This project was a whirlwind in 2022. A friend approached me to make a decorative windmill for their in-laws to give them when they married their daughter. It was to be a collaboration between us, but as the date approached, my friend had enough on his plate, so I had to go it alone. Most everything was made in a span of two weeks before the wedding.
This was supposed to be a large laser cutting project, so we started by designing and cutting the major slats for the body of the beast. These would be glued and nailed together using ribs inside the main body. The slats were so long that they had to be joined in the middle. A platform was placed at that point to strengthen the bond and to hide the seam. A corresponding platform was placed on the inside to keep it as concentric as possible. It didn’t look pretty, but I had plans on how to fix that.
The head was assembled using similar methods.
The inside of the body and head were fiberglassed to give them rigidity and to keep them sealed from moisture. Unfortunately, I did not document that process. After that, a base was cast straight onto the wood and fiberglass. Holes were cast in using dowels to later allow tent poles to anchor it into the ground.
Bearings were used to allow smooth movement both in the blades and the rotating head.
Finally, I painted everything, and used some trim to hide inconsistencies in the seams.
