Wind Power – DIY Windmills and Turbines for Water Pumping and Energy Generation

Sailboats and sailing ships have been using wind power for at least 5,500 years, and architects have used wind-driven natural ventilation in buildings since similarly ancient times. The use of wind to provide mechanical power, much like the use of water for mechanical power, has only been around for the past 2,000 years. For more than two millennia wind-powered machines have ground grain and pumped water but unlike its cousin the water wheel, the windmill was not relegated to creeks, streams and rivers. If not for windmills the expansion by settlers into the western would have been much more difficult as windmills were the primary source of water security bringing much needed water from deep wells to the surface. In the American midwest between 1850 and 1900 perhaps six million windmills were installed on farms to operate irrigation pumps.

The first windmill used for the production of electricity was built in Scotland in July 1887 by Prof James Blyth of Anderson’s College, Glasgow (the precursor of Strathclyde University).[9] Blyth’s 33-foot (10 m) high, cloth-sailed wind turbine was installed in the garden of his holiday cottage at Marykirk in Kincardineshire and was used to charge accumulators developed by the Frenchman Camille Alphonse Faure, to power the lighting in the cottage,[9] thus making it the first house in the world to have its electricity supplied by wind power.[10] Blyth offered the surplus electricity to the people of Maykirk for lighting the main street, however, they turned down the offer as they thought electricity was “the work of the devil.” By 1900 Denmark was using over 2,500 windmills for mechanical loads such as pumps and mills, producing an estimated combined peak power of about 30 MW (million watts) - WOW!

In 1927 the brothers Joe Jacobs and Marcellus Jacobs opened a factory, Jacobs Wind in Minneapolis to produce wind turbine generators for farm use. These would typically be used for lighting or battery charging, on farms out of reach of central-station electricity and distribution lines. Gotta love those early off-the-grid types -). In 30 years the firm produced about 30,000 small wind turbines, some of which ran for many years in remote locations in Africa and on the Richard Evelyn Byrd expedition to Antarctica. Many other manufacturers produced small wind turbine sets for the same market, including companies called Wincharger, Miller Airlite, Universal Aeroelectric, Paris-Dunn, Airline and Windpower.

Here are a set of 6 videos that will help you get acquainted with building your very own wind turbine blades. The feeling you get from building your own wind turbine is one of COMPLETE satisfaction. About 45 minutes worth of video but well worth the time. Watch them in order -)

Part 1

—————————————————————————————————-

Part 2

—————————————————————————————————-

Part 3

—————————————————————————————————-

Part 4

—————————————————————————————————-

Part 5

—————————————————————————————————-

Part 6

—————————————————————————————————-

If you’re not ready to step out on the water to build your own turbine blades, here is a great kit from CMS Magnetics to get you started -

Here are some great detailed books you can purchase on building your own wind turbine.

Below is a HUGE list of FREE DIY Ebooks that definitely contain everything you need to know on building your very own wind generator from scratch. I recommend downloading every one of them and sharing them with friends and family or you can just send them the link to this page by using the share/save button at the bottom of this page. Don’t forget to subscribe to updates at the top right to get notified when we add new FREE DIY ebooks to our blog -)

Alternator Secrets

Brake Drum Permanent Magnet Generator

Brake Drum Windmill Plans

Building A Wind Machine

Building You Own Wind Turbine

Hard Disk Drive Magnets For Wind Turbines

Home Built Jumbo Rotors

Home Built Wind Generate Electricity Handbook

Homemade Windmills Of Nebraska

How To Build A Cretan Sail Wind Pump For Low Wind Conditions

How To Build A Small Wind Turbine

How To Make A Stator