Earn up to 25% commission on books and ebook sales with our two tier partner programme.

OneToRemember homepage…Click Here

See some example banners and product listings Click Here >>>
Thank you for visiting the onetoremember partner zone. We would be delighted if you join as a partner, share in the success of onetoremember and help make small changes towards meeting the big challenge of sustainable living. If you have not already visited our website you can do so by Click Here www.OneToRemember.co.uk >>>.

We are able to offer a two tier partner programme so if you introduce affiliate partners you will earn a percentage of their income too.

The commission rates that apply to product and service categories are published below and are subject to change.

ebooks and other digital material - 25%

all other products - 5%

2nd tier - 0.5%

Commissions are credited to you as sales are made. When the accumulated credit reaches £5.00 you will be paid via PayPal - no other payment method will be used.

The partner zone contains all the resources you need including:

Summary Statistics - your summary sales stats

Banners - a full set of category, homepage, affiliate and product banners and text links that you can customise.

Banner Statistics - impressions, click throughs and sales with date search

Referred Sales - provides statistics on the products sold to the customers who visited the store through a partner’s link. Here you can see the list of all the products and the list of top products. This allows you to define which products sell best through the partnership system.

Payment History - displays statistics on commissions paid for a certain period.

Affiliate Tree - displays commission statistics for the tree of your affiliates.

Biomass fuel briquette production, environmental conservation and income generation for sustainable development.

Chopping, threshing and mashing of the materials for briquetting has always been limited to either a laborious hand pounding or very expensive 5 or 10 Kw hammer milling machines. Legacy has developed over the past year, a unique combination machine, the TMC-1, which threshes, mashes and chops a wide variety of materials efficiently. It is further detailed in the products Services and Pricing section, accessed here. Legacy has also been developing new mechanised and semi-mechanical pressing equipment that are anticipated to be out on the market within the next nine months, with adequate support. Great fuel for sustainable living.

Manuals are available as ebooks for instant download in the OneToRemember biomass click here>>

If you would like to earn commission selling these manuals through your website join our affiliate partner scheme

Are we getting back to the 1970s when the high energy prices started the alternative energy movement? I think it was then that people started making their own energy devices again - wind, solar and biomass. The innovation was wonderful. Too often we see high priced products that just won’t pay and are difficult to maintain. (In my opinion sustainable living is not just about buying an expensive piece of equipment off of the shelf….but then again anything that helps is welcome. )With a low cost DIY project you can get the energy you need at a low cots, recycle parts around you, and have some great fun too!!

This is the wind speed at which the wind generator begins producing. For all practical purposes, wind speeds below about 6 to 7 mph (3 m/s) provide little or no usable energy, even though the blades may be spinning. At best, this minimal output only overcomes the power losses caused by a long wire run or the voltage drop due to diodes. We are beginning to see high-tech controllers that are able to “store” the small amount of energy available at low wind speeds in the alternator windings. This energy is then pulsed to the batteries in a manner similar to a pulse width modulated charge controller.

One of the first scales to estimate wind speeds and the effects was created by Britain’s Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort (1774-1857). He developed the scale in 1805 to help sailors estimate the winds via visual observations. The scale starts with 0 and goes to a force of 12. The Beaufort scale is still used today to estimate wind strengths.

Here is a link to more information and the complete scale >>

We should enourage this type of thinking. So it sounds crazy  - but then we know how many other things sounded crazy when they were first voiced. If there were not ideas like this earoplanes would still have propellers, cars would have solid tyers, potatoes would have been left in South America and computers would still be main frames. 

http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/06/04/agustin-otegui-nano-vent-skin/

Equality in a political sense in terms of human rights, political rights, pay and opportunity, to name but a few, has to be the goal that we all seek. It seems strange to most of us in Western cultures that women had to fight for the vote and equal pay in our recent history. What were we thinking of? Why should men me the sole custodian of our political direction?

In looking at organisations for example a religion, a club or a society - a fundamental question for me is whether men and women have the same rights. Indeed I will also look further at race, colour and sexuality. This means that I could not, even if wanted to, join certain religions or churches within those religions, for example. So this leaves me a number of questions. Why do some men and women think that women should be, for example, ruled by men? What are the advantages to women? Has this always been the case? Are there good examples of truly equal societies throughout history?

One conclusion for me is that true equality seems to be delivered by developed and confident societies and cultures. The more we foster and support equality the better our lives become. In conclusion we do not need to ask the question it is the only true and equitable path to follow.

Poodles are great dogs. We own a lovely standard year old black bitch called Bobbie. She is everything that we want in a dog. Indeed Poodles offer so much as they are affectionate, clever, great family dogs, athletic, trainable, etc., etc. And as they don’t shed their fur they go anywhere in the house.

So what’s with the need to cross Poodles with other dogs? What else are people looking for? Is it just that Poodles have a bad name? Crossbreeds don’t naturally take the best parts of their respective parents. So if you believe that a Labrador Poodle cross for example is going to be the prefect dog be careful. You may well end up with a food driven dog that chews everything, gets over excited and sheds hair.

No, my advice is to stick with a pure bred Poodle and enjoy a fantastic dog that has been around since the Middle Ages. Get to know the breed enjoy their characteristics and be proud to walk your poodle along the street. You don’t need to give your dog a fancy haircut just a nice even cut makes them look great. When people see what a great dog you have people will stop to talk to you and admire. And when someone asks what type of dog you have say proudly - my dog is a pure Poodle and is absolutely wonderful’

Not for the home generator but the energy contained in ocean waves can potentially provide an unlimited source of renewable energy.

Wind generated waves on the ocean surface of the world have a total (estimated) power of 90 million GW. Because of the direction of the prevailing winds and the size of the Atlantic Ocean, the UK has wave power levels that are amongst the highest in the world. The wave energy industry, like the tidal one, sees itself as having the potential of the wind industry but is currently around 10 years behind it. In 2003 the total capacity was 0.5 MW.

The connection of wave machines to the electricity grid system can pose a number of technical challenges, which can make the connection requirements more complex than connections for conventional generating plant.

In the UK we are only ever 70 miles away from the coast. So with all this energy available why not now?

This a great scheme where you click through your own site to collect 1 or 2% on all purchases on the web. All the big names including amazon, QVC, curries, etc. Infact hundreds of companies are on thsi site. I use it like search engine. You do not have to pay anything just use the site. When you click you go straight through to the site that you ant to purchase from - so search for Amazon, click through and get money back on your purchase. You will need to repeat for every new order otherwise the cookie will expire. It’s working for me so please try - it’s free, easy and risk free.

Information: http://www.ei42.com/onetoremember/info/
Direct Signup: http://www.ei42.com/onetoremember/join/
my site for reference: http://www.ei42.com/onetoremember/

It would be great to get your feedback!!
This a great scheme where you click through your own site to collect 1 or 2% on all purchases on the web. All the big names including amazon, QVC, curries, etc. Infact hundreds of companies are on thsi site. I use it like search engine. You do not have to pay anything just use the site. When you click you go straight through to the site that you ant to purchase from - so search for Amazon, click through and get money back on your purchase. You will need to repeat for every new order otherwise the cookie will expire. It’s working for me so please try - it’s free, easy and risk free.

A wind turbine must have a clear shot at the wind to perform efficiently. Turbulence, which both reduces performance and “works” the turbine harder than smooth air, is highest close to the ground and diminishes with height. Also, wind speed increases with height above the ground. As a general rule of thumb, you should install a wind turbine on a tower such that it is at least 30 ft above any obstacles within 300 ft. Smaller turbines typically go on shorter towers than larger turbines. A 250 watt turbine is often, for example, installed on a 30-50 ft tower, while a 10 kW turbine will usually need a tower of 80-120 ft. We do not recommend mounting wind turbines to small buildings that people live in because of the inherent problems of turbulence, noise, and vibration.

The least expensive tower type is the guyed-lattice tower, such as those commonly used for ham radio antennas. Smaller guyed towers are sometimes constructed with tubular sections or pipe. Self-supporting towers, either lattice or tubular in construction, take up less room and are more attractive but they are also more expensive. Telephone poles can be used for smaller wind turbines. Towers, particularly guyed towers, can be hinged at their base and suitably equipped to allow them to be tilted up or down using a winch or vehicle. This allows all work to be done at ground level. The purchaser can easily erect some towers and turbines, while others are best left to trained professionals. Anti-fall devices, consisting of a wire with a latching runner, are available and are highly recommended for any tower that will be climbed. Aluminium towers should be avoided because they are prone to developing cracks. Wind turbine manufacturers usually offer towers and purchasing one from them is the best way to ensure proper compatibility.

If you have a book for sale whether it be used, rare or new please contact us. We are always looking for new products for our customers no matter what the quantity.

We also publish ebooks so if you are the copyright holder send us an email - contact us - with an outline of the book.

To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, why bother to write if not for publication? But writing can be a lonely task, made bearable by the thought that others will enjoy reading what has been written, but that means finding a publisher.

Being discovered by a publisher, seeing your book launched and signing copies for adoring readers is perhaps every writers fantasy. And it can happen. But for every writer realising the fantasy, there are thousands who are not so lucky. For them, persistence may ultimately pay as they deal with rejection after rejection. Of course, they can pay to have their book published, perhaps parting with thousands of pounds with, realistically, little or no chance of ever recovering the outlay.

Electronic publishing gives writer another option and one with a very real chance of making money. Although we take works of any length, lets take for example, a book of 80,000 to 100,000 words - 200 or so pages. We have to devote time to reading and checking the manuscript as well as actually putting the work on our website, however unlike others if the book is suitable for onetoremember we do not make a charge. If it is suitable we then agree a selling price with the author which would usually be rather less than the price of an equivalent paperback book. Lets say we agree on £6. We pay a royalty to you, the author, of 75% of that price so that every time someone buys your book you earn £4.50 and we keep £1.50 to cover the cost of processing the payment. So when just 100 copies have been bought, you will have earned £450. Remember, the website is accessible worldwide, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and your book will never be ‘out of print’. Some of our authors see electronic publication of their book on this site as an end in itself, and several have more than one title available, while others see it as a means of showcasing their work in the hope of attracting a conventional publisher. Either way, we do everything we can to help to achieve our authors aims. We are in contact with the press, both local and national, in the United Kingdom and Overseas and are often successful in gaining editorial coverage of our activities and those of our authors. Reviews of the books we have on the site are submitted regularly for publication. All this activity is intended to do just one thing - to develop interest in our books, increasing their sales and, as a result, the income paid to our authors. We can accept your manuscript on floppy disk, on CD (preferably in Microsoft Word) or on A4 paper as long as it is typed preferably on one side only. It need not be double spaced nor in any particular font. We look forward to hearing from you.

A windmill takes energy from the wind (fluid) and produces power. The maximum theoretical power is 16/27 of the wind’s power this is known as the “Betz limit”. The wind’s energy, because it is moving, is in the form of kinetic energy and if all the energy was captured by the propeller or rotor there would not be an airflow consequently it can be said that the “lost” energy is used to keep the air flowing.

The maximum power available P is equal to –

K x D x A x V3

Where
K is a constant (Betz Limit)
D is the density of air (kg/m3)
A is the swept area of the blade (m2)
V is the velocity of the wind (m/s)

It can be seen that by doubling the velocity of the wind the available power is increased eight times (2×2x2) and by doubling the blade diameter the available power is increased four times. When the power required is known and estimating the efficiency of the machine it is possible to size the rotor for the average wind speed available. Equally the efficiency that manufacturers claim can be calculated. It should be noted that when calculating the power available the efficiency of the total system should be used, that is, not only the generator and gearbox but also the transmission and storage.

Wind turbines have “rated outputs” which give the best output at a particular wind speed. But this output must not be taken to mean power available i.e. rated output x hours, as the wind speed is not constant and will vary from around 1/10 to 1/3 of the figure.

Efficiencies achieved in practice are much less than the theoretical 59.3%(16/27), that of a traditional windmill with a small number of sail-like blades is a little over 5%. However since wind is often available in practically unlimited quantities, this “efficiency” can become of little significance.

The wind has been used to power machines capable of grinding corn, pumping water and producing electricity for hundreds years. There are records of Persian and Japanese wind machines as long ago as 200 BC. Wind power probably has its origin in the ancient civilisations of China, Tibet, India, Afghanistan, and Persia. The first written evidence of the use of wind turbines is that of Hero of Alexandria, who in the third or second century BC described a simple horizontal-axis wind turbine. From contemporary sources we also know that windmills have been used in the 11th & 12th century in England. Also from a contemporary eyewitness (1190) we know that German crusaders brought the skills of building windmills to Syria. From this, we may assume that this technology was generally known all over Europe since the Middle Ages.

The two most familiar types of wind machines are the traditional windmill used for grinding corn, once common place in Europe and the water pumping windmills that provided water to farms and towns in the U.S.A. and seen on many Western films. It is estimated that in the 1930s there were 6 million of these fan type mills in use in America.

Pitstone Windmill stands in the north east corner of a large field near the parish boundary of Ivinghoe and Pitstone in Buckinghamshire. It is thought to have been first built circa 1627 as this date is carved on part of the framework. This is the earliest date to be found on any windmill in the British Isles. It should be remembered that such a structure would have had to have frequent repairs made to it, so it is quite possible the mill predates 1627.

The design of the mill is what is known as a post-mill. This means the whole superstructure of the mill rests on one main post. This post arises from ground level through brick and a foundation chamber; the post then acts as a pivot for the timber built structure above with the sails. Consequently, the upper section of the mill and sails can be turned towards the direction of the wind. The mill machinery in the upper rotating section was reached by a long flight of external steps.

For many hundreds of years corn grown in the two adjoining villages was ground at the mill into flour. In 1874 the mill was bought by Adelbert Wellington Brownlow Cust, 3rd Earl Brownlow who owned the nearby Ashridge Estate. He subsequently let it to a local farmer, who ran a successful milling business from the mill.
In 1902 the mill was seriously damaged during a furious gale, damaging it beyond the price of economic repair. Circa 1922 the now derelict ruined mill was bought from the Ashridge Estate by a farmer whose land was close to the mill. In 1937 he donated it to the National Trust. However, it was not until 1963 that a band of volunteers began to carry out renovations at their own expense. After seven years of hard work in 1970 after an interlude of 68 years the mill once again ground corn. Today owned by the National Trust the windmill is open to the public on Summer Sunday afternoons.

The development of the water-pumping type windmill in the USA was the major factor in allowing the farming of vast areas of North America, which was otherwise devoid of readily accessible water, and also allowed the extension of rail transport systems, throughout the world, into areas where water could be pumped up from underground to supply the needs of the steam locomotives of those early times. They are still used today for the same purpose in some areas of the world where grid electricity is not a realistic option.

The many-bladed wind turbine atop a lattice tower made of wood or steel was, for many years, a fixture of the rural landscape throughout rural America. These mills, made by a variety of manufacturers, featured a large number of blades so that they would turn slowly but with considerable torque. A tower-top gearbox and crankshaft converted the rotary motion into reciprocating strokes carried downward through a pole or rod to the wellhead below.

In areas not prone to freezing weather, a pump jack (or standard) was mounted at the top of the well below. This was the connection between the windmill and the pump rod, which generally went through the drop pipe to the cylinder below. The pump jack provided a means for manual operation of the pump when the wind was not blowing. Some pump jacks provided a sealed connection, allowing water to be forced out under pressure, but many had a simple spout allowing water to flow away in a trough by gravity.

The drop pipe and pump rod continued down deep into the well, terminating at the pump cylinder below the lowest likely groundwater level. A suction tube usually continued a short distance more. This arrangement allowed wells as deep as 400 feet to be constructed, though most were much more shallow.
The number of moving parts led to the whole arrangement to be rather trouble prone, and “well men”, as they were called in the early days, had a profitable business in repair and maintenance work.

The wind turbines and related equipment are still manufactured and installed today in remote parts of the western United States where electric power is not readily available. The arrival of electricity in rural areas, brought by the REA in the 1930s through 1950s, made these windmills obsolete in the Midwest and other more built-up areas. The mills and towers remained for a time. Today, most are gone, victims of storms, rust, and progress.

As the use of fossil fuels developed and the use of electricity generated from coal and oil became widespread in the early 20th Century, renewables began to contribute less and less to the world’s energy needs. Research continued in many counties with advances being made in both the theoretical and practical use of wind energy. Hence, the revival of the wider interest in wind power after the 1970s did not start from scratch, but could build on a solid foundation of theories and practical experiences. When the new era of wind energy was initiated in the 1970s new materials and technologies were available. Composite materials such as fibreglass showed to be very suitable for the blades, and electronics were developed to control the wind turbine. In the 1980s investment was once again made in Europe and America into the production of electricity from very large windmills (often known as wind turbine or wind turbines). Wind parks consisting of groups of wind turbine were built in California, Sardinia, Orkney, Ilfracombe in Devon, Carmarthan Bay and Richborough in Kent. These experimental sites were funded by public and private money. By the end of 1996 a total of 6200 MW grid connected wind turbine capacity was installed around the world. In 1996 1200 MW were added.

An up to date map of wind farms in the UK can be found at

http://www.bwea.com/map/uk.html

The main application for mechanical farm wind pumps is drinking water supply. The markets for this type of machines include USA, Argentina, South Africa and New Zealand.

Cumulative global wind energy generating capacity topped 31,000 megawatts
(MW) in 2002. Some 6,868 MW of new capacity were installed worldwide during the year, an increase of 28%, according to preliminary estimates by the American Wind Energy Association and the European Wind Energy Association. Wind plants now power the equivalent of 7.5 million average American homes or 16 million average European homes, worldwide. Global wind power generating capacity has quadrupled over the past five years, growing from 7,600 MW at the end of 1997 to an estimated 31,128 MW at the end of 2002 - an increase of over 23,000 MW. Wind is now the world’s fastest-growing energy source on a percentage basis, with installed generating capacity increasing by an average 32% annually for the last five years (1998-2002). The slightly slower rate of 28% in 2002 was primarily due to a lull in the U.S. market.

The Homebuilt Dynamo (as wired in this book) can be used from 12v to 36v with a top rated output of 1000 watts - 28 amps and 36 volts at 740 RPM.

The following is taken from the introduction to The Homebuilt Dynamo

Why this book?

1969: Decided to live the simple life. Bought a few acres of steep land very cheaply - most of it nearly straight up and down, hard to find a flat spot that wasn’t marsh or swamp. did find one big enough to erect a 12′x12′ tent which we lived in for a year while building a small house at the bottom end of the property.

1970: Electric power people wanted lots of money - in advance - to put in power poles to house. Seemed like a better idea was to get a book on small dynamo construction and make our own power.

To make a long story short, we couldn’t find that book. So that’s why this book was written.

This book is a picture-diary of how we build our dynamo, with some practical information and advice along the way for anyone following our steps. You will appreciate my wife Julia’s invaluable help in translating my text into understandable English.

To some people, this book may seem to go into too much detail; for others, perhaps not so experienced in electronics or shop techniques, the extra details of how I made The Homebuilt Dynamo will be welcomed. My aim is to leave out nothing that will help any person with an ordinary home workshop to produce a working Homebuilt Dynamo using the materials, tools, and techniques described.

Having no such directions ourselves, it took us a while. It was on January 15th, 1984, when - with great pomp and ceremony - we retired the smelly and dangerous kerosene lamps and started a new era on 12v miniature fluorescent lighting fixtures.

The Homebuilt Dynamo is not another “do-it-yourself” book, it is simply a careful diary with photographs, detailed working drawings, and text of how I build myself a low speed, low voltage, three phase permanent magnet alternator with internal rectifier diodes which make, in effect, a direct current generator. To avoid that last longwinded description, I have substituted the word “dynamo” which, anyway, I hate to see disappear from the language.

Except for the small amount of lathe work (see drawings D182 and D183), all the construction was done by me, using hand tools normally available in the average home workshop plus two handgrinders and two hand powered drill presses. To simplify constructions and make it easy to fabricate (and, if necessary, to dismantle), I have avoided the necessity for any welding or soldering.

Of modular construction, the Stator Units can be removed and the Frame completely dismantled using only an Allen key set and a small screw driver.

The materials I used to construct The Homebuilt Dynamo are, by no means, the only ones you can use. For example, the Formica Supporting Plates could be made from aluminium, cast iron, mild steel, or stainless steel - all of which would be heavier and harder to work than the Industrial Formica I used, but the output rating of the dynamo could be substantially increased because of the much better heat dissipation of metals.

The reader may well ask: why all the fuss over a low speed machine when mass-produced car and truck alternators are available at very reasonable cost? Well, the answer to that is that the alternative power sources such as small windmills, water turbines, and steam engines have speeds in the 100 to 800 range of RPM. To match the power source generally available to these high-speed machines requires expensive high ratio gearing or a complicated maze of belts and pulleys which aren’t very energy efficient and require frequent maintenance.

In conventional alternators, it is hard to follow the action because a common stator core is used for all the windings. In my machine, each individual Stator has its own separate laminated core and windings so it is easy to make electrical calculations using a modification of the standard transformer formula.

The structure of The Homebuilt Dynamo can be thought of as basically a bunch of core type electric transformers cut in half and the two halves positioned on opposite sides of a rotating disk which has powerful ceramic magnets embedded in its rim (which passes between the two halves of the “transformers”). The north-south direction of magnetism in each of these magnets is opposite to the ones next to it all around the rim, so when the disk is rotated, the “transformer halves” on either side of the disk are caused to be magnetized first in one direction and then in the other (see drawing D296) as each pair of magnets passes between the “transformer halves”. The “transformer halves” thus act in the same way as the stator of an alternator, generating a current of alternating electricity as the Magnet Rotor turns.

The amount of power that can be collected from the Stator Units depends on three factors which are listed below:

1. The larger the individual Stator Units, the more power is generated for each RPM of the Magnet Rotor.
2. The more Stator Units that can be packed around the Magnet Rotor disk, the more power is generated - that is why I’ve wound the copper coils in such a way that they are much longer than their width in The Homebuilt Dynamo, so as to get as many Stator Units as possible around both sides of the Magnet Rotor.
3. The larger the Magnet Rotor, the more magnets can be positioned around its rim and this means more power will be generated from each Stator Unit for each RPM of the Magnet Rotor.

So, if we want a lot of power at a low rotor RPM, theoretically all we need is a huge rotor with hundreds of small magnets revolving between hundreds of little stator units. In a real-life situation, though, we have to compromise quite a bit here. For example, the rotor unit must be very rigid or it will tend to vibrate between the Stator units as it revolves, so its thickness must be about one-sixteenth its diameter (for industrial Formica material). Also, the Stator Units must be supported by a frame heavy enough so that it, as well, will not vibrate.

Obviously, then, compromises must be made and a balance struck between the three factors determining maximum power and practical dynamo design.

After experimenting with various combinations, taking each of the three factors to its maximum practical limit, my final design brought the frame to fourteen and one-quarter inches by fourteen and one-quarter inches by one-half inch thick Industrial Formica for the two Supporting Plates with four Housing Panels made of fourteen and three-eighths inches by four and one-sixteenth inches by one-eighth inch thin aluminium plate. (One of the four Housing Panels would become the Rectifier Panel). The eleven and five-eighths inches overall diameter Magnet Rotor made of three-quarter inch thick Industrial Formica accommodates thirty-two magnets of such a size and spacing around its rim that two adjacent magnets will cover two legs of the Stator Units, one unit after the other, as the Rotor revolves. There are twelve Stator Units fastened to each of the Supporting Plates, each exactly opposite one on the other Supporting Plate, making up twelve Stator Unit Pairs with the Magnet Rotor revolving between them. The pairs of magnets, as they cover the legs of two opposite Stator Units, complete the magnetic path between the Stator Unit Pairs as the Magnet Rotor revolves (see drawing D296).

The ratio of twelve Stator Unit Pairs to sixteen Magnet pairs is important to the three-phase circuitry of The Homebuilt Dynamo since this ration works out so that only four pairs of magnets are covering the legs of four Stator Unit Pairs (these four Stator Unit Pairs being covered by the four pairs of magnets are spaced 90 degrees apart on the Supporting Plates) at any one time with the other magnet pairs either just coming up to, or just passing on from, the remaining eight Stator Unit Pairs. The effect of this is to practically eliminate any “cogging” action which would immobilize the Magnet Rotor and make it next to impossible for it to get started again - which would be the result if all the magnets lined up with all the Stator Units legs at the same time.

On this machine, no extra insulation is used between coil layers and there is no process of special dipping, drying, and baking of coils. This is because it’s not necessary for The Homebuilt Dynamo where the peak voltage between any two layers of the coil winding (at maximum rated DC output - either parallel or series connected) is just under 2v compared to 54v between layers in the coil of a conventional 230v 2kw transformer - where insulation and such processes are indeed necessary.

Actually based on an old (turn of the century) idea - which was at the time impractical - the design of The Homebuilt Dynamo is only practical because of the availability of modern ceramic permanent magnets. When compared to the conventional metal magnets, their power is enormous - especially in their power to pull over a much greater distance and to withstand strong demagnetizing forces. The “long-throw” capability of the modern ceramic permanent magnets as used in The Homebuilt Dynamo allows us to have an air gap of one-sixteenth inch between the Stator Units and the magnets, on both sides of the revolving Magnet Rotor and this means that the construction tolerances permitted are much larger than in the conventional machine permitting only about a one-hundredth inch air gap - and it is this difference which brings the construction of The Homebuilt Dynamo within reach of the amateur craftsman.

As an option, in Appendix 1, I have put forward some ideas for enlarging The Homebuilt Dynamo by doubling or tripling the linear dimensions of each component to gain a really spectacular increase in output and efficiency. It is a well-known fact in electrical engineering that electric motors, generators, and transformers all become much more efficient as their size increase provided that all the components, (with the exception of the thickness of the individual iron laminations in the rotor and stator cores), are enlarged in the same ratio.

In course of developing The Homebuilt Dynamo, I have often relied on hunches about how electricity “could” be generated and consequently I have spent quite a few years running up blind alleys, many of which in hindsight have seemed a bit ridiculous. I sincerely hope that this book will help a like-minded reader to avoid a few of those blind alleys.

What this book contains.

This book originated from the premise that there just had to be a method of generating low voltage electricity from mechanical energy which could be developed from scratch in the average home workshop using home modified, off-the-shelf components and materials.

The systems of construction described here were mainly worked out by the Trial & Error System with help from bits and pieces of know-how from various trades picked up during 15 years as a factory process worker in the Auckland area. I do not profess to be an expert at anything - I’m still learning.

This book is a picture-diary with over 300 illustrations detailing (with photos, schematics, and working drawings) the design and construction steps in the building of a low speed, low voltage, permanent magnet, three-phase alternator with built-in full-wave rectifier - which makes it, in effect, a DC generator or what I prefer to call a dynamo.

The Homebuilt Dynamo (as wired in this book) can be used from 12v to 36v with a top rated output of 1000 watts - 28 amps and 36 volts at 740 RPM.

This machine has been specifically designed and simplified to the point where no soldering or welding is required. The use of connector strips (terminal blocks) for all wiring connections allows maximum experimentation and changing of components without a major hassle. Neither is there any foundry work - i.e. no casting for the housing. There are no brushes to wear out.

I have done all the work at home (except for an essential bit of lathe work done on the Rotor Hub and the four Spacers holding the Main Frame together) using all new off-the-shelf quality materials purchased from local firms in the Auckland area (these are listed and addresses given).

This book also includes descriptions of how I constructed:

1. A precision cutting diamond saw used to cut magnets to size (based on alterations to a sturdy old hand grinder).
2. A special high-power magnetizer used to magnetize ceramic magnets (uses old-fashioned telephone dynamo for power source).
3. A precision sheet metal cutter (small) for cutting standard transformer laminations to the size required (built around a pair of tin snips).
4. A small (four and one-half ounces) lifting magnet which uses a Homebuilt Dynamo Rotor Magnet as its power source and lifts 145 times its own weight.
5. A foot-powered version of The Homebuilt Dynamo (for charging a deep-cycle marine battery) build around a bicycle frame with improvised reading stand.
6. A 139 pound flywheel used on the pedal powered machine made from lead-filled mackerel tins set around an Industrial Formica disk with aluminium hub and stainless steel rods.
7. Precision wire-winding jigs (for winding the stator coils and the magnetizing coils).
8. Several test apparatus built for various tests on magnets and on the Dynamo (in the Appendix).

The appendix also contains details of tests made on The Homebuilt Dynamo plus some theories and opinions on various theories and ideas, and some simple data on scaling up The Homebuilt Dynamo to obtain large increases in output and efficiency.

All the active construction photos in this book show me “doing it the hard way” with hand-tools or hand-powered machines - because that was all I had to work with. But a person more fortunate, who had the use of power tools, would naturally finish the job faster.

Book Review:

MODEL ENGINEER 15 DECEMBER 1989 VOL 163 #3863, page 793 - The Homebuilt Dynamo by Alfred T. Forbes

The background to this book is that the author opted out of the rat race to an apparently remote plot of land in New Zealand where he built his own house. There was no possibility of getting a connection to a public electricity supply but he soon grew tired of the smell and inconvenience of oil lamps. He sought a low voltage d.c. generator to charge storage batteries which could be driven by a wind or water mill. The obvious ready-made article was a car alternator and rectifier but that would have needed to run at several thousand r.p.m. and he wanted to avoid the gearing or pulley system that would have been needed. He found that if he wanted a low-speed machine he would have to build his own. The book records in the greatest detail the design and construction of a 3-phase alternator-rectifier machine that produces up to 1kW at 740 r.p.m. at voltages from 12 to 36 volts depending on the interconnection of the windings.

The workshop equipment available to him was of the simplest - he had no lathe and of course no power-driven equipment, so the design of the machine is dictated largely by this. Consequently its appearance is, for a generator, distinctly odd but the electrical engineering in it is absolutely sound. It is a multi-pole, permanent magnet rotor machine similar in its general philosophy to the original Raleigh bicycle Hubdyno, but of course much larger and anyone needing a low-speed generator could do much worse than adopt this design.

The author has logged and photographed every stage in the construction and has produced in this book the most comprehensive and detailed set of “How to do it” instructions I have ever seen. True, the book is expensive but the 300 or so pictures are so clear and well-chosen that it must be regarded as good value for money. The approach to the subject is essentially practical. The theoretical basis of generator design is not gone into (it would probably frighten away a number of possible readers) but it is clear to your reviewer that the design is soundly based. It could be built, following these instructions, by a person with no electrical knowledge whatever.

In the education world the construction of this machine would be an interesting and instructive project and the completed machine would be valuable to illustrate the principles of electromagnetic induction, particularly since the form of construction allows the “works” to be seen in action. Moreover, the whole machine can be dismantled and reassembled without damage, thus adding to its instructional value.

In short, the book presents a rather specialised project but it does it in an easily assimilated way. It just goes to show what you can do with your bare hands if you set your mind to it. H.D.B.

The following is a book review from whole earth

This rather arcane book offers complete (to say the least), copiously illustrated instructions for making your own small, slow-speed generator - a type that is very difficult to find, let alone at a reasonable price. Slow-revving generators are suitable for powering by domesticscale wind or hydro turbines, or, as in this case, the author’s exercise bicycle. (One good workout Provides enough battery-stored electricity for his modest daily needs.)

It’s hard to imagine a better set of directions for making anything. To me, however the book is most valuable as an apprenticeship in how to imbue an idea with sufficient intellectual energy and information to make it flicker into being as irrefutable Proof-of-concept hardware, skill not taught in schools or textbooks. The author teaches by revealing how he arrived at his design and fabrication decisions, The patiently explained underlying physics includes worked-out calculations for larger models. Logic and cleverness are balanced by discussion of his blind alleys and mistakes.

Inadvertently, perhaps, it’s a rarely seen, intimate and accessible revelation of a designer’s thought process.

[P107] Each of the 32 Rotor Magnets used in the Magnet Rotor are now individually numbered from 1 to 32. They are still in their unmagnetized condition and, as each slot is cut in the Magnet Rotor, it, too, is given a corresponding number. Each magnet must fit snugly into its own slot and there may be slight imperfections in the cut sides or bottoms of the slots - and it is for better to discover and smooth out such imperfections (with a file) at this point rather than later on when the magnets have been magnetized, the epoxy glue mixed, and any delay would be very aggravating to say the least. it is hard enough to deal with the magnets after they are magnetized - they tend to slap together or jump apart in the most annoying fashion - without any added difficulty in matching magnet to slot and correcting any slot imperfections when you are glueing them into place! After all slots and magnets are numbered for fit and placement, set the magnets aside in a safe place for now.