Making a plastic propeller. Making a motorized flying propeller

Every aircraft modeller, sooner or later, is faced with a shortage of propellers for his radio-controlled models. Air propeller not the cheapest consumable for an aircraft model, considering that the price propeller is directly proportional to the square of its size, and screws break quite often, be it a nylon screw or a wooden one. If a modeler is ready to spend a certain amount, then simply buy wooden propeller It can be problematic, aircraft model shops are not available in all cities, and ordering from the Middle Kingdom takes a long time and the wait of two weeks, or even a month, is very unnerving.

In the old days, modelers made their own propellers - this was an integral part of such a hobby as aircraft modeling, and there was a whole science of calculating the pitch and profile of a propeller using various inclinometers and light wood species.

Currently, with the increase in the power of aircraft internal combustion engines and electric motors, the material from which the propeller can be made ceases to play a decisive role. It could be:

• Pine
• Birch

Making a propeller

Here I will try to tell you in as much detail as possible how to make any size at home or how to quickly and easily copy any screw.
Why is it easy to copy? Yes, simply because we will not use classic templates and measuring instruments.

What we need to make the matrix:

• A piece of construction foam (orange or blue)
• Pencil or pen
• Needles, rasps and small sandpaper
• Stationery knife
• Penknife
• Drill with an emery wheel on it
• And the actual material for the propeller itself.

We take ours or the remaining half of it, from which we will make a copy, apply it to the foam plastic with the leading edge of the profile down (required!) and trace it along the contour.

Now, at an angle of approximately 45^, we cut the foam from the markings made with a stationery knife and finish it with a file or sandpaper. That's it, our matrix is ​​ready.

We also place the screw on the prepared wood and outline it, having previously drilled a hole in the middle. The screw must only be positioned along the grain of the wood! We cut along the contour for whomever is more convenient.

We put the workpiece into the matrix, pressing the workpiece and the matrix to a flat surface and outline on it the future pitch of the first and also the second propeller blades, not forgetting to compress the matrix from the sides.

Medium screws, as in the example APS 14*7, can be processed with rasps, removing excess wood from both sides of the future screw blank with subsequent finishing sandpaper and balancing.

Every country property owner wants to make their home beautiful and unique. If you know how to make a weather vane with a propeller with your own hands, then you can equip any building with it. Despite the availability of modern devices with software, the weather vane remains a fairly accurate device for determining the direction and strength of the wind, which operates around the clock, without the need for energy sources, adjustments or frequent maintenance. In addition, these products perform a practical function by driving away birds that can destroy crops. Having a little free time, you can make a weather vane yourself from scrap materials that you can always find in the pantry.

Scheme of the weather vane. Despite the availability of modern instruments with software, the weather vane remains a fairly accurate device for determining the direction and strength of the wind.

Required Tools

To do this you may need the following tools:

• welding machine;
• oil level;
• roulette;
• Bulgarian;
• electric drill;
• riveter;
• jigsaw (manual or electric);
• sandpaper;
• whatman;
• pencil;
• varnish and paint;
• paint brush.

Before work, tools must be checked and equipped.

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Materials used

Weather vanes made from a wide variety of materials are used to decorate houses.

Handling them requires different skills, tools and equipment.

1. Tree. This is a lightweight and easy-to-work material that has been proven over centuries. There is no need for complex tools or professional skills to process wood. To make a windmill, it is necessary to take waterproof wood with good hydrophobic qualities. The wood must be impregnated with a special composition that will protect it from dampness and insects. But a significant disadvantage of wood products is its low strength and fragility.
2. Steel. It's pretty durable material resistant to strong mechanical impact. You can make a weather vane from black or of stainless steel. Stainless steel is resistant to corrosion and has an almost unlimited service life. Regular steel can last quite a long time with periodic maintenance and repair. But, given the location of the outbuilding, performing this task is quite difficult.
3. Copper. This metal is strong enough to withstand strong gusts of wind. Sheet copper is quite easy to cut and saw. An important factor is that soldering can be used to connect copper parts together. The softness of the material makes it possible to process it using the embossing method. In addition, copper can be coated with silver using photographic development reagents. The metal is resistant to corrosion and does not require additional finishing.
4. Plastic. Modern polymer materials have sufficient strength and resistance to ultraviolet radiation. Plastic lends itself easily to all types of processing. It can be sawed, glued or soldered. Polymer plastics do not lose their qualities when subjected to strong heating or cooling.
5. Plywood. Only multi-layer waterproof plywood is allowed to be used in the work. But a plywood product will not last long. Even covering it with several layers of paint will not save it from destruction. If a plywood outbuilding lasts one year, it will be considered a great success.

When choosing a material for work, you should take into account the ultimate goal of making the outbuilding. In any case, it is better to choose a durable material that will last for many years.

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Weather vane device

As a rule, outbuildings are installed on the roof of the house. At this point they can be seen from anywhere on the site. Based on this, increased aesthetic requirements are imposed on the appearance of such a product. Based on it, an opinion will be formed about the tastes, worldview and wealth of the owners of the land plot. Therefore, when making a weather vane, you should show maximum imagination and creativity when designing and creating every detail.

The design of the weather vane is quite simple:

1. Frame. It is made from steel pipe inch section. It is possible to use brass pipe, which is quite durable and resistant to corrosion.
2. Bearing rod. It is inserted into the body. It is steel reinforcement without notches. The windmill itself is attached to it. Based on this, it is recommended to use reinforcement with a cross section of 9 mm. This is enough to withstand the wind load acting on the weather vane.
3. Wind vane. It is the rotating part of the device, which indicates the direction of the wind. In addition, the weather vane contains an artistic component that determines the theme of the product.
4. Bearings. These parts are necessary for free torsion of the supporting rod inside the housing. For assembly, products with internal diameter 9 mm.
5. Fasteners Depending on the method of fastening the outbuilding, corners, plates, screws, bolts or rivets are used.
6. Propeller. This is a part whose rotation frequency can be used to determine wind speed. The propeller is made of tin, plastic, plywood or wood. A good option is to use an old computer fan.

Despite the abundance of finished products on sale, homemade weather vane will allow you to put your soul into your work and bring together all family members to implement a joint project. When making this device with your own hands, there is a job for everyone.

Since the main part of the windmill is the weather vane, its design needs to be given special attention.

It may look like this:

• cockerel;
• sailboat;
• ship with propeller;
• an airplane with one or more propellers;
• galloping horse;
• a cat sneaking after a bird;
• hunter with a gun;
• moon with stars;
• lion on the hunt;
• angel;
• swans or stork in the nest.

You can make a weather vane in any design. For a fishing enthusiast, this could be catfish or pike. Car enthusiasts will love the contours of a sports car. There are no restrictions for imagination in this matter.

Magazine "Modelist-Constructor"

Article from Modelist-Constructor magazine No. 1 for 1974.
Scan: Petrovich.

Snowmobiles, airboats, all kinds of hovercraft, acranoplanes, microplanes and microgyroplanes, various fan installations and other machines cannot operate without a propeller.

Therefore, every technical enthusiast who plans to build one of the listed machines should learn how to make good propellers. And since in amateur conditions it is easiest to make them from wood, we will only talk about wooden propellers.

However, it should be taken into account that using wood (if it turns out to be successful) it is possible to make completely similar screws from fiberglass (by molding into a matrix) or metal (by casting).

Due to their availability, the most widespread are two-blade propellers made from a whole piece of wood (Fig. 1).

Three- and four-blade propellers are more difficult to manufacture.

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Rice. 1 . Two-bladed wooden screws made from a whole piece of wood: 1 - blade, 2 - hub, 3 - front flange, 4 - hub stud nuts, 5 - shaft toe castle nut, 6 - shaft, 7 - rear flange, 8 - studs.

MATERIAL SELECTION

What wood is best to make a screw from? This question is often asked by readers. We answer: the choice of wood primarily depends on the purpose and size of the screw.

Screws intended for engines of higher power (about 15-30 hp) can also be made from monolithic hardwood bars, but the requirements for the quality of wood in this case increase. When choosing a workpiece, you should pay attention to the location of the growth rings in the thickness of the block (it is clearly visible at the end, Fig. 2-A), giving preference to bars with horizontal or inclined layers, cut from the part of the trunk that is closer to the bark. Naturally, the workpiece should not have knots, crooked layers or other defects.

If it was not possible to find a monolithic bar of suitable quality, you will have to glue the workpiece together from several thinner boards, each 12-15 mm thick. This method of manufacturing propellers was widespread at the dawn of the development of aviation, and it can be called “classical”. For reasons of strength, it is recommended to use wood planks different breeds(for example, birch and mahogany, birch and red beech, birch and ash), having mutually intersecting layers (Fig. 2-B). Screws made from glued blanks have a very beautiful appearance after final processing.

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Rice. 2. Propeller blanks: A - from a whole piece of wood: 1 - sapwood part of the trunk, 2 - location of the blank; B - a blank glued from several planks into a rectangular package: 1 - mahogany or red beech; 2 - birch or maple.

Some experienced specialists glue blanks from multilayer aircraft plywood brand BS-1, 10-12 mm thick, assembling a package from it required sizes. However, we cannot recommend this method to a wide range of amateurs: veneer layers located across the screw, during processing, can form difficult-to-remove irregularities and deteriorate the quality of the product. The ends of propeller blades made of plywood are very fragile. In addition, in a high-speed propeller, a very large centrifugal force acts at the root of the blades, reaching in some cases up to a ton or more, and in plywood the transverse layers do not resist breaking. Therefore, plywood can be used only after calculating the root section area of ​​the blade (1 cm2 of plywood can withstand about 100 kg of tearing, and 1 cm2 of pine - 320 kg). The screws have to be thickened, and this worsens the aerodynamic quality.

In some cases, the attack edge of the propeller is covered with a strip of thin brass, the so-called fitting. It is attached to the edge with small screws, the heads of which, after cleaning, are soldered with tin to prevent self-loosening.

PRODUCTION SEQUENCE

According to the propeller drawing, first of all, it is necessary to make metal or plywood templates - one top view template (Fig. 3-A), one side view template and twelve blade profile templates, which will be needed to check the propeller on the slipway.

The screw blank (block) must be carefully planed, observing the size on all four sides. Then the center lines and contours of the side view template are drawn (Fig. 3-B) and the excess wood is removed, first with a small axe, then with a plane and rasp. The next operation is processing along the contour of the top view. Having placed the blade template on the workpiece (Fig. 3-B) and temporarily secured it with a nail in the center of the sleeve, trace the template with a pencil. Then turn the template exactly 180° and trace the second blade. Excess wood is removed band saw, if it is not there, use a hand-held circular saw with fine teeth. This work must be done very accurately, so there is no need to rush.

The product took on the shape of a screw (Fig. 3-D). Now the most important part of the work begins - giving the blades the desired aerodynamic profile. It should be remembered that one side of the blade is flat, the other is convex.

Main tool to give the blades the desired profile - a sharpened, well-set ax. This does not mean that the work being performed is “clumsy”: with an ax you can do miracles. Just remember the famous Kizhi!

The wood is removed sequentially and slowly, first making small short cuts to avoid chipping along the layer (Fig. 3-D). It is also useful to have a small two-handed shaving. The figure shows how you can speed up and facilitate the work of trimming the profile part of the blade by making several cuts with a fine-toothed hacksaw. When performing this operation, you must be very careful not to cut deeper than required.

..
Rice. 3. Sequence of screw manufacturing: A - templates (top view and side view); B - marking the blank block according to the side view template; B - marking the workpiece according to the top view template; G - workpiece after processing according to templates; D - processing of blades along the profile (lower, flat part); E - processing of the upper, convex part of the blade.

After rough processing of the blades, the propeller is brought to condition using planes and rasps and checked in the slipway (Fig. 4-A).

To make a slipway (Fig. 4), you need to find a board equal in length to the screw and thick enough so that transverse cuts 20 mm deep can be made in it for installing templates. The central rod of the slipway is made of hard wood, its diameter must correspond to the diameter of the hole in the propeller hub. The rod is glued strictly perpendicular to the surface of the slipway. By placing the screw on it, the amount of wood that needs to be removed is determined to match the blade to the profile templates. When doing this job for the first time, you need to be very patient and careful. The skill is not acquired immediately.

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Rice. 4. Slipway and blade profile templates: A - installation of templates in the slipway; B - checking the blade being processed using templates and counter templates.

After the lower (flat) surface of the blade has been finalized according to the templates, finishing of the upper (convex) surface begins. The check is carried out using counter-patterns, as shown in Figure 4-B. The quality of the screw depends on the thoroughness of this operation. If it unexpectedly turns out that one blade is slightly thinner than the other - and this often happens with inexperienced craftsmen - the thickness of the opposite blade will have to be reduced accordingly, otherwise both the weight and aerodynamic balancing of the propeller will be disrupted. Minor defects can be corrected by gluing pieces of fiberglass (“patches”) or applying fine sawdust mixed with epoxy resin(this mastic is colloquially called bread).

When cleaning the surface wooden screw the direction of the wood fibers should be taken into account; Planing, scraping and sanding can only be carried out “layer by layer” to avoid scuffing and the formation of rough areas. In some cases, in addition to cycles, good help When finishing the screw, glass shards may occur.

Experienced carpenters, after sanding, rub the surface with a smooth, well-polished metal object, pressing hard on it. This is how they compact surface layer and “smooth out” the smallest scratches remaining on it.

BALANCING

The manufactured propeller must be carefully balanced, that is, brought to a state where the weight of its blades is exactly the same. Otherwise, when the screw rotates, shaking occurs, which can lead to the destruction of vital components of the entire machine.

Figure 5 shows a simple device for balancing screws. It allows you to perform balancing with an accuracy of 1 g - this is practically enough for amateur conditions.

Practice has shown that even with very careful manufacturing of the propeller, the weight of the blades is not the same. This happens by various reasons: sometimes due to various specific gravity butt and top parts the bar from which the screw is made, or different densities of layers, local nodularity, etc.

How to be in this case? It is impossible to adjust the blades according to weight by cutting off a certain amount of wood from heavier ones. It is necessary to make the lighter blade heavier by riveting pieces of lead into it (Fig. 6). Balancing can be considered complete when the propeller remains motionless in any position of the blades relative to the balancing device.

Screw runout is no less dangerous. A scheme for checking a propeller for runout is shown in Figure 7. When rotating on an axis, each blade must pass at the same distance from the control plane or angle.

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Rice. 5. The simplest device for checking the balancing of the screw is using two carefully aligned boards and an axial liner.

Rice. 6. Balancing the propeller by riveting pieces of lead into a lighter blade: A - determining the imbalance using coins; B - embedding a piece of lead of equal weight on an equal arm (slightly countersink the hole on both sides); B - view of the lead rod after riveting.

Rice. 7. Scheme for checking a screw for runout.

FINISHING AND COLORING OF THE SCREW

The finished and carefully balanced screw must be painted or varnished to protect it from atmospheric influences, as well as to protect it from fuels and lubricants.

To apply paint or varnish, it is best to use a spray gun powered by a compressor at a minimum pressure of 3-4 atm. This will make it possible to obtain an even and dense coating, unattainable with brush painting.

The best paints- epoxy. You can also use glyphthalic, nitro- and nitroglyphthalic or appeared in Lately alkyd coatings. They are applied to a previously primed, carefully puttied and sanded surface. Interlayer drying is required, corresponding to a particular paint.

The best varnish coating is the so-called “chemical-hardening” parquet varnish. It adheres well to both clean wood and painted surfaces, giving it an elegant look and high mechanical strength.

G. V. Makhotkin

Propeller design

Air propeller has gained a reputation as an indispensable propulsion device for high-speed watercraft operating in shallow and overgrown waters, as well as for amphibious snowmobiles that have to operate on snow, ice and water. Considerable experience has already been accumulated both here and abroad use of propellers on high-speed small vessels and amphibians. Thus, since 1964, amphibious snowmobiles have been mass-produced and operated in our country (Fig. 1) by the Design Bureau named after. A. N. Tupolev. In the United States, several tens of thousands of airboats, as the Americans call them, are operated in Florida.

The problem of creating a high-speed shallow-draft motor boat with a propeller continues to interest our amateur shipbuilders. The most accessible power for them is 20-30 hp. With. Therefore, we will consider the main issues of designing an air propulsion device with the expectation of precisely this power.

Careful determination of the geometric dimensions of the propeller will allow full use of the engine power and obtain thrust close to the maximum for the available power. In this case, it will be of particular importance right choice the diameter of the screw, on which not only the efficiency of the propulsion largely depends, but also the noise level, which is directly determined by the value of the peripheral speeds.

Studies of the dependence of thrust on speed have established that to realize the capabilities of a propeller with a power of 25 hp. With. it is necessary to have a diameter of about 2 m. To ensure the smallest energy costs, the air should be thrown back in a jet with a larger cross-sectional area; in our particular case, the area swept by the propeller will be about 3 m². Reducing the diameter of the propeller to 1 m to reduce the noise level will reduce the area swept by the propeller by 4 times, and this, despite the increase in speed in the jet, will cause a drop in thrust on the moorings by 37%. Unfortunately, this reduction in thrust cannot be compensated by either the pitch, the number of blades, or their width.

As the speed increases, the loss in traction from reducing the diameter decreases; Thus, increasing speeds allows the use of smaller diameter screws. For screws with a diameter of 1 and 2 m, providing maximum thrust on the moorings, at a speed of 90 km/h the thrust values ​​become equal. Increasing the diameter to 2.5 m, while increasing the thrust on the mooring lines, gives only a slight increase in thrust at speeds above 50 km/h. In general, each range of operating speeds (at a certain engine power) has its own optimal propeller diameter. With increasing power at a constant speed, the optimal diameter for efficiency increases.

As follows from Fig. 2 graphs, the thrust of a propeller with a diameter of 1 m is greater than the thrust of a water propeller (standard) outboard motor "Neptune-23" or "Privet-22" at speeds over 55 km/h, and a propeller with a diameter of 2 m - already at speeds over 30 -35 km/h. Calculations show that at a speed of 50 km/h, the kilometer fuel consumption of an engine with a propeller with a diameter of 2 m will be 20-25% less than the most economical outboard motor “Privet-22”.

The sequence of selecting propeller elements according to the given graphs is as follows. The diameter of the propeller is determined depending on the required thrust on the mooring lines at a given power on the propeller shaft. If the operation of a motorboat is expected in populated areas or areas where there are noise restrictions, the acceptable (for today) noise level will correspond to the peripheral speed - 160-180 m/s. Having determined, based on this conditional norm and the diameter of the propeller, the maximum number of its revolutions, we will establish the gear ratio from the engine shaft to the propeller shaft.

For a diameter of 2 m, the permissible speed in terms of noise level will be about 1500 rpm (for a diameter of 1 m - about 3000 rpm); Thus, the gear ratio at an engine speed of 4500 rpm will be about 3 (for a diameter of 1 m - about 1.5).

Using the graph in Fig. 3 you can determine the amount of propeller thrust if the propeller diameter and engine power have already been selected. For our example, the engine with the most available power was selected - 25 hp. s., and the diameter of the screw is 2 m. For this particular case, the thrust value is 110 kg.

The lack of reliable gearboxes is perhaps the most serious obstacle to be overcome. As a rule, chain and belt drives made by amateurs in handicraft conditions turn out to be unreliable and have low efficiency. Forced installation directly on the motor shaft leads to the need to reduce the diameter and, consequently, reduce the efficiency of the propulsion unit.

To determine the blade width and pitch, you should use the given nomogram in Fig. 4. On the horizontal right scale, from the point corresponding to the power on the propeller shaft, draw a vertical line until it intersects with the curve corresponding to the previously found diameter of the propeller. From the point of intersection we draw a horizontal line to the intersection with a vertical line drawn from a point lying on the left revolution scale. The resulting value determines the amount of coating of the designed propeller (aircraft manufacturers call coating the ratio of the sum of the blade widths to the diameter).

For two-blade propellers, the coverage is equal to the ratio of the blade width to the propeller radius R. Above the coverage values ​​are the values ​​of the optimal propeller pitches. For our example, we obtained: coverage σ=0.165 and relative pitch (ratio of pitch to diameter) h=0.52. For a screw with a diameter of 1 m σ=0.50 m and h=0.65. A propeller with a diameter of 2 m should be 2-bladed with a blade width of 16.5% R, since the amount of coverage is small; a propeller with a diameter of 1 m can be 6-bladed with a blade width of 50:3 = 16.6% R or 4-bladed with a blade width of 50:2 = 25% R. Increasing the number of blades will further reduce the noise level.

With a reasonable degree of accuracy, we can assume that the propeller pitch does not depend on the number of blades. We present the geometric dimensions of a wooden blade with a width of 16.5% R. All dimensions are in the drawing Fig. 5 are given in percent radius. For example, section D is 16.4% R, located at 60% R. The section chord is divided into 10 equal parts, i.e., 1.64% R each; the toe breaks through 0.82% R. The profile ordinates in millimeters are determined by multiplying the radius by the percentage value corresponding to each ordinate, i.e. by 1.278; 1.690; 2.046 ... 0.548.

Owners country houses have a desire to make their buildings unique, with a twist and memorable facade design. There are many ways to achieve the goal, they differ both in the complexity of engineering solutions and in cost.

Airplane - weather vane

In this article we will focus on one of the cheapest, but very effective methods improvements appearance structure - installing a weather vane with a propeller.

Weathervanes can externally resemble models of airplanes, animals, have an original shape, etc. These are design characteristics; they do not affect the functional parameters of the products. The main differences between them are in the materials of manufacture.

What can be used for these purposes?

Material of manufacture	Description of technical and operational characteristics
	Not a very common manufacturing option, nowadays it is quite rare. Reason - factual performance characteristics do not meet modern requirements. Impregnation of the material with compounds only slightly increases the time of use of the products. In addition, the weather vane has some elements that are in constant motion. Wood is not characterized by high wear resistance; to increase its service life it is necessary to take special technical measures. This can only be done by a professional master.
	A fairly common manufacturing option, there is a significant operational drawback - the surfaces have to be reliably protected from rust. Another problem is for manufacturing metal structure must have special equipment and tools. Vanes made of alloyed stainless steel have excellent performance.
	Beautiful, strong and durable material. You can buy sheet copper in ordinary stores. building materials. Copper plates are thin and can be cut with ordinary scissors, which makes the manufacturing process much easier. A copper weather vane ages over time and takes on a very prestigious appearance.
	Original modern material, is quite popular. Plastic is very technologically advanced, it is easy to saw and cut, and when heated it acquires various shapes and after cooling preserves them. Flaw - low performance strength reduce the service life of such products.
	The worst choice, in all operational and physical characteristics, is inferior to the above materials. It is not recommended to install such a weather vane on the roof ridge; dismantling is too complicated, and this will have to be done in a few months.

The main criterion for choosing a material should be final goal manufacture of the weather vane and its installation location. If it will be placed on the roof, then you should choose durable, beautiful and weather-resistant materials. All moving elements must be made with a large margin of safety; no one wants to climb onto the roof every month to repair the device.

Prices for different types of weather vanes

Making a copper weather vane

The size of the weather vane is 18x29 cm, the material of manufacture is copper and brass. There is no point in making a large weather vane; heavy structures only complicate the production process and reduce reliability. As for the design look, here too there are strict restrictions on the dimensions of the elements installed on the roof ridge. And one last thing. We must not forget that the weather vane will still have to be fixed, and these are extra holes in the roof that do not benefit it.

To make a weather vane, you can use scrap materials left over from other work and old items. In our case, we use a piece of fluoroplastic, a copper rod Ø 6 mm, an unnecessary old brass candlestick and an oil pump plunger. Fluoroplastic is used as a bearing - it is not afraid of moisture, is highly wear-resistant and has sufficient physical strength.

Step 1. Search the Internet and print out a design or design for a weather vane.

Practical advice. There is no need to choose complex or small designs; they are invisible from a great distance. In addition, such contours are very difficult to cut, so you shouldn’t create additional problems for yourself. Moreover, no positive effect will result.

Step 2. Glue the patterned paper onto the copper plate. To do this, you can use special tapes. They are glued to paper and then removed from them. protective coatings on the back side. After removal, the adhesive remains on the paper; it can be fixed to any object.

Step 3. Using special or ordinary scissors, cut out the outline of the weather vane. A thin copper plate is easy to cut.

Step 4. Secure the weather vane blank between two pieces of flat boards and firmly compress them with clamps. Bend one edge at a right angle with a mallet. The length of the hem is approximately 2-3mm. It is needed so that during further cutting of the contour the current copper plate does not become deformed. Subsequently, a tube is soldered to the hem.

Step 5. Start cutting out small details of the pattern. This must be done with needle files, having previously drilled holes of the appropriate diameter.

Take your time, work very carefully. It’s not a problem if the pattern is slightly disrupted and changed, this is an exclusive and individual solution. The main thing is that the plane of the plate does not have critical deformations.

Step 6. Remove the paper from the surface of the plate and use fine sandpaper to thoroughly clean it.

Step 7 Increase the hardness of the platinum, it is very thin and cannot withstand strong gusts of wind. To do this, it is better to use brass wire with a diameter of 2–4 mm. The line should approximately correspond to two lengths of the weather vane. Bend the wire in an arc in the center; it is better to use a circle of the appropriate diameter as a template.

Place the workpiece on the plate and adjust the shape of the wire if necessary. Press the parts with any heavy object, treat the soldering area with a special flux and connect the two elements. You can solder with either an ordinary electric or a modern gas soldering iron. The second tool is much easier and faster to work with.

At this point, the weather vane sail itself is ready; we need to start making other parts. Let's say right away that these processes are much more complicated than the first.

Manufacturing of guide structures

You will need to make your own decisions based on what products you have, what you can use from them and in what capacity. We have already mentioned that in our case, some parts of the weather vane are made from old candlesticks.

Step 1. Unscrew the upper part of the candlestick from the stand, clamp it in a vice and solder a piece to it copper tube.

Its length should be 1–2 cm greater than the width of the sail, in our case 20 cm. The soldering process is standard, always follow safety rules. The fact is that for soldering copper a rather aggressive flux is used; it must dissolve the upper film of metal oxide. Otherwise the solder will not bond to the copper.

Step 2. Place a decorative cap on the end. It is advisable to machine it separately from a suitable alloy. If this is not possible, then use the parts you have on hand from other products.

Step 3. Solder the weather vane sail on one side of the copper tube, and specially bent copper wires on the other side. The sail is fixed to the previously bent side, and the pieces of wire are located exactly along the line of symmetry on the opposite side. In the final form, all elements are located strictly in one plane; they should look symmetrical and beautiful. If desired, create various patterns, bend the wire into spirals, and create additional decorative elements.

Step 4. Flare one end of the copper tube. This is done using a hammer and a steel cone. Place the tube in a vertical position on the cone and use a hammer to flare it from the opposite side. Try to make everything look nice, don't increase the diameter too much. Otherwise, the copper may crack, and you will have to cut off the damaged end and start the work all over again.

Step 5. Carefully cut off the end of the tube opposite to the flare. It is better to use a special cutter; it leaves a perfectly even cut perpendicular to the axis. But not everyone has such a tool; only professionals need it. You can remove the end of the tube with an ordinary hacksaw, and then straighten the ends with files. The fact is that it is very difficult to achieve an ideal cut using only a blade; in most cases you will have to work with files.

Step 6. Insert the coupling into the flared tube, push it tightly inside. Next you should solder another piece, its length is much longer. This tube serves as a housing for the internal axle and fluoroplastic bushing. Work very carefully, the axes of all tubes must be located strictly on the same line. While soldering, constantly check the position of the elements and adjust them if necessary.

Step 7 Insert a specially prepared piece of fluoroplastic into the bottom end. It should fit tightly into the tube, not wobble or fall out. The fluoroplastic must have a hole into which the oil pump plunger is inserted.

Connection of fluoroplastic and tube, as well as plunger (pictured on the right)

Make the hole 0.1 mm smaller than the diameter of the plunger; you need to achieve a connection with a slight interference fit. The plunger is made of very durable alloy stainless steel, which ensures long and reliable operation this element. We remind you once again that all individual parts must lie on the same straight line; the performance of the weather vane depends on this.

Step 8 Assemble the weather vane, insert all the parts into place and check its rotation. It should be free and as light as possible.

If desired, copper can be artificially aged; liver of sulfur is used for this. The patination process is accompanied by the release of harmful chemical compounds; you need to work in a respirator and rubber gloves.

“Sulfur liver” is a brown mass obtained by sintering 1 g of sulfur with 2 g of potash or caustic soda. Bake the mixture in an iron spoon over low heat.

Place a propeller on the weather vane; we’ll tell you how to make it a little below.

Now you can install the finished weather vane on the roof ridge. Decide on a location and drill holes of a suitable diameter. If you have a metal bar on your skate, then the work is much simpler. For ceramic coatings we will have to come up with other options for safe and reliable fastenings for the roof. The drilled hole is sealed with a strip of tape impregnated with bitumen, and only then the weather vane is tightly inserted into it.

Important. The weather vane structure cannot be securely held only by a hole in a metal sheet approximately 0.45 mm thick. If the roof is not insulated, then on the attic side you should install additional elements for fixation. If attic space mansard type, it is impossible to get to the base of the weather vane from the back side of the roof; it is necessary to make special platforms for reliable fixation of the product on the metal roof.

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Soldering iron

Making a weather vane from sheet steel

The process of manufacturing a weather vane from sheet steel does not differ much from those described above, the only difference is in the technologies used.

Sheet steel is much stronger than copper, which causes problems when cutting patterns into a weather vane sail.

It is best to use a hand-held plasma cutter; such a machine is easy to work with and produces smooth edges. But the drawing needs to be transferred from paper to metal plate, this can be done using a felt-tip pen.

Accordingly, all assembly work is done by welding, then the seams are cleaned, and the metal weather vane is covered with protective anti-corrosion coatings.

As mentioned above, it is better to use stainless steel sheets for such products. After cutting out the pattern, metal streaks appear on the back side of the sheet; they must be removed. Use an ordinary grinder with a thick abrasive disc. Not thin for cutting metal, but thick. Thin ones can crack, causing very serious injury.

Metal, plastic or wooden propellers are placed on the front of the weather vanes.

How to make a propeller

The wooden propeller screw is made from hornbeam, birch or pear. You can also use softwood, but they are quite soft and wear out quickly. The propeller is made in several stages.

Step 1. Draw a top view on the workpiece; for this, use a pre-made template. Drill a hole in the center for the shaft; the diameters should ensure free rotation.

Step 2. Electric jigsaw Cut out the workpiece and mark the twist angles of the blades on it. They influence the traction force; with increasing values, the propeller will rotate from the slightest air movements.

Step 3. Draw a side view, remove excess wood thickness with a knife or plane. Treat the transition of the blades to the center of the core.

The profile must be flat-convex

Step 4. After cutting, smooth the surfaces with sandpaper. Balance on a horizontal wire.

Now all that remains is to coat the surfaces of the propeller with durable varnish for exterior use and install it on the weather vane.

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Jigsaw

Video - How to make a weather vane

The decoration of the roof can be not only a figured weather vane, but also a simple cap crowning the chimney pipe. Such products are necessary to prevent dirt, debris, and moisture from getting inside the chimney, and to prevent birds from building nests on the chimney. About,