How to Build a Windmill With Kids

Tap to Read ➤ Pankaj Chobharkar

You can build your own windmill at home, and use it to power your home appliances. Read the given instructions regarding the same.

A windmill is a simple machine that helps you in generating electrical power from wind energy. It has blades installed on a stand. You have to set it up in an open area, where it can get sufficient wind intensity.

The wind rotates the blades, which in turn rotates the turbines of a generator that produces electrical energy, which is then utilized for various purposes. It is also possible to build a windmill at home, and use it to power your house and reduce electricity bills. You can also build it as a school science project for your kid.

Methodology

Before building this machine, you can make a reference model of what the actual one would look like. Apart from wood, it is also possible to construct this machine from plastic bottles or other materials; the process will remain more or less similar.

Take a pane of plywood that is 5 mm. in width. It will be used for making the windmill blades.

Now, make ten pieces of this pane, each having a width of 6 cm. and a length of 36 cm.

Next, take a pane of wood that is 2 cm. thick, and cut a circle out of it, which is 16 cm. in diameter.

Take a marker or a pencil, and draw a line on this pane, dividing it in two halves. Draw one more line, but this one should be perpendicular to the first one. Continue drawing these lines till the circle has eight parts like a pizza.

Now, draw such lines on the periphery of the circular shape; they should be drawn at an angle, which is same for all eight ones drawn along the periphery.

On the other face that is blank, draw the same eight lines as on the other face. But these will be 2 cm. apart from their corresponding ones on the other face. Thus, draw the first line that divides the circle in two equal parts, on the blank side 2 cm. from the center.

You will now see the same eight markings on both sides now; they are not overlapping with each other.

Now, make cuts on the circumference of the circle to fit the blades. For this, make cuts on the slanting lines that are drawn on the circumference, and these will go through the pencil lines on both the circle faces, till they are about two inches from the center.

Make a hole at the circle's center, and push the blades into the dents that are made on the circle periphery. You can use glue or tape to keep them in place.

You can use a small wooden bar as the axle of the windmill, and push it through the hole. Mount the structure on a pole or a stand, which can be made up of wood or any other material.

The windmill is now ready.

The mentioned procedure involves a great deal of cutting wood and shaping it, and hence, it should be done with proper adult supervision. School kids can also make it with cardboard, as it will be safer and easier for them.