Plastic bottle windmills

Darcy’s son Ewan made a film about how to make a plastic bottle windmill

There is also a video showing an example of adding LED’s and copper wire and magnets to your plastic bottle windmill.

Based in London Darcy is an artist/ designer and inventor who designs, sculpts, invents and manufactures.

Darcy’s passion is finding great ways to make particularly with and for children in engaging 3D workshops in schools.

What have we learnt?

Materials – wire coat hanger, 2 plastic bottles, ribbon, terminal blocks (electrical connectors)

Tools – drill with 2.8mm bit, various books, clothes pegs, scissors, marker pen, stapler, screwdriver

Short form notes:

Drill holes in the base of easch bottle
Use a pile of books to hold the pen at the right height to draw a circle around the top of the bottle
Then repeat with one book to draw a circle around the bottom of the bottle
Cut off the top of the bottle
Cut slits down to the bottom circle you drew to form equal sized blades
Fold each blade 45 degrees out at the base
Repeat for the other bottle, but fold the blades facing the other way
Peg the tips of the blade together
Remove each peg and staple together at the end
Trim the tips
Untwist the coat hanger, trim off the twisted part with pliers
Slide on a terminal block to the second shoulder and screw down
Add the windmill and another terminal block
Punc holes in a tube shaped bottle section as the tail and slide wire through, bending the end over to fix
Bend the hook part of the coat hanger to reach back over the windmill, Hang with a ribbon.