Who needs an anemometer when you have DIY know-how?

If you want to power your home using wind, first you need to know how much wind you have. Skip the expense of buying an anemometer and build your own using an aluminum can, plastic eggs, metal rods, two dowels, and a bike speedometer. You'll need a cordless drill, a thread/tap set, a utility knife or scissors, and an Allen key set.

1 ¼" dowel, 12" long 2 8–32 threaded rods, 12" long 2 ¼" nylon bushings 12 8–32 hex nuts 4 plastic Easter eggs 1 1" dowel, 3" long 1 ¼" rod collar 1 ¼" x 20 bolt 1 empty aluminum can 1 bicycle speedometer zip ties contact cement

Use the cordless drill and an 11/64" bit to drill two holes, perpendicular to each other, through the center of the can.

Switch to a ¼" bit and drill through the center of the bottom of the can.

Cut off the top ½" of the can with scissors or a utility knife.

Drill a 7/32" hole in the center of one end of the 1" dowel and a 5/16" hole in the other end, deep enough to fit both bushings. Remove the flange from one of the bushings and insert it in the 5/16" hole. Insert the second bushing into the hole until the flange is seated against the end of the dowel.

Insert the 1" dowel into the can and attach it through the base of the can using a ¼" bolt.

Insert the threaded rods into the holes in the side of the can and mark where they hit the dowel.

Remove the dowel and drill 11/64" holes through it at the marks you made.

Reinsert and attach the dowel to the can.

Pass the threaded rods through the holes in the can and the dowel within. Be sure an equal length of rod extends from each side, then thread on a hex nut, ½" in from the ends of each of the four rods.

Drill an 11/64" hole into the oblong halves of the plastic eggs, near the edge. Install an egg half on each of the threaded rods using a second hex nut to pinch the egg between the two nuts.

Install the collar on the ¼" rod, about two inches up from one end.

Attach the counter portion of the speedometer on the rod using zip ties, just below the collar, so that the sensors reach inside the can.

Use a little contact cement to attach the magnet from the speedometer to the inside of the can, just above the bottom edge. This gives you a reading on the speedometer, but it’s not an actual reading of wind speed. To get that, you need to calibrate your reading. Take the tester in your car and drive at set speeds, recording the speedometer reading at each. Graph out the speed of the speedometer versus the driving speed using those data points; that will allow you to convert the speedometer readings into wind speeds.

Jill Kiedaisch is a regular contributor for Popular Mechanics and has been published in various conservation anthologies, magazines, and books. Author of a children’s fantasy adventure trilogy, she lives with her family in Vermont where it still snows enough to break a sweat while shoveling.

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