Hi all,

I'm looking for something like a tiny motor to drive the wings of my
(small) scale windmill (it's going in a diorama of sorts). Since the wings
are very light, it only needs a tiny amount of power and torque. It must
also be very low RPM.

Does anyone know of any guides / shops / web resources in this direction?
The best I seem to be able to do is high-RPM motors that are then geared
down (seems like a complicated solution, not to mention expensive )

BR
Pete

PS I have an old East German windmill with such a motor and gearbox
but have never tested the motor; at the end of the day it WAS East
German and not noted for quality control!

PS I have an old East German windmill with such a motor and gearbox
but have never tested the motor; at the end of the day it WAS East
German and not noted for quality control!

Yes, but they did have very cute female olympic athletes....

Craig

I'm looking for something like a tiny motor to drive the wings of my
(small) scale windmill (it's going in a diorama of sorts). Since the wings
are very light, it only needs a tiny amount of power and torque. It must
also be very low RPM.

Does anyone know of any guides / shops / web resources in this direction?
The best I seem to be able to do is high-RPM motors that are then geared
down (seems like a complicated solution, not to mention expensive )

In article <Xns9CB7D1EFC940xxcom at (no spam) 69.16.186.51>,
Peter Belfontain <no.spam at (no spam) please.com> wrote:

I'm looking for something like a tiny motor to drive the wings of my
(small) scale windmill (it's going in a diorama of sorts). Since the
wings
are very light, it only needs a tiny amount of power and torque. It must
also be very low RPM.

Does anyone know of any guides / shops / web resources in this direction?
The best I seem to be able to do is high-RPM motors that are then geared
down (seems like a complicated solution, not to mention expensive )


Cell phone & pager vibrator motors are small and not terribly expensive,
but
they're high RPM.

How much room is there inside the windmill? You may be able to find a
cheap
wristwatch or clock mechanism with a second hand to give you 1 RPM. But
it
could be tricky figuring out how to extend the second hand's shaft and
attach
the windmill blades.

An easier approach would be to put the motor in the base of the diorama
where
there's more room. Put a large pulley on the windmill's axle, a small
pulley on
the motor, and a rubber band as a drive belt. If you can't find suitable
pulleys, make 'em out of sheet plastic and glue onto the axles. Much
easier
than finding/making gears.

If necessary, you can reduce the speed even more by adding another axle
with
large & small pulleys. One rubber band from the motor to the axle's large
pulley; another rubber band from the axle's small pulley to the windmill's
larger pulley.

Hi all,

I'm looking for something like a tiny motor to drive the wings of my
(small) scale windmill (it's going in a diorama of sorts). Since the wings
are very light, it only needs a tiny amount of power and torque. It must
also be very low RPM.

Does anyone know of any guides / shops / web resources in this direction?
The best I seem to be able to do is high-RPM motors that are then geared
down (seems like a complicated solution, not to mention expensive )

BR
Pete

Hi all,

I'm looking for something like a tiny motor to drive the wings of my
(small) scale windmill (it's going in a diorama of sorts). Since the wings
are very light, it only needs a tiny amount of power and torque. It must
also be very low RPM.

Don Stauffer wrote:
Alan Dicey wrote:
Peter Belfontain wrote:
Hi all,

I'm looking for something like a tiny motor to drive the wings of my
(small) scale windmill (it's going in a diorama of sorts). Since the
wings are very light, it only needs a tiny amount of power and
torque. It must also be very low RPM.

Geared motors are the only way, no direct drive electric motor will
turn slowly enough.  Rubber-band drive and a couple of small-to-large
pulley sets would reduce the rpm of a motor, you just need somewhere
to mount it all.

Windmills have sails rather than wings, by the way :-)

How about if he calls it a "wind turbine?"  Don't turbines have blades?

Oh, yes, modern wind turbines have variable-pitch blades :-)

Old-style windmills have sails, which are trimmed for adjustment, or can
be reefed.  Automatic sails include Hooper's roller reefing sails and
Cubitt's patent sails:  almost all the terminology is the same as that
used for sailing ships.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Peter Belfontain wrote:
Hi all,

I'm looking for something like a tiny motor to drive the wings of my
(small) scale windmill (it's going in a diorama of sorts). Since the
wings are very light, it only needs a tiny amount of power and torque.
It must also be very low RPM.

Geared motors are the only way, no direct drive electric motor will turn
slowly enough. Rubber-band drive and a couple of small-to-large pulley
sets would reduce the rpm of a motor, you just need somewhere to mount
it all.

Windmills have sails rather than wings, by the way

Alan Dicey wrote:
Peter Belfontain wrote:
Hi all,

I'm looking for something like a tiny motor to drive the wings of my
(small) scale windmill (it's going in a diorama of sorts). Since the
wings are very light, it only needs a tiny amount of power and
torque. It must also be very low RPM.

Geared motors are the only way, no direct drive electric motor will
turn slowly enough. Rubber-band drive and a couple of small-to-large
pulley sets would reduce the rpm of a motor, you just need somewhere
to mount it all.

Windmills have sails rather than wings, by the way :-)

How about if he calls it a "wind turbine?" Don't turbines have blades?

Hi all,

I'm looking for something like a tiny motor to drive the wings of my
(small) scale windmill (it's going in a diorama of sorts). Since the wings
are very light, it only needs a tiny amount of power and torque. It must
also be very low RPM.

Does anyone know of any guides / shops / web resources in this direction?
The best I seem to be able to do is high-RPM motors that are then geared
down (seems like a complicated solution, not to mention expensive )

Geared motors are the only way, no direct drive electric motor will turn
slowly enough.  Rubber-band drive and a couple of small-to-large pulley
sets would reduce the rpm of a motor, you just need somewhere to mount
it all.

Geared motors are the only way, no direct drive electric motor will turn
slowly enough.  Rubber-band drive and a couple of small-to-large pulley
sets would reduce the rpm of a motor, you just need somewhere to mount
it all.

One more possibility. A magnet coupling(?) Motor spins a disc with a
fridge magnet. Windmill vanes attached to another fridge magnet
(available for $1 for half a dozen at the Dollar Store crafts section)
placed close to but not touching the disc. Depending on the
separation distance the vanes may move fast or slower