by "CalzoneGolem" (calzonegolem)
Published 04/05/2017 at 11:18
by "CalzoneGolem" (calzonegolem)
Published 04/05/2017 at 11:18
Tags: Forest
STARS: 5
My son and I had a boys night at McDonald’s and saw these windmill blades in a normally empty lot. They must have been offloaded from a train the goes nearby and are being staged here.
I had to backup a long way to get the whole thing in one shot.
"ceanderson920" (ceanderson9290)
04/05/2017 at 11:24, STARS: 0
These are Massive, I see them all the time driving through my hometown. They load them on a couple dolly’s attached to the semi and go for it. It can sometimes be pretty sketchy driving next to them because the wind makes the back end of the blade swing back and fourth in its lane.
"Takuro Spirit" (takurospirit)
04/05/2017 at 11:27, STARS: 0
That looks like a fun lot to have AWD in
"TheTurbochargedSquirrel" (thatsquirrel)
04/05/2017 at 11:27, STARS: 1
You forget how big these are when they are hundreds of feet above your head.
"Ash78, voting early and often" (ash78)
04/05/2017 at 11:29, STARS: 0
Those things are about as close to a real-life Sci Fi movie prop as most people will ever see. I occasionally see the motor housings being transported (Wide Load) and those are frickin huge in their own right.
"DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!" (daft-ryosuke)
04/05/2017 at 11:39, STARS: 2
You really don’t realize how large these things are when they’re so far up in the air. Chilling.
"CalzoneGolem" (calzonegolem)
04/05/2017 at 12:11, STARS: 0
Based on my car being ~178" long I estimate this blade to be ~133'-6" long
"CalzoneGolem" (calzonegolem)
04/05/2017 at 12:12, STARS: 0
You sure could sling a lot of mud around if you were to keep it in second gear. Theoretically.
"CalzoneGolem" (calzonegolem)
04/05/2017 at 12:13, STARS: 1
That sounds terrifying.
"Takuro Spirit" (takurospirit)
04/05/2017 at 12:18, STARS: 1
Facebook reminded me yesterday that it was 8 years ago that I used to hunt for muddy parking lots on purpose...
"3point8isgreat" (3point8isgreatest)
04/05/2017 at 12:29, STARS: 0
That’d actually be a really small blade at only 133'. Most onshore turbines built now days are in the 100m rotor diameter range, or about 160-190ft long blades. There may be a few with smaller still, but NA is a low to mid wind speed area that lends itself towards larger blades.
The limiting factor on size is really just transportation too. So as they develop new delivery routes and fancy trailer designs, the blades can get bigger!
"3point8isgreat" (3point8isgreatest)
04/05/2017 at 12:32, STARS: 1
Seeing them on trailers or in other normal situations really does help drive home the size of them. I work in a facility that manufactures the nacelles (the name for the generator and gearbox housing at the top of the tower), and it still takes me back when I see them on the trailers for delivery.
"CalzoneGolem" (calzonegolem)
04/05/2017 at 12:44, STARS: 0
Well they look like they bolt to a hub does that get included in the over all length?
"3point8isgreat" (3point8isgreatest)
04/05/2017 at 12:55, STARS: 0
They do get bolted to a hub, which is included in rotor diameter but not blade length. So rotor diameter is 2X blade length + hub diameter.
Usually hubs will be about 2-4m in diameter. The normal gear-driven onshore machines will be towards the bottom end of that, with direct drive and off-shore machines being larger.
"gmporschenut also a fan of hondas" (gmporschenut)
04/05/2017 at 23:24, STARS: 1
These things are nuts to see up close. I drove home late one night and thought “why the hell are so many idiots standing out side?!? and Why does the power company have a dozen trucks. Then a few days later a photo popped up of them being moved. Next time I have to be one of those idiots to see up close.
"TheRealBicycleBuck" (therealbicyclebuck)
04/06/2017 at 08:21, STARS: 0
Molded Fiber Glass Technologies builds blades at their plant near Gainesville, TX. I’m always amazed at how big the blades are, especially when I catch one in transport on I-35. Google tells me they are 140 feet long.
https://www.google.com/maps/@33.663484,-97.1532624,192m/data=!3m1!1e3
"Shamoononon drives like a farmer" (shamoononon)
04/10/2017 at 16:07, STARS: 0
So, uh... where’s the forest? ... Oh my, it’s not letting me delete my comment. I thought the title said ‘Forest for Sale’.
"CalzoneGolem" (calzonegolem)
04/10/2017 at 16:09, STARS: 0
Forest is the what I named my Forester.