|
|
 |
A Rotating Sign
One day recently, I was sitting at an outdoor coffee shop and noticed a spinning sign nearby. The sign gently rotated, and had two different color panels in it, so it alternated colors from yellow to white. The panels were made of a plasticized cardboard type of material that the shop owner had written his own ads on. Since wind turbines have always fascinated me, I took interest in how the sign was constructed, and thought it might be a good project for my page. Here's what a rotating sign looks like, and how one goes together......
|
|
|
All parts on the sign structure are made of steel, except the UHMW rod/bar (UHMW = ultra high molecular weight polyethylene) that is inserted into the tubular part of the stand. The base is made from 1" x 3/8" steel bars (for the main legs) and 1/2" x 1/2" bars for the reinforcing pieces. You could go smaller here, but I would advise against it. The heavy base is needed to keep the sign upright in the wind. Here's another drawing showing how the base goes together -
If you are looking for a good place to buy your material online, check out Online Metals. I like them because you can order even small amounts if you want to (everywhere else that I know of charges a minimum). They also carry UHMW round rod.
|
|