The American Wind Power Center (AWPC) has partnered*with WhiteClouds to create scale models of historic*windmills using computer-aided design and 3D*printing. The windmills will be part of a model train*display that will be on show in the AWPC Museum. “We*plan to build a model train layout of early Lubbock from*1910 to 1950, a time when there were a large number of*windmills in this area,” said Coy Harris, Executive Director*of the AWPC. “That is also the time when the train came*to Lubbock.”
Harris has been working with Kelly Root, a designer at*WhiteClouds, to create scale models of the windmills*which are then 3D printed in WhiteClouds’ lab on*a ProJet 3500 HDMax. “By using 3D design and 3D*printing (the AWPC) was able to get a scale model of*a windmill that isn’t available anywhere else. This is a*windmill that was being used over 30 years ago. Scale*models of it simply aren’t available anywhere, it had to*be created from scratch.”
The models have been recreated using a variety of*techniques. One of the windmills was recreated using a*scale model that AWPC already owned. Root was able*to take the measurements and then reverse-engineer*and design a replica of the model. One of the other*windmills was created using old blue prints of the*original windmill and photographs. Root commented*that the biggest challenge of the project is keeping the*models as true to the original full-scale windmills as*possible while still keeping the designs 3D printable.*



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