Turbine-Sexy

Tom KA1MDA sent us these photos of someone who’s intentions are honorable, but execution lacks a little in the common-sense department. (click on the images to make them bigger)

I took these pics a few years ago. A friend and I were eating at a Wendy’s in Greenfield, MA one night when this thing pulls into the parking lot! Luckily I had my camera with me and HAD to get a shot of this engineering masterpiece! Notice the half-assed mounting bracket for the alternator with no way to properly tension the belt. Notice the slack in the belt around the pulleys- as well as the super professional job of running the wires through a big hole in the roof. The guy also has a digital volt meter on the passenger seat so he could watch how much juice he was generating while plowing that boat down the road. The hard hat on the rear deck is a nice touch- tells everyone he’s a pro, along with the stick on mailbox letters on the sides of the turbine! The guy was all excited over how he was screwing the gas companies by generating free power while driving- I don’t think he factored in the wind drag, which was probably equal to towing a tractor trailer!