high temp caulking used for wood stoves was pumped into the cavities. Spray foam was used in other spaces where there was no contact with heat.


4" Dryer vent through wall

View from the exterior

The IKEA pantry is pushed to the wall

Since the  propane RV refrigerator project was completed, it been wonderful. We use it all year and it is really efficient on propane gas. A standard BBQ tank will last 2 months. My spouse is happy and in turn, everyone is happy.

Friday, March 15, 2013

Build a Wind Turbine from a Cordless Drill/Driver- v2.0
Unknown1:46 PM



Build a Wind Turbine from a Cordless Drill/Driver- v2.0
This video just covers the basics and like many of the Cedar Workshop videos, it's for learning and having fun. But, it could make a trickle battery charger, remote water pump or run some LED lights.
A neighbour gave me one of their 12 volt cordless drills. Eventually, the batteries lost their charge and  had to purchase a new battery from the hardware store. But, as usual, a newer model was on the shelves, this model of drill and battery was discontinued. After watching another video done be the Doug Daniels, I decided to take the drill apart and see if I could make a mini wind power generator. 

Started out removing the leads to the trigger, made a hub from a 4-1/2" v-belt pulley, attached blades, and ran some drill press tests. The factory gearing on the small DC motor presented some interesting results. To simulate a high speed wind turbine, the cordless drill was attached to a drill press running at 792 rpm. The results were interesting. The low (driver setting) produced 4+ amps and just over 18 volts, but was hard to turn. The high speed setting (for drilling) produced a low 6 volts and a dismal .8 amps. 

The next step is to mount it to a pole and get some real world feedback.

Enjoy!


Wednesday, March 6, 2013

VAWT Made From Wood Siding
Unknown11:27 AM


 This video and blog post is about a Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) made from mostly a wood called  Western Red Cedar. It has contains images from the first attempt 2 years ago and video update of of the second attempt with modified blades/airfoils.

The parts where various materials for around the shop:

- Blades (and struts) from 1 x 8 Bevel cedar siding lumber



- Hub- the top and bottom wood circle from a cable spool

- 1 inch outside diameter aluminium shaft

- Hub- 1 inch Floor flange

- Hub- 1 inch x 1-1/2 inch Reducing Bushing

- Two rare earth ring magnets (ebay), thin vinyl sheet for the blade scoops and assorted screws.

One of the blade scoops was on the VAWT was damaged slightly when it "moved" by a family member.

Future plans: Brace the struts, upgrade the shaft, create a better mount and somehow add a generator. Hopefully with the second tower in the making, I get the chance to test it out.
Shaping the blades

Adding struts to the hub

Right angle bracket for the blade

Close up of cedar strut. Cut from the thicker section of a 1 x 8 cedar siding plank

Shows how it was joined

High tech level system for blades. Sits on a spine of a VHS  tape case.

Birds eye view of the blades shape and mounted


Sandwiched the struts between the plywood cable spool  

Shelf bracket for more support

Top of dismantled cable spool

Another shot of the shelf bracket. Wanted to allow space for blade angle, etc.

Shaft, locking collar and magnets inserted on the shaft. Ah, yes, I did add an extra bearing just underneath the reducing bear. Maybe a bit of my over engineering!

The reducing bushing fits nicely into the floor flange. Tighten and you have the plywood, struts all wedged together. Plus the shaft and slide inside. 

Erected on tilt up wind turbine tower. 

Not too high, but I wish it was! My noisy neighbour would report me for some height violation bylaw.

At least it looks scary...

Can't really see it from the road. The trees really kill the wind.

Adding the airfoils to create a Lenz style of airfoil