Sunday, March 1, 2009

The Next Step...

It has been a cold and rainy start to 2009 in San Diego. I have lost a lot of interest in working outside in general and my energy projects specifically. Well, the weather has changed and with the help of Craigslist and SDFREECYCLE I have been re-energized and think it is time to move on to the next step.

I was very excited about the California bill AB 811 and the possibility of working on getting solar panels for the homestead but as of now the bill has been passed but nothing has gone forward with the implementation.

Well, changing into my inventor/re-inventor mode. I have been waiting on an unnamed source to get me a cordless circular saw but delivery has been an issue. I was rummaging around in my storage shed and found this as an alternative to the final project. This is hopefully going to be a prototype for a wind turbine that will generate a usable amount of power.

I started by disassembling the saw. This particular saw used two of the Black & Decker 3.6 volt rechargeable batteries. The current batteries that I have are getting to the point that they will not hold a charge and it is more economical to buy a newer saw than purchasing replacement batteries.

With the plastic housing removed (and deposited in the recycle bin) I was able to get a better idea of what I was going to be able to work with. The shoe appears that with some slight modification will work as a great mounting bracket for the finished project. The two roll pins should keep the gearbox and the motor solidly in place.

Due to the length of the spindle assembly I may be limited to the thickness and size of the finished blades. The other nice feature on these types of equipment is that they have a built in gear box that is tied in with the motor

I am currently looking at various options for blade design and may use either an all-metal blade with bent leading edges, a combination of metal and flat wood blades with tilt wedges. I may also go for something completely different if I get any viable options from my blog readers.

Another mini-project I am working on it to see if I can convert a Dish Network satellite antenna receiver dish into a solar cooker. I will be updating on that as it succeeds or fails.

Remember to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.