Spinning Turbine Prototype

We have now built –using recycled wood, a few nuts and bolts (and a threaded rod), and a repurposed sonotube (for cement pouring)– the first iteration of the actual vertical wind turbine. With a wind speed around 15 mph, the blades spun effortlessly without requiring an initial push. However, I noticed that the threaded rod did not spin uniformly, but rather wobbled above and below the mounted bearings. It's possible that the rod is not in fact straight, so the entire turbine will have to be dismantled to test the truth of that theory. This is a concern because any gears attached to the rod will not spin consistently and will thus cause problems later on with the water generator element of the project.