55 gallon drum projects

[vpt]

I mentioned my 55 gallon drum leafblower before in some thread. I was out with the camera today and snapped a couple pics of it.

What do you do with 55 gallon drums?

[murph64]

[Guinness]

BRILLIANT!

[/Guinness]




Hows about a pic or two of the "fan"?


Andy

[darryl]

Hmm. I was just looking at some plastic drums here a few hours ago. I was thinking of lashing about 20 of them together and building a houseboat/raft. Move over, Heyerdahl

[1-800miner]

Long time ago a buddy of mine bought some acreage and set up a double wide trailer.He lived there about a year,then decided to get legal with building permits.

The county told him that land was not zoned for mobiles and it would have to go.

He tells them "no problem",goes home and rips off the skirting,shoves about thirty oil drums under it.

Then he goes to department of motor vehicles and registers it as a house boat.

It stayed like that til he died.

[Chester]

Went for a drive and ran across a guy's yard full of whirlygigs made from cans, etc. They were split down the length and put back together, back to back on a shaft with bearings. The sizes ranged from a 48oz juice can to a 45 gal barrel. It took almost no breeze to get that barrel size going.

No pictures.......a rare time I had no camera, but something like this:

http://www.google.ca/imgres?q=wind+powered+rotating+signs&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&rls=com.microsoft:en-ca:IE-SearchBox&rlz=1I7ACEW_enCA429CA429&tbm=isch&tbnid=-1vQl0NYzk6n2M:&imgrefurl=http://www.antonine-education.co.uk/physics_a2/options/module_7/Topic_2/topic_2_angular_momentum_and_pow.htm&docid=EE_fAnrlbJvYMM&w=462&h=313&ei=iHptTuyQL8fq0gGP24yMBA&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=473&vpy=251&dur=63&hovh=185&hovw=273&tx=134&ty=122&page=1&tbnh=150&tbnw=194&start=0&ndsp=19&ved=1t:429,r:8,s:0&biw=1366&bih=590

[winchman]

More like this:

[darryl]

Hmm, not sure I've seen one quite like that before. It looks like the buckets are open to each other. I'm just trying to think whether that would make it more efficient. Wind blows into one, pushing it around, and blows through into the other one, pushing it around also.

[H8Allegheny]

More like this:

That looks like it's belted to a small generator. Google "savonius rotor" to get more info and plans. Not very efficient from what I recall.

Brian
Taxachusetts

[lynnl]

Long time ago a buddy of mine bought some acreage and set up a double wide trailer.He lived there about a year,then decided to get legal with building permits.

The county told him that land was not zoned for mobiles and it would have to go.

He tells them "no problem",goes home and rips off the skirting,shoves about thirty oil drums under it.

Then he goes to department of motor vehicles and registers it as a house boat.

It stayed like that til he died.

That's hilarious!!!
My hero!

[Frank Ford]

For just about as long as I can recall, there's been a swell double-decker wind turbine made of oil drums right on US 101 in Marin County.

See it here on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJ-6b8ZE92Q

[Chester]

More like this one.....except not a double decker model. No pulleys either as I remember, just a fun wind toy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHPGwjlP6QE&feature=related

[Paul Alciatore]

That looks like it's belted to a small generator. Google "savonius rotor" to get more info and plans. Not very efficient from what I recall.

Brian
Taxachusetts

And all of that produces how many MILLI-Watts of power. Photocells have got to be more efficient.

Harnessed snales have got to be more efficient.

[Paul Alciatore]

More like this one.....except not a double decker model. No pulleys either as I remember, just a fun wind toy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHPGw...eature=related

It is definitely better with the music and the beer.

[Scottike]

It's only 20 gal. instead of 55, and I'm not sure it even qualfies as a project - but I did something with it.

https://skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx?cid=5becf2539fa850c3&page=play&resid=5BECF2539FA850C3!322

It gives me a place to put all the advertising I got with parts.

[HWooldridge]

I don't have any ready pics but things I've done or seen...

Two 55 barrels welded on ends and stood vertically makes a great meat smoker. I smoke a lot of dry sausages and the upper barrel will hold about 15 lbs of links (depending on casing size). I've since built a large smokehouse that holds about 300 lbs but used a double barrel for many years.

Two bbls set side by side with a single pipe connection on one end makes a good, wood-fired shop heater. This needs to be set in a frame and plumbed to exhaust. The barrels are piped together on the opposite end from the firebox; the upper barrel is piped to the flue on the same end as the firebox in the lower drum. Build the fire in the front of the lower barrel; the heat and smoke draft into the upper barrel. Smoke goes out the chimney but the upper barrel gets quite hot and radiates warmth into the room. This design drafts well enough that you won't smell smoke in the room.

One bbl cut about 1/3-2/3 makes a good foundry shell. Place the longer end open end up and fill with fire brick or castable (be sure and plan for the burner). Fill the other side with castable and hinge for a lid.

None of these are very unique or original but still work well...