The rotating tower supports the turbine and superstructures on the standpipe so that they can rotate through 360°.
A slip ring is also integrated in it to dissipate the generated energy to the non-rotating part of WinDIY.
How to build the turret is described in the following article.
Safety instructions
I know the following notes are always kind of annoying and seem unnecessary. Unfortunately, many people who knew "better" have lost eyes, fingers or other things due to carelessness or injured themselves. Data loss is almost negligible in comparison, but even these can be really annoying. Therefore, please take five minutes to read the safety instructions. Because even the coolest project is not worth injury or other trouble.
https://www.nerdiy.de/sicherheitshinweise/
Affiliate links/advertising links
The links to online shops listed here are so-called affiliate links. If you click on such an affiliate link and make a purchase via this link, Nerdiy.de will receive a commission from the relevant online shop or provider. The price does not change for you. If you make your purchases via these links, you support Nerdiy.de in being able to offer other useful projects in the future. 🙂
Requirements
Required tool:
| Hot glue gun |
| 3D Printer |
| Allen wrench |
| Tongs |
| Open-end wrench |
| Cordless drill |
| 3mm drill bit |
| Tweezers |
Required material:
In the following list you will find all the parts you need to implement this article.
| 1x | turretBearingTopMount2BasePlate |
| 1x | turretBearingTopMount |
| 1x | turret BearingBase |
| 3x | turret Bearing Top Mount Clamp |
| 1x | turret Bearing Base Mount Clamp |
| 1x | Slip ring |
| 12x | M3 nut |
| 9x | M3x30 countersunk screw |
| 6x | M3x25 countersunk screw |
| 1x | 16014 Ball bearing |
Collect required parts
Before you can start building the rotating tower, you must of course have all the necessary parts together. A complete list of the required materials and tools can be found above in the material and tool list.
Here you can see all the parts you need for further assembly.
Unfortunately, the three clamping blocks are missing from the photo.
The required STL files for printing can be found here: https://github.com/Nerdiyde/WinDIY/tree/master/turret
I printed the parts with the following settings.
- Perimeter: 5
- Infill: 50%
The screws should preferably be made of stainless steel so that they do not rust due to moisture.
Mount slip ring
The slip ring is quite an important component. It makes it possible to get the generated energy through the pivot bearing to the non-rotating part of WinDIY. This way you can guide the generated energy down through the base without twisting the wires.
Here you can see the parts needed for this step.
The slip ring shown has six contacts. Theoretically, however, one with only two contacts would also suffice. However, always make sure that the expected amperage matches the slip ring.
Now insert the slip ring into the upper holder as shown.
Now insert the screws through the mounting holes of the slip ring into the upper bracket as shown.
Close-up view.
The inserted screws are screwed on the opposite side (as shown on the left) with M3 nuts.
Mount upper bracket to base plate
While building the main axis, you have already prepared the base plate of WinDIY.
This is the clamping block with which the ball bearing will later be clamped on the upper bracket.
Now prepare three of them as shown....
... and insert it into the upper holder as shown.
On the back side you screw on the M3 nuts again.
To keep them in place, I strongly recommend securing the nuts with some hot glue.
Other view.
Granted: It doesn't look super pretty. But the hot glue only has a fixing function here to ensure that the nuts stay in place.
The actual forces are held by the 3D printed structure.
Other view.
Now remove the clamping blocks again but make sure that the glued-in nuts remain where you glued them in.
Short jump to the base plate, which you should have already prepared during the assembly of the main axis.
This should currently look like this.
You can now screw the previously prepared upper retaining plate onto this.
You should have already positioned the M3 nuts (into which the screws are screwed) in the correct holes during the assembly of the main axle.
Other view.
Other view.
Once assembled, your setup should now look like this.
Make sure that the cables on the rotating side of the slip ring are fed out through the recess in the base plate.
Other view.
Other view.
Installing the ball bearing on the upper bracket
Before placing the ball bearing over the upper bracket, you should place the clamp ring over the upper bracket as shown.
If the clamping ring is in position, you can now place the ball bearing.
Another view of the mounted ball bearing.
Now you can screw the previously removed clamping blocks back in and use them to fix the ball bearing in the upper bracket.
Another view of the mounted ball bearing.
Close-up view of the mounted ball bearing.
Close-up view of the mounted ball bearing.
Another view of the mounted ball bearing.
Mounting the lower bracket
The ball bearing is now fixed to the rotating part of the wind turbine. Of course, it must now be fixed to the bracket, which will later be placed on the mast on which the wind turbine is to stand.
To do this, place the lower bracket on the previously mounted ball bearing.
Now you can roughly position the clamping ring - with which the lower bracket is clamped to the ball bearing.
The clamping ring is now namely screwed to the lower bracket as shown.
To do this, insert the M3 screws through the clamping ring into the lower bracket as shown....
... and secures it with an M3 nut.
Again, make sure that the screws are not tightened too much. The clamping ring should be tight but not bent or even broken.
Further view of the screwed clamping ring on the lower bracket.
Other view.
Other view.
The rotatable part of WinDIY should now be free to rotate on the lower bracket.
Have fun with the project
I hope everything worked as described for you. If not or you have questions or suggestions please let me know in the comments. I will then add this to the article if necessary.
Ideas for new projects are always welcome. 🙂
PS Many of these projects - especially the hardware projects - cost a lot of time and money. Of course I do this because I enjoy it, but if you think it's cool that I share the information with you, I would be happy about a small donation to the coffee fund. 🙂
English 
Deutsch 
Français 
Español 
Nederlands