A windmill is nice decoration for a garden or backyard. It gives a country feel to an area. You will be able to make a wooden windmill tower if you have the skills, materials, tools, and patience to follow the steps below.
1. To build a complete windmill, you need to have the base, head and blades.
For the base, decide on the height of your windmill. Get four 2″x4″ lumber in your desired height for the legs. In the United States and Canada, available standard lengths are from 6 feet to 24 feet in an increment of twos. Cut a 12″x12″ square from a half-inch plywood. Attach the each of the leg in the corners of the 12″x12″ square using screws or nails. You can do this while the legs are horizontal on the ground to make the process easier especially if you want a monumental tower windmill.
2. To make the base sturdy, it is necessary to prepare braces. The braces are the diagonal and horizontal pieces of wood connecting one leg to another, looking like Xs. Decide on the height of the Xs. Cut several 2-inch wide pieces from a one inch plywood. Take note that the sides should be angled to fit the legs. Attach the braces using screws all around the legs of the base so that you now have several Xs and horizontal lines on all sides. Paint the base as desired.
3. Decide on the diameter of the windmill head. Draw a circle of the desired diameter using a compass on a 1-inch plywood or a big enough scrap lumber. Then mark the center of the circle by drilling. Adjoin the wood with another layer of 1-inch plywood using 4 pieces of screws. Then saw the two layers of wood with a bandsaw to get a circle. Sand off the edges.
4. Draw a straight line across the center of the head. Decide on the number of blades for your windmill. Divide the circle depending on the number of blades by drawing lines across the circle. If you want 6 blades, there should be six spokes — and make sure that it is balanced on both sides. Draw lines connecting each spoke and then saw the edges so the circle becomes hexagon. Make a quarter inch slice at each of the spokes at a 60 degree angle using a dado blade. Make sure to cut exactly at the edge of the lines.
5. Remove the fours screws and glue the two hexagons together, put back the screws, clamp them together and let dry. Scrape off the excess glue on the edges.
6. Cut off a piece of pipe. Drill a hole a bit bigger than the diameter of the pipe on the hexagon. Glue the pipe to the hole on hexagon using a Gorilla glue or any strong glue. Prepare a bolt thrice in length of the thickness of the hexagon. Put a washer on the hexagon and insert the bolt. The hexagon should be able to spin easily. The head is done.
7. It is time to cut out the blades. If your head is around ten inches in diameter, a good length for the blades would be around two feet long. Cut rectangles two feet in length and 4 inches in width from a quarter inch plywood. Make the corners round on one end of each of the rectangles. Attach the blades to the hub using strong glue. You can also paint or stain the blades and head.
Prepare a rectangular box of an appropriate size to attach the head and blades on top of the base. Screw this box to the base then attach the head with the blades to the box. That’s your windmill!
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