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You can easily make a Picoturbine for far less than the kit costs - the main
price is the magnets and the magnet wire and the time to wind the coils.
They sell the directions and you really owe it to them to at least purchase
that, but then you can buy your magnet wire and magnets in bulk and the cost
comes way down.  There are directions in the Picoturbine mterials to make a
cardboard form to wind your own coils.  This is tedious and time-consuming,
so don't leave this for the night before your class.

One enhancement we have found - putting a piece of overhead transparency
material on top of the coils makes it far less likely that a magnet will
hook a strand of wire and increases the durability of the turbine, without
any loss of performance.

Here is another source of wind power activities:
http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/education/lessonplans/plan.cfm/lpid=292.  The
cork hub they use in Activity 1 could probably be adapted to be mounted on a
motor shaft and secured with super glue, if needed.

Dave Smith



On Wed, Nov 5, 2008 at 1:33 AM, Susan Timberlake <[log in to unmask]>wrote:

> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
> institutions.
>
> *****************************************************************************
>
> Hello,
>
> Has anyone built a wind turbine that generates electricity using a
> small hobby motor rather than one of the pricey kits from Kid Wind or
> PicoTurbine? If so, I could really use some pointers, especially about
> what characteristics the motor needs to have in order for this to
> work, and about ways to affix the student-built turbine to the motor
> so that it won't slip.
>
> Thanks,
> Susan
> _____________________________
> Susan Timberlake
> Writer, editor, and content developer
> www.susantimberlake.com
>
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-- 
David L. Smith
Da Vinci Science Center
Allentown, PA
http://www.davinci-center.org

Please consider the environment before printing this email.

Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But since no one was
listening, everything must be said again.  -- Andre Gide

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