How to Build a Wind Turbine Blade

A three bladed windmill for generating electricity.

Avoid costly commercial manufactured windmill blades by constructing your own. Don't make the blades too long, since a longer blade means more drag. This means the blades will be harder to turn. A blade length of 50 centimeters is a good place to start. You can always make them smaller later if you desire. Also, PVC is a light material, which is important, because the more weight a blade has the slower it spins. In addition, PVC is a comparatively cheap and strong material. A windmill's blades catch wind and spin converting wind energy to electrical energy through contact with an electrical generator.

Things You'll Need

• Sandpaper
• PVC pipe, 50 cm long, 10 cm diameter
• Jigsaw
• Tape measure
• Ruler
• Paper
• Tape
• Scissors

Instructions

1. Divide the PVC pipe lengthwise with a marker into four equal sections. This is easily achieved by wrapping a sheet of paper that just fits around the pipe then laying the paper flat and drawing three equally spaced lines. Tape the paper back on the pipe and draw four lines beside the marks on the paper.

2. Cut along the four lines on the pipe with a jigsaw, quartering the pipe into equal pieces.

3. Cut out a 2- by 2-inch section from the corner of each pipe piece. The remaining rectangular section on the end is for bolting to the windmill frame.

4. Remove a triangle shaped section from each piece to make a blade shape out of each pipe quarter.

5. Smooth out the rough edges of each blade with a piece of sandpaper.

References

• "Physics for Scientists and Engineers with Modern Physics"; Raymond A. Serway and John W. Jewett; 2009
• Your Green Dream: Quick PVC Windmill Blades