I am starting to plan/design a covered/screened-in outdoor living space. The area is 33’ deep X 44’ wide along the back of the house. The center piece will be a round limestone fireplace open on four sides in the center of the room.


As you enter the room from the back of the house there will be an outdoor kitchen in the far left corner and a sunken hot tub in the far right corner. The top edge of the hot tub will be about 4”-6” above floor height. I am planning limestone walls to about 4’ then screened between stone pillars. Wall height is 10’ with a vaulted ceiling.

Now for my question: I "wanted" to have belt-driven ceiling fans...




Until I saw this….



Now I want belt-driven windmill ceiling fans! I need a reversible, variable speed motor to drive three to four 6’ fans.

What hp motor do I need? What rpm do I need?

Thoughts and ideas please…

damn thats cool

might steal this for later

no idea here, all the motors I can think of would be to many RPMs

you might be able to control the voltage going to them for different speed settings, but electronics arent my expertise

good luck

Thanks! I'll have you over for a cold beer and some smoked pig when it's done!

Yep. I'm with you- I have a 6' windmill sitting on a trailer that's going up sometime. Mine lacks a spindle that I have to find.

Find an industrial sewing machine motor, not the clutch type, but a DC motor that has a separate box with the controller. You will probably have to find someone that repairs/works on the motor to wire it in for you, but it is 120 volt ac plug motor that is DC. It will go from zero to about 3000 RPM an dis reversible.

Now for the possible problem, the lower speeds have less torque, so I don't know if t will work. That is for you to find out.

Consew is the brand that I have use as motor for my lathe, for my use it works great except the torque issue at slow speeds.

What about controlling speeds based off pulley size on top of fan

Or off motor

Call a Grainger store near you and explain your needs. They can guide you in the right direction.

Radius over RPM. Lower radius on higher RPM geared up to larger wheel. Solves your problems. Compare the two radii, set equal and go.

I am planning to use a 3-way switch for: 1) blow down, 2) off, and 3)blow up. Then thru a variable switch to adjust speed motor speed. I have to figure the pulley size for the motor and on the fans. Planning to use leather belts to drive the fans. Just need to figure out HP size and max RPM for a motor to run four of these fans. Found these but still don't have a clue what I need.

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/category_electrical+electric-motors

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/category_electrical+electric-motors+4294940888

I figure it's better to have a little more motor than you need so it doesn't have to work so hard.

Also, I don't figure they will need to turn much faster than a normal ceiling fan on low speed. Four of those fans 6' in diameter is a lot of blade surface so it should create a nice breeze at a fairly slow rpm.

I would bypass Grainger and go to a bearing house, Purvis, Motion Industries, Applied Industrial technologies. They know controls, can help with pulleys, belts and sheaves, mounted bearings and required ratios. Unless you are only planning to go for low speed aesthetics, you are going to have some issues to consider with balancing the blades. It sure will look great I bet!

Neat idea and I think an exposed wheel gear/pulley system would add to the "decor". I don't have a clue what motor to help you there, but I'd think a strong, low rpm would be the obvious choice. As mentioned, should'nt take much spin to move allot of air using a windmill blade!

i knew some people that had one and it wasnt secured like it should have been i guess and it came crashing down during a party one night and i think 300 stitches ended up being sewn on 4 or 5 of them

This morning I was thinking about using an old drill press to run it. Thoughts?



300 stiches? WOW! Why I was thinking of heavy duty mounts (indusrtial) and operate at low rmp.

You need a variable DC drive motor and a controller box. I'm running a 3 H.P.motor and controller for my primary knife making 2"X72" belt sander. All the torque you'd ever need. From a crawl to 3000 rpm you can't bog it down.
Bought my motor and controller off of ebay in like new condition for less than $300 shipped to the house.

SnakeWrangler, did you ever get this working?

Sewing machine motor would work...not like Nana's Singer...but a biggun. The old Nacona Boot factory in Nacona TX still has all of the machines in the back. It is closed down and there is an antique mall there in half of it. Not sure of the name...track them down I'll bet those massive motors could be had if you get the right name. They are already belt driven...will have to get leather belts custom made I'm guessing...exposure may be an issue with them if you don't oil the heck out of the leather.

Not yet....Got the house last Oct. Gutted it and started updating…should be finished with the remodeling of the house next month, then move in and start on the addition. I will post pics over the next year+ as the project proceeds.

You can seesome pics of the house here:

http://www.texashuntingforum.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/5039063/Re:_Rock_Star_-_pic_heavy#Post5039063

http://www.texashuntingforum.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/5049150/1

I like that, neat idea.

I had dinner in Tukwila, WA. several years ago at a place called Claim Jumpers. They had all their ceiling fans running on serpentine belts. These belts were turning 4 or 5 fans each. It was pretty cool. I couldn't find any pictures on their web site.

Update on this- my fan is on the way to Nebraska to get transformed into a ceiling fan. I'll update as progress happens.

OK the fan is complete and functional. It's being shipped down from the shop pretty soon, then GUTIT will get it mounted in the building. Went with a 29 RPM setup, no reverse or variable speed. The guy that built it did a good job- no vibration. It has some tensioner-type setup so that when it starts it doesn't snatch and then when turned off it spins down freely.

Thats awesome

yup; neat idea, but quite dangerous (that is a lot of MASS to be rotating- lots of rotational energy stored up in that thing even at low rpm if anything ever gets caught-up in it - think of small kiddo with several ballons with strings tied to wrist . . . .).
Most modern ceiling fans are required to be low mass (on the blade structure & armature) with low-HP/torque motors for just this reason.
Better think/plan on a safety cut-off switch and braking assembly.

I like it....looks great....can't wait to see it installed.