When you start building your wind generator, one of the first thing you have to build is your blades. Hence it is pretty normal that most people will initially search for ‘diy wind generator blades’. You can build your wind turbine blades out of many different materials but the most common is PVC pipes. Its probably due to the ease of working with it as well as the fact that it is readily available at most hardware stores.

Make sure you have your dimensions correct and measure and mark everything precisely to ensure that your generator is efficient and harnesses as much of the wind energy as it can to convert into electricity. You can cut out your blades in your garage, using readily available tools such as an electric saw.

If you want to see, how to go about it exactly, watch this video…

So what happens when a turbine’s brakes fail during high winds on a Danish built wind generator? Well as seen in the videoi below the composite blades fail under the stress of the high speed too. They are ripped apart into shreds and thrown onto the ground.

So you have decided to build your own wind generator and with it comes the blades ofcourse. Without these your generator would be useless because there is nothing to harness the wind and spin the generator to generate your electricity.

Before you even start building your set of blades you have to make sure you have everything you need to have your set ready in no time. There are basically 3 things you need that, are essential for your project.

Watch the video below to see what they are:

Commercial turbine blades are carefully engineered and cost a fortune. A maker called Abe Connolly came out with a much cheaper solution using PVC pipe. They should be 8″ in diameter and 24″ in length. Now the 8″ diameter gives you the perfect curvature to efficiently convert the straight line motion of the wind into the rotation of the turbines. Use schedule 80 pipe which is a heavier PVC that makes a very strong blade.

Now you probably will not find this at an average hardware store, you may need to talk to a plastic supplier to come up with a short length that was left over from another project. Now you need to clamp it to your workbench so that it does not roll around. Then use an angle iron to draw a straight line on the PVC. Actually create 3 lines each 5 1/4 inches apart. Now cut the pipe with a sabre saw using medium blades. Take your time since this is heavy duty plastic it will be slow going. Do not forget your safety glasses and I would not wear my fine clothes because it is going to get real dusty.

Next cut diagnose lines through each PVC strip, each one will make two blades. You can use your sabre saw to make these cuts. Just clamp it to your work bench cut halfway on one side and then flip it and cut the other side. You will also need to cut little pieces of the edge to give a blade look.

Once you finish cutting all your blades, you now want them into a wind shape this will transfer the most wind to the generator and you do this by putting a rounded profile to this leading edge which is the shorter one and a tapered profile into the trailing edge. Use a sander to do this, and stop 2″ before the edges to leave space to secure your bolts onto the PVC. Be sure to wear goggles and a mask for this task, it will kick up a lot of dust.

After a good bit of sanding you should have a nice wing shape on all 3 blades including a nice sharp trailing edge. So now you will need a way to attach the blades to your generator, so drill 2 holes at the end of each blade for 1/4 inche blots. You can use these to attach the blades.

The manufacturing process of a wind turbine can be broken down into 4 key components. The root section, the structural spa or cap, the aerodynamic shell and the surfacing solution. The surfacing of a typical blade consists of an in mould gel coat or an in mould fibre followed by a subsequent painting operation.

Now with extensive knowledge of priming technology, Sprint IPT is the next generation of materials for this application that incorporates an integrated primer fill on its surface. After the application of the glass reinforcements core material and a proxy resin are introduced to the mold. Either in dry format for resin infusion or as recombined resin reinforcements known as prep rep.

In the root area additional materials are applied to take the high loads in this area and to enable sufficient thickness to allow attachment to mechanical roots studs. In this critical area of the blade material selection is key to provide high quality laminates and Sprint is the material of choice. Due to its ability to provide low void content cost effective components.

Once the materials have been laid on a vacuum stack is applied to consolidate the materials to the mould shape and remove air from the component. The shells are then closed together and the materials are heat cured. The structural component can be integrated into the blade in a number of ways but fundamental are two spa caps made from unidirectional glass of carbon and the interconnecting sheer web that ensures the caps remain separated and retain the components stiffness. Due to the loads carried by the beam, high laminate thicknesses with low void content and good fibre alignment are required.

As the wind turbine blade market continues to mature there is an increase in demand for materials that help deliver high quality and high performance blades at increasingly competitive prices. Most companies are now pushing boundaries in terms of shape, durability, quality and finish.