I have wanted a low cost windmill for the yard for some time, I started reading the reviews to see what of the china windmills under $100 was best.
There are many ads for this style windmill on eBay and Amazon in the $80 to $100 price range.
Most complain on the number of screws and the Very poor instructions and also how there windmill blew over in higher winds and was badly damaged. Also many reports of fan bearings wearing out quickly....in as little as 60 days!
Then I found a mechanical minded reviewer that talked about the SMV. It's weight is 33.5 lbs where most are only 20 lbs! I am not going to call it heavy duty but it's over 40% heavier gage than the $80 model.
Amazon wants $120 for this one currently, but I found it locally for $95 at Blain's farm and home on sale.
It does have pretty low grade bearings but the guys that had bearings fail left them dry, a reviewer that greased his windmill once per month was going on 2 years with original bearings. When they fail, you can upgrade to better bearings.
The other tips are balance the fan, mine took 2 quarters and a nickel taped to the light side to get good balance. I will change this out to stick on lead wheel weights now I know how much I need.
Also not a bad idea to add lock washers to the screws.
The head pivots on a steel flat washer and this can wear out in 2 years, I added a bronze washer to my unit. With marine grease and the bronze washer + balance it spins in the lightest breeze and it is interesting to watch I have had wind here in Michigan today coming from all points of the compass except from the South West.
The last tip is to not stake it down with the short tent stakes it comes with! One reviewer staked his down with 24" Re-rod metal stakes and his survived a bad wind storm.
Just to be clear this is Not a premium windmill, just a little more bang for your china buck....a Galvanized American windmill this size would be closer to $400.
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Looks good!
It's nice that you have one.
We get good breezes at the new Office of Steam so I might have to get one.
Thank you for sharing your research!
Gil
Thanks Gil!
On one of the negative reviews a non mechanical minded husband/wife team reported it took them a period of 3 days to properly assemble the windmill!.... Trust me it's Not that bad!!
The USA based distributer made an assembly video and I built my windmill in 1 HR and 15 minutes going at a leisurely pace while sipping am adult beverage. The method shown in the video works Very well. The windmill in the video is powder coated Red, but is the Exact same model as mine. The legs are 3 pcs that look similar but different, once you get the leg parts sorted, everything moves along quickly.
The video is worth watching if you purchase one of these Windmills.
Balancing the blades is good because the windmill will not vibrate in high winds and it will turn in very light breeze if it does not have to lift the heavy side of the fan.
https://youtu.be/qeVV5r07OEI
It occurs to me that these power coated windmills are never going to look as cool as a weathered old galvanized windmill, however, the structure that holds the tail could be modified to look like an Aermotor windmill ( or your favorite) and maybe stencil or hand painted tail could add quite a bit to the overall look.
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Was trying to "trick" the windmill today and wanted to test how sensitive the tail is...wind was out of due East so I manually moved the tail to Due East and fan due west...of course the fan began spinning in reverse.
I released the Head and in only a matter of seconds the Tail spun the fan around to face East again, that long tail has a lot of leverage and is Very sensitive to wind direction!
If you do this test in less than 2 MPH wind it will stay for up to 1 minute, but it WILL self correct with the slightest breeze!
I guess I am easily entertained by mechanical things.
Update:
Well, I just can not leave my Windmill alone, so I have started on some more mods today.
Sharp eyes will note I sheared the front of Tail Vane corners off to more closely replicate an Aermotor windmill.
I found some photo's of original Tail art and printed them on 11x17 card stock, my intent is to cut the letters out with a razor blade, then trace onto tail and hand paint.
The Aeromotor script up above is from a different age windmill. I do not need the space between the M and O as I do not currently have that brace.
I am sure my "scale" is off, but I thought something painted on the tail might help?
Looking at it now, I think I prefure
The text Font of the top(not on the tail currently) this was lifted from the photo in my thread with the Red Tailed hawk perched on the fan....
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Here is the art ALL from the Hawk windmill photo, I like these best, but I will have to "restore" some of the letters as they are badly faded.
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Now it looks like this....
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Bought one around 15 yeas ago and is still running strong, gotta grease it once in a while.
Yours looks real nice.
Nice looking windmills, gents!
Thanks Gil, as ya see i mounted mine on a heavy base so it won`t blow over yet ya can move it.
That base was actually the base for a hot air engine.
Thanks Pitchy!
I have been enjoying my Windmill More than thought I would, I live down in a valley and the wind "swirls" from all directions so I have been enjoying sitting on the front porch with a cup of coffee in the morning watching it.
It will be turning at a good pace then slow to a stop, then in a few seconds the tail vane will turn the head 90-180 degrees and start up again. I like how sensitive the tail vane is to wind direction changes.
Your windmill looks to have some natural patina starting on the tower around the leg joints, another 15 years and it will Really be looking Authentic!
Grandma has one of these cheaper ones and it just self-destructed in the wind yesterday. She called me over because her cattle shed roof was lifting 3 feet off its posts, so we got it pulled back down and secured, but while in the house I seen the windmill start shaking like it had gone out of balance and next thing I know 4 or 5 of the blades went flying off, it broke the welds on the outer ring. I’ll try to remember to take a picture tomorrow…
Hello Nick, any idea what kind of wind speeds you guys had to be lifting the roof?
I suspect if you weigh all the parts of the wreckage it will be around 20 lbs indicating the more common lighter duty model? Not that I think the SMV version is going to hold up to hurricane force winds.
I may way off bass and my instructions are long lost but i think the little blade on top is supposed to turn it out of the wind a little if the winds get to high.