Holiday update 2

Well, as talking to other people about wind power, it seems that's just not the best thing if it can't be above the house. That's one project down...

The next thing to spark my imagination, which is reachable are biodigesters. Thought being that I have a reasonable amount of grass, which when digested produces a reasonable amount of methane. Cheap solar power, in a way. That's my next project, so far I've almost completed a small digester based upon a 20L bucket, not sure how long it will last, or if the bacteria will grow without cow or horse poop to start it... Will be an interesting few weeks seeing what is produced, if successful I will probably put together another post on it. Future ideas are to scrub it of H2S and CO2, and possibly compress/store it to run a generator. Those are pipe dreams at the moment though.

Cheers for the read, if you have any suggestions or questions or want to remind me of this, please post a comment below. They are now able to be posted anonymously, which hopefully doesn't bring in much spam.

Council and Wind Turbines

As expected, my email to the local City Council about erecting a wind turbine was met with uncertainty, although the fact that they didn't just say "No, we're afraid it'll make noise and blow up and blah" gives me a little bit of hope. I sure wish they were able to just say "Don't make it too big and ugly and make it safe" rather than wrapping it in the cotton wool that is rules and regulations and stuff.

I've been advised to submit a "pre-lodgement enquiry" which seems to be something to be mailed in, this makes me wonder if it's going to be worth continuing this project over these holidays, as once school starts again I'm going to be met with a little less spare time.

Oh well, guess life wasn't made to be easy!

Holiday update

Sorry about the lack of posts over the last month or so, it's school holidays over here and it seems I have too many projects. Slowly working my way through a few, but I don't seem to be able to stick on one long enough to finish it. Hopefully soon!

Projects

• I've just sent an email to our local council to see if it's legal and/or what restrictions there are on backyard wind turbines. Guessing that's a project that will keep me going for a while.

• My dad has a little 20W solar panel that I'm considering mounting and wiring up, which I may or may not one day make a sun tracker and/or a MPPT for. Things to do!

• On my foundry/furnace, I fired the burner again today and I need to get a better oil pump, probably one out of a scrap car or something. I've also put the ZVS driver in an old ATX PSU case along with a MOT to power it, maybe an upcoming post! I've sent an email to Refractory and Ceramic who are based down in Victoria, and it seems that for the two bags of refractory I need, the ceramic wool, crucible and shipping will likely cost me upwards of $500. Depending on whether they get back to me or not, I might end up just making a refractory that won't last near as long but it may be enough to tell be whether it's worth it or not. 

• I've got some dimmers that are pretty simple which I also need to make a post on sometime, although first I have to add some filtering and install them. (On a cheap and nasty gasless MIG welder)

• Apart from that I've also been playing around with our rainwater system, for which I want to get a low pressure cutout hooked up. Looking to one day also add a greywater side to this to collect our shower/washing machine water, filter it and use it for the sprinklers. 

And that's about all, it seems I'm lacking the motivation I need to really get these projects done, but hopefully I can finish some if the goalposts come back into view!

If anyone has any comments, or would like to see a project (hopefully) finished, please drop a comment below and I'll be sure to take it on board.

Decogging a Fisher and Paykel SmartDrive

DISCLAIMER:
This post involves decogging a Fisher and Paykel Smartdrive motor, with the use of power tools, welders and human strength. If you're attempting this as well, I take no responsibility for injuries that may greet you.

Following along with my plans of making a wind turbine, this post shows how I went about decogging the motors. Reading through The Back Shed articles, the two main ways of decogging a Fisher and Paykel Smartdrive motor seem to be
1. grinding off the corners of the stator poles
2. twisting the stator poles.
For the sake of learning, I went with trying both.

Making a SmartDrive decogging tool

This post requires the use of power tools and welders so if you are following this, don't be stupid, and make sure you know how to handle the tools as well as protect yourself from them. I take no responsibility for injuries that may come about from this post.

EDIT 10/10/12: Found more pictures.


Making this decogging tool requires access to a welder, so if you don't own or have access to a welder (be it through friends or work), you will have to think up another way. If you're really willing you could make your own welder out of microwaves. Milling machines can also be used to make the tool as seen on The Back Shed, credit to Jarbar for making the tool and it's much prettier than my own (see right).

Holiday projects

With the holidays drawing to a close, I thought it'd be a good idea to summarise what I've done and what I have planned left to do.