Blades for DIY wind turbine
 

I've been looking into a DIY wind machine for many years. The part that has put me off the most is making the blades. Now it seems easy enough to buy a set of professionally built blades with known specs for a decent price. Then build the rest of your turbine around them.
I have been eyeballing replacement blades for a whisper 100 wind turbine (900w rated), they were $160 a set for a 3 blade 7ft rotor (they just went up to $180). The company and one dealer haven't been helpful at all in trying to get efficiency and tsr specs. So I started looking on ebay, and was pleasantly surprised to see many sizes of new 3 blade fiberglass blades for much cheaper. Many specs are given.

Here are some examples.
6.8 ft 3 blade for $48 WindMax Low Startup 6.8FT Wind Turbine Generator Blades - eBay (item 170291377610 end time Feb-01-09 11:31:10 PST)
9.2ft for $50 3 Wind Turbine Generator Propeller Rotor Blades 9.2' - eBay (item 360121063576 end time Feb-01-09 12:46:14 PST)
10.5 ft $128 shipped Low Speed PowerMax+105 Wind Turbine Blades 3 Rotors HUB - eBay (item 310114701126 end time Jan-16-09 23:10:02 PST)
10.6 ft 3 blade for $85 WINDMAX-10.5FT Low Start-up Speed Wind Generator Blades - eBay (item 360121045829 end time Feb-01-09 11:36:13 PST)
13.1ft for $180 WINDMAX 13.1 FT(4M) Wind Generator Blades Wind Turbine - eBay (item 360121050486 end time Feb-01-09 11:53:53 PST)

No need to carve your own at those prices IMO :thumbup:.

Wow thats quite reasonable. I also didn't cherish the thought of making my own blades. I've seen the PVC tube made blades and just thought that efficiency of those must be horrible (although cheap). These are some nice options definitely!

Pretty neat stuff. With those blades how much would it cost to put together a generator and what kind of power would it generate?

That's a difficult question. There are many variables that would effect the cost and power. If you do your planning and calculations well, you could hopefully approach the power figures they show for the blades. As far as cost; you could stay quite cheap if you can scrounge up a generator like I am. I'm working on some #s for what I'd like to try and will share them when I get a bit farther along, or maybe start a build thread if all goes well.

That is great stuff.
Have you seen any for the VWT style?
I live in a city, have .27 acre of land around the house and can not put anything taller than 10 foot over the tree line.
(and that requires a special permit and contractor and sub-contractor and sub-sub-contractor and payoffs to the mayor and city council and.............augh)
...SO...
I have been experimenting with Verticals and have made 2 Savonious style, (with very little success) one turns easily in any wind but as soon as you load it it quits. The other will only turn in >25 mph wind and will handle loading but OMG it looks like it is coming apart.
Realize that these were made with coroplast and plywood.
I am working my way to aluminum and plywood.
Back to the Q.
I have not looked hard (cause it didn't occur to me)
But if you see any for the vertical turbines I would appreciate a link,
Thanx,
S

I haven't noticed any vertical style blades when I've looked. You could always go with 55 gallon drums or 5 gallon pails on a smaller scale. These will be a mostly drag style design with good torque but low power..

I don't know what the deal is with the place on ebay listing the powermax 105 blades. One set sold and I was watching another set. I asked them for a rotor efficiency curve vs TSR and they came back to suggest I set-up my turbine for 350 rpms. This wasn't exactly what I needed, so I asked them again if they had the curve. Next time I checked the messages, they said the blade is no longer available. I checked the auction and it appears they changed the listing mid auction or something, now the price is tripled on all the 105 blades they are listing :confused:.

Kind of wierd and frustrating. I need that curve to see if that blade will work well at a fixed speed. The design I want to use has an asychronous grid tied generator which has a fairly fixed speed.

Good news though, my boss donated a 3 phase 1.5hp 4 pole motor to try as my generator :thumbup:.

Great news. Free parts are always awesome. :)

I have ever heard someone use PVC pipe as wind turbines blades, It is really free, but seems not sturdy.I do not think this is a good idea. The safty is the most important.

http://www.greenterrafirma.com/image...ped-blades.jpg.

Drag type wind machines that simply have a scoop use something that looks like that pvc "blade" but to work very well you want a true air foil, otherwise the wind is just pushing the blade out of the way, with an air foil it is creating "lift" to move it around.

Thanks Ryland for your tips.:thumbup:
I am a newbie for wind turbines, I wish you can give me more help:)