Gallery, Projects and General > The Design Shop
Building a Weathervane
Rob.Wilson:
Anything in tat lot take your fancy ,?
Rob
PTsideshow:
Like the book Rob showed any thing that can be done in a silhouette, can be a simple one. This too is on my to do list. I have picked up a number of books both old and new. The best one for a swell bodied, soldered one of a cock is this one. Making a Copper weathervane by Bruce Helmreich Schiffer books ISBN 978-0-7643-3207-4
A couple of things to keep in mind, it has to be balanced to the mid point so the sail works to turn the direction pointer with the wind.
The larger the area presented to the wind, the stronger and better the mounting must be. As the forc e of the wind can be great on it.
Keep the bearing surface simple, no fancy bearing assemblies. A single chrome or stainless steel ball bearing sitting on a rounded point of a brass or stainless rod with the tube over it. And no grease used what so ever as that can cause problems over time.
And if it is going on a roof of a building or barn remember that you should check on your local codes for lighting arrestor requirements. As a metal device will attract.
You can do one out of wood, plastic, metal just about anything you can lay hands on.
16 ounce 24 gauge, roof flashing copper will work.
There are 3 styles of bodies flat (silhouette), swell body, and the a full body. The swell body is only slightly formed or rounded to give some form and shape.
One last item if it is heavy or large in sail area, and mounted on a building. The mounting pole should go through the roof and mount into a beam in the attic area at least 2" deep into a beam.
The above book has 290 step by step color photo guide, using only basic tools.
:thumbup:
raynerd:
Hi guys, that was a nice response in a single day - thanks for all the info.
Peter: Copper sheet certainly seems like a good idea! Never even considered that.
David - yes, never considered plastic breaking down but of course it will - thanks for pointing that out.
Rob - what book is that with all those images? Seems a cracker! I personally like 945 but I though i`m not a cat fan, I actually quite like the idea of the cat and mouse on 928 but I think my grandad would like a ship - there are lots of very nice ones but I expect something simple like 961 is more within my capabilities!
PTsideshow - That certainly looks a great book. I`ll look on amazon later but £22 on ebay in the UK which isn`t going to break the bank but will have to wait a few weeks. You have made some valid points about mounting and design. I really don`t want to make anything massive that would require anchoring into a beam!! For now I think I`ll stick to a simple flat body as I don`t think I`m skilled enough in art for sculpting a surface texture! That would be pretty amazing though making one in full profile.
Just to give me an idea of size. If we took the classic cockrel on 913 to look of a good scale, on the smaller rather than larger size ontop of a standard single story house roof, what sort of size would you expect it to be? In other words, taking any of those images, what size sheet do you think you would be looking to cut it from?
Chris
Rob.Wilson:
Interesting book glen ,,,,,,,,,,, i will have to look into getting hold of a copy ,, your right swelled bodies do look better . :med:
There is a copy of the catalogued of designs i have for sale here Chris ,,,,,, http://www.oldtools.co.uk/tools/Tool_Catalogues.html scroll down a bit.
I would say go for about A4 full may be a good starting point for size .
Rob
PTsideshow:
Here is another good one
Weathervanes and Whirligigs
By Ken Fitzgerald
Clarkston N. Potter,Inc
copyright©1967 Hard cover
LCCCN #67-24605
Try this used book search engine add all used and out of print world wide book search
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As for the swell bodies it isn't that hard or difficult to work each side from both sides then solder together. It is just a modified chasing and repouseé technique. I believe I posted some books in the bookshelf.
Chris, The book would be worth it as he does the size of weather vane you are talking about in a swell body style.
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