The work...

We began work over the last couple of days and I'm really enjoying it. Yes, I know I haven't gotten to the hours of blade sanding in my future, but I'm digging on welding, drilling, angle grinding, and all the rest. Yesterday I spent almost the entire time with a bunch of my fellow volunteers making coils for the stator of the turbine. We need 18 of the same shape, 52 coils a piece, and they all had to be within a 5% weight range of one another. It was tedious but satisfying.

The design we are using is a Hugh Piggott design which calls for two rotors separated by the stator. Yesterday, we put strong magnets around the rotor in order of alternating polarity, then today, we set the rotors in resin. they will face each other with the stator in-between consisting of our 18 coils hooked up as 3 circuits and set in resin as well. this is what makes it all happen. I got to practice my welding yesterday as well, and I'm really enjoying it. It's a bizarre feel to get the hand of, but very satisfying.

 We ended the week with a game of futbol at the park down the street from our house. It was us volunteers, the Peruvian WindAid guys, and the Peace Corps guys who'd been staying with us. A nice way to end the week. Our weekends are "free time" so we'll see what the next couple of days hold. I'm thinking I might head out to the little beach town just north of Trujillo and wander around, but we shall see.

More later...