Water wheel

I would like to build a 6 foot water wheel if possible using plywood. If someone as a drawing/plans etc this would be helpful. I would pay copy and postage costs

If you are going to use plywood check that it is suitable for continual immersion. Some varieties de-laminate after a while in such conditions.

I think you want it to BS1088

Top quality mahogany marine ply is very expensive but if you give if plenty of coats of good quality varnish it will last. So called exterior ply is variable in quality and may well not last long no matter how you coat it. Much the same can be said of marine plys of lesser quality even those with a Kite Mark. If this is an experimental prototype I suggest you use shuttering ply and coat it with several coats of bitumen paint. I haven't looked but am fairly sure that a google search for water wheels, alternative energy etc will produce plenty of ideas, experiments, methods of calculation and designs.

Donald South Uist

It may actually be cheaper to make the thing out of oak, or other similar hardwood. French oak is quite cheap, and the frame could be doweled to hold it all together. Wooden waterwheels used to last a long time, look at what they used to make them from, I bet it can't really be bettered with todays materials (ply's)

Joules

WOODEN WATERWHEELS USED TO LAST A LONG

TIME, LOOK AT WHAT THEY USED TO MAKE THEM FRO

Yes, just change the paddles a few times and the frame bars every s often and an oak water wheel will last for centuries.

Along the lines of:

"This is the axe of my great-great-great-grandfather. The head has bee changed twice and the haft three times but it is still his axe"

Robi

-- rss

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