A simple guide to making your own wind turbine

If you live in a windy area, you could take advantage of the weather by building a small wind turbine. Here is a construction guide for a DIY turbine for your home. (h/t to AskAPrepper.com)

You will need the following tools and materials for your project:

• Old electric drill
• Phillips screwdriver and screws
• A cutting tool such as PVC cutter or saw
• Soldering gun
• Heat gun
• Electrical tape
• Three PVC T pipe pieces
• Four PVC corner pipe pieces
• Long, straight PVC pipes

Take the PVC piping, corners, and T pipes. Use them to build a base for your wind turbine. Cut the pieces into appropriate lengths.

Hold down the trigger of the drill while you heat the solder covering the wires. This will free up the motor. There will also be a small gear that fits the spinning part of the motor. Keep it for later.

Time to work on the fin of the turbine that keeps it pointing towards the wind. Take an L-shaped piece of toilet piping, a plastic sheet, and a metal sheet.

Wrap the metal sheet around the shorter end of the L-shaped toilet pipe. Ensure that the thicker end of the sheet is facing towards the back.

Drill holes into both strips and link them with a bolt. Put the plastic sheet on top of the metal sheet and drill two holes through them at the same level. (Related: DIY natural bleach alternative.)

Building the propeller of your DIY wind turbine

Take one of the leftover pieces of PVC piping. Cut it along its length to get three equal pieces. Draw the shape of the turbine blade on each length and cut them out.

Smooth the edges of the fins with a grinder. Drill a hole at the bottom of each blade.

Prepare two plastic jar lids. One should be smaller than the other and able to fit inside. Put them together.

Get the small gear from the motor. Put it on a metal sheet and heat them with a heat gun.

Push the plastic lids partway through this hot gear. This will imprint the shape into the lids. Do not push the lids all the way through.

Connect the gear piece to the motor. Place the plastic lids on top of it.

Make three holes into the plastic lids. Secure the blades onto the lids with nuts and bolts to complete the propeller of the wind turbine.

Now you can install the wiring. Make sure the wires of the motor is long enough. Extend them if necessary.

Fit the motor inside the toilet piping. If it is too small, wrap electrical tape around it. The tighter the fit, the better is its weather resistance.

Keeping your homemade wind turbine from rotating too much

The final step is to give the wind turbine the ability to rotate 180 degrees. Take the spinning tip of the drill and put a screw in its bottom to keep it from spinning too much.

Put the drill tip inside the longer end of the L-shaped toilet pipe. Wrap electric tape around it if it is too small for the pipe, or grind it down if it is too big.

Drill holes into the top, side, and bottom of the PVC piping that you are using for the stand. Route as much of the wiring inside the pipes as possible.

Add a horizontal screw at the bottom of the toilet pipe and a vertical screw into the top of the PVC pipe. These screws will lock the wind turbine in place and keep it from snapping the wires.

For best results, hook your new DIY wind turbine to an electric battery.

You can find more interesting guides for off-the-grid living at OffGrid.news.

Sources include:

AskAPrepper.com

GreenTechMedia.com