# Air Powered



## Stan (Mar 22, 2008)

I don't want any of the purists telling me that this isn't a model engine. It is air powered and runs a generator that lights up a row or LEDS on each side of the tail. It started out as a cheap Chinese lawn decoration that has been overhauled and welded together many times in its short life. This time the whole fan folded up in a big wind so started with a new hub and added an 8" 10 gauge plate to weld the fans too. That was a disaster trying to weld cheap tin to yjr 10 gauge so I ended up brazing over the weld.

The generator is from the surplus store. Turned out to be 12 volt at 6400 RPM so I had to speed up the drive to get more than three volts at low fan speed. Output from the generator feeds a LM317 voltage regulator hooked up as a current source of 130 ma for 13 ma in each LED


----------



## Mcgyver (Mar 22, 2008)

hey that's neat, a few more and you can go off the grid ;D



> I don't want any of the purists telling me that this isn't a model engine.



hehe, your defence becomes one of semantics - by the definition of the word a model has to be a model of something; an image, a representation of an original, usually in miniature. I proffer that a great number of the projects wonderfully presented herein are not model engines at all, they are beautiful and skillfully made small engines, originals, prototypes, but not models - perhaps one day someone will make a model of them then they will be legitimate model engines post.  

:big:

(all said tongue in cheek)


----------



## tattoomike68 (Mar 22, 2008)

I love it, i want 99 more at my house so the the power company pays me.

you just keep it up, dont stop..


----------



## Brass_Machine (Mar 22, 2008)

Thats pretty darn cool. No need to defend it.

Eric


----------



## Bogstandard (Mar 23, 2008)

Stan,

To me, anything that is instructional, within reason, has a place on here.

Your little exercise falls perfectly into that category.

It shows what can be done with a bit of ingenuity and lateral thinking. It doesn't have to be a windmill, scale it down and run it off a small sterling is just one idea that springs to mind.

Well done.

John


----------



## Alphawolf45 (Mar 24, 2008)

I like it.. I been intending to build something similar for at least a decade.,,but it hard to find the time to do the things that are just for fun.You done nice job with it.


----------

