When I was prototyping this project I was working indoors and using the air coming out of the HVAC system to move the “spinners.” I had the axis of the spinners oriented vertically because that worked best indoors but the second I took it outside in a strong breeze the spinner would get stuck. I guess there’s a reason windmills and wind turbines have a horizontal axis!
After making some adjustments to the 3D printed hub that holds the pop stick “blades” I realized the students could make their own wind mills! The spinners really move when the axis is horizontal and the 30 degree angle I added to each blade makes them spin very easily in a gentle breeze.
What’s even more exciting is that I chose a 3/8th dowel for the axis of the windmills because I have a lot of random off cuts to work with but the dowels are really from a large scale building activity I do called sticks and rubber bands. This means the second graders will be able to build their own windmills!
