Fifteen years ago, I watched a program about historic windmills on TV, and then I thought that I would make my own in the garden. I wanted it to serve not only as a decorative element.
PROJECTI decided that my windmill must be visible from a distance, so its dimensions are 120x100x270 cm. Before I started building, however, I made a sketch on the walls of the garage. It made my further work much easier.
FOUNDATIONS
The foundations of the windmill are oak beams. To make the structure stable, I bolted these beams at each corner to concrete poles that I embedded deep into the ground.
FRAME OF CONSTRUCTION
The vertical skeleton is made of pine wood - 8x6 cm square timber. I narrowed the upper part of the building to the dimensions of 60x50 cm, and the whole is covered with larch paneling connected to the so-called foreign feather.
ROOFI used narrower square timbers (6x4 cm) for the construction of the roof. I covered the skeleton with boards and then with metal tiles. At the roof, I installed gutters to drain the rainwater.
WINGS
In the upper part of the windmill I mounted a special axle with a diameter of 30 mm on bearings, which supports four wings. They are 180 cm long and 40 cm wide. In order for them to turn well when moved by the force of the wind, I placed them at an angle of 35 degrees. The wings are covered with aluminum sheets. When the wind is strong, I can block them to keep them from spinning too fast.
WIND FUNCTIONSIn the upper part of the windmill I left a round hole through which birds can enter the nest box.In its interior, on the axis, I installed a wheel with a diameter of 55 cm. It works on a V-belt, moved by a special air pump, which oxygenates the water in the pond. This is another important feature of the windmill. In addition, its size allows you to store garden tools in it. You enter the storeroom through a large door (back of the fan) and the light shines through the window in which my wife Maria even hung a curtain.
MAINTENANCEEvery year I renew the windmill with wood preservatives. Although it is quite old, I hope that it will serve for a long time and that many guests will find it easier to go to the "house with a windmill", as our property is called. I made another such windmill and gave it to my daughter Urszula. I installed a small electric motor in it, which sets the wings in motion when there is no wind blowing.
Łucjan Dalecki
