YOUR OWN WATER-POWER PLANT
(Page 6 of 8)
After the sheet has been prepared, scribe a 5' circle on it
and cut it with the cutting flame of a gas welding torch.
With ordinary care, this method should give sufficient
accuracy. Vent and drainage holes should be drilled as
indicated around each disk to lessen corrosion with the
drum.
Good Buckets ImportantThe buckets are the most
important element of the wheel. To give maximum efficiency,
they must be formed so that the water enters smoothly at
the top of their travel and remains in them until just
before they reach the bottom. For this reason, the bucket
form indicated on the facing page should be followed
faithfully. Either sheet metal or wood is an acceptable
material, but metal is better suited to cold climates,
since wood is damaged when absorbed water freezes. Because
the buckets are subject to wear from the water and sediment
that it carries along, you may want to install them so they
can be easily replaced.
RELATED CONTENT
In laying out and making wooden buckets, follow these
steps:
Using a common center, strike off two arcs, one with a
21-1/2" radius and the other with a 2' 6" radius. Then draw
a radius line intersecting these arcs.
From the point where the radius crosses the inner arc,
measure 2-3/4" farther along the line and mark the point
E .
From the point where the radius crosses the outer arc, draw
a chord 10-1/2" long and from the new point where this
intersects the outer arc draw a line to point E .
You now have the inner trace of the bucket.
Take a piece of the bucket stock and lay it along the upper
edge of this inner trace, and you have a cross section
through the bucked, Cut your stock accordingly, making the
length equal to B in the table of
dimensions.Steel Buckets Require Jig
Steel buckets are only slightly more difficult if you
follow these steps:
Using a common center, strike off two arcs on a piece of
plywood, one with a 21-1/2" radius and the other with a 2'
6" radius.
Draw a radius line and then a tangent to the inner arc,
making it vertical to the radius. From the point of
tangency, measure 5" along the tangent. Mark this point.
Using this mark as a center, strike off an arc with a 5"
radius. This is part of the inner trace of the bucket.
At the point where the original radius line (Step 2)
crosses the outer arc, draw a chord 10-1/2" long, and at
point F where this chord intersects the outer arc
draw a new radius line. Also at point F measure
off 15 deg. below the new radius and draw line FG
11-1/2" long.
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