One hot summer afternoon, someone decided to test their craftsmen ship and take it upon themselves to make a homemade wind generator. It surprisingly took under $100 to make this wind generator. Although it does not work quite as well as a commercial bought generator and it would not hurt the design to have a few improvements.
If time is not a problem and you have a really flexible schedule then this could be something for you to try as well. However if you do not have a lot of time and have some expendable money then you can go buy a commercial generator prices vary and will save you a lot of time. However if you want to save yourself a couple of hundred dollars then try this out.
The propeller chosen for use on this machine has a 3 bladed design. It was made out of spruce 1" X 4" boards that were knot free. If you use a propeller that is not too heavy then this helps the machine start up faster and can help preserve the bearings on the generator. As for the alternator, the one chosen was a 2 horse power induction motor that he took off a Taiwanese milling machine. He used a four pole motor therefore it needed 4 alternating poles in the alternator. The most important part and also sometimes the must neglected is the tower. A high tower is needed and he used a pine tree for this which is supported by 4 guy wires which are 1/8" diameter aircraft cable with turn buckles on the ground that are used for adjustment.
If you choose to build your own home generator you get the reward of satisfaction and also get to save some money. It is always good for people to provide results of their own personal experiences of building their own machines. It will help give other people ideas on how to build their own wind generator at home.
