wind flag question

B

BrandonK

Guest
Hey all, I just built two wind flags, per the instructions (sorda) on this page. I used piano wire or 1/16 steelwire in side of a brass tube it snuggly, but loosly fits in. It is a double vein type with a pinwheel on front. The problem is sometimes when the wind blows the thing kinda goes in circles. Im not sure if the wind is blowing through houses and swirling or what? Anyone have a fix. I just ripped my fingertip up with a chopsaw and its taken two days to make em. Please help. THANKS.:)
 
Try substituting a counter weight for the pinwheel. You may have too little vane area for the pinwheel. If that works, you may need to do a redesign with larger vanes.
 
Thanks Boyd, I was thinkin of adding some weight, the length of the veins are 12" I was gonna go 18" I made em outa balsa wood cuz the hobby store I went to stunk. Yesterday I found a good one with all kinds of good plastic sheeting and aluminum dowells instead of wood ( for the vertical stand.) Too bad there arent any plans or formula's to follow. At least when I get my design refined I know where to get good supplies. thanks.
 
try coroplast

Coroplast is corrogated plastic like they use for the beer and pop signs outside the mini-mart also used for political yardsigns. It is light and strong and you might be able to get some free. Works in place of the balsa. I can email photos and dimensions if you want, just send a private msg.
 
BrandonK said:
The problem is sometimes when the wind blows the thing kinda goes in circles. Im not sure if the wind is blowing through houses and swirling or what? THANKS.:)
Click to expand...

Do you have tails on them and what were the tails doing? At our range the tails go straight up sometimes!! If they were following the flag, then the wind was swirling and nothing wrong with your design, if not..............

mike
 
Boyd is right.

Its not the weight - or lack of weight - if the surface area of the vane is not large enough comparatively to the surface area of the pinwheel; then the flag will rotate on its axis.


Been there - done that.

Either use smaller pinwheels or no pinwheel (i.e. counterweight) or make the vanes larger.
 
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