NYLON Windmill Flange to reduce Bird Mortality

thingiverse

This flange is for a 2.5-meter windmill with eight fiberglass blades, made of NYLON for a shore 45 single flexible connection to the main drive shaft. Printed on a 2BEIGH3 3D Printer, details of which can be found at http://www.instructables.com/id/Combination-CNC-Machine-and-3D-Printer/. The NYLON part is a single replacement for multi-part flanges across 29 installations on a 2200-acre farm, connecting to self-regulating alternator/inverter/battery systems controlled via WiFi. It was designed for non-commercial power generation purposes and features cooling optimized for NYLON. Due to high bird mortality, the blades needed extra deflection while maintaining efficiency, achieved with a specific shore value. Previous spring-loaded hinges broke over time, causing unbalance, so NYLON was chosen despite its water absorption issues. Replacement every 20-24 months is considered more cost-effective than alternatives. The current design, revised to lower the shore value after testing, aligns each blade with two pins and an oval clamp. With crop rotation, a flange could last four to five years. NYLON's lightness affected mill alignment, requiring rebalancing. A 12-unit field test is planned for late June. The part prints well without corner lifting at 80% fill using a .56 - .62 mm nozzle and plain masking tape as a base. No heated table is needed. The material costs $0.26 per unit, designed in Rhino, skinned in Slic3r v6, and printed on a 2BEIGH3.